MESSAGE BOARD TOPIC #5

[Comicality]

In the years that I have been online reading these stories, I have found some extremely well written and thought provoking series in the gay erotic fiction genre. Some of them were finished long ago, some were unfortunately discontinued, and some are still going to this day. They truly touch their readers and pull them into a whole new reality with tales of romance. These series can get up to 10, 20, even 30 chapters sometimes. Many of them have gone beyond even that. And yet people are still drawn in to keep reading. The question for this week is...

 

= How does an author keep a series fresh, new, and interesting, after an extended amount of time? =

 

How do you keep people coming back again and again? What elements do you use to create new storylines, new plot twists, new conflicts? As readers, what is it that keeps you coming back for more? Novelty can't last forever, and some series never make it past 3 or 4 chapters before the writer is out of ideas, so there's gotta be something more to it. Give us your thoughts, and tell us how those incredible stories just keep coming!

 

The board is open!

[TheEggman]

With forty-seven chapters of "A New Life" posted, I think can answer this. Part of the answer is timeline. "Shit" happens over time. What do people like? Drama? Horror? Romance, of course. More than anything, they want to see people deal with their "shit". In ANL, there's buckets of "shit". Prez has to deal with the death of his mother and lots of memories. There's also the musical growth of the band - not mention the growth in all the various relationships. What about Jake's trial? For how long will Jake be sentenced? What else might happen over the summer? Or during their senior year of high school? Will it be like your senior year? Do you wish your senior year was like that? Will Prez, Keith, Mike and Derrick ever get together for some four-way fun?

 

Interested yet?

No?

Oh well, can't please everyone.

The person that needs to be most pleased is the author.

[stew]

I think all my favourite long term stories have one thing in common, they all deal with day to day stuff, such as school, work, hanging out with friends, sports, all those kinds of things we do every day of our lives. A story doesn't have to be full on drama all the time, it's actually nice to see the characters do the daily mundane stuff, I think there is a lot of mileage to be had with that. Relationships also develop over time, it's nice to see how the couples change over the course of a story. Obviously that can get boring over time, you need some drama now and then, but three that come to mind, New Kid In School, A New Life and Storm Front all seem to have that balance and that is why I think they have all continued as long as they have.

[Comicality]

I honestly think that one of the biggest keys to keeping a series going is getting readers to care about the characters. Without that connection between an author and his audience, a lot can get lost. I try to give all of the characters some kind of three dimensional personality if I can, trying to get deeper into who they are and let everyone reading get to 'know' them a bit. That way, even when there's no bg drama or conflict or sexual tension going on, there's still a somewhat likeable character to hold onto. And that leads to more story ideas over time.

 

After about three or four chapters, I usually start building up some kind of plot twists and turns that can further the story along in the future. It can be anything from a certain event, or the introduction of a new character, or just some random occurrence that I think I can build on later. I might drop little hints in chapter three that won't have an impact until chapter 6 or 7, and that little 'open ended' question kinda helps to keep people wondering where I was planning to go with that. So even though I'm telling ONE story from beginning to finish, I'm also hooking them with a little something extra. While one short situation is coming to an end, the other is just beginning, and while THAT one is going on, I'm working on another underlying story to take center stage later on.

 

One example, in "New Kid", when the love between Ryan and Randy isn't the focus of the story, the tension between Tyler and Ariel is built up. When Tyler and Ariel are finally coming together, circumstances between Randy and Ryan's father are coming into play. Then there's two new characters, Cody and Sean, who will have another impact on the story. And by the time that situation is coming to an end, I can easily bring the focus back to Tyler and Ariel again. If you do it smoothly enough, it plays out like one long story, instead of a bunch of little chapters. That's how I want it to read. Like you're getting the chance to peek in on the lives of real people.

 

So that's what I do personally. Create characters that folks will fall in love with, pull your readers along with multiple plot points when you can, and just keep things rolling as smoothly as possible.

 

I hope this helps, for anybody reading.