If you’re like us and love to read, then click here to score tons of free and discounted ebooks.
A while ago, I was inspired to write a trilogy. Why a trilogy, I hear you ask? Well I wanted to tell a story about the relationships between four people, and the effects of an inappropriate desire between two of them. But I needed far more than the usual 95000–100,000 words my books usually run to, to do it justice. I thought three books were just about perfect, so I could really delve into the whys and wherefores of them. As an author, for me character is everything, and I needed time to really tell their story, but no-one would buy a 300,000-word book epic. Ergo, the idea of a trilogy called Three Deadly Glimpses was born.
My characters include Rick, a twenty-year veteran homicide cop who is trying to rebuild his marriage to Juliet after he had a stupid affair in a moment of weakness. He is suddenly paired with beautiful Patricia Holmes, who is a criminal psychologist in the hunt for a serial killer. Pat is married to Tom, a controlling, overbearing surgeon who resents his wife’s obvious attraction to her new partner and the impact on their marriage that working with the police is having.
Each book is a stand-alone story of the pair’s hunt for a different murderer, while they fight their desires for each other and the inexorable deterioration of the two marriages. The books are titled: Glimpse, Memoir of a Serial Killer, Glimpse, The Beautiful Deaths, and Glimpse, The Tender Killer. As you might guess, use of the word glimpse in each title signifies that I am going to give the reader a glimpse into their troubled psyches and explain why and how they became murderous.
Recently, book 3 was released in audio, ebook, and paperback and I was thrilled with the response. On Amazon (US), it picked up 30 reviews in the first month and was very well received. I told the story I wanted to tell, the readers were generally delighted with the result and I was writing another book in a completely different genre, and then . . . it started. My wonderful editor, the narrator, and some readers all wanted to know what happens next, some quite vehemently. Even my sister phoned me, and she lives 5000 kms away, to tell me how much she loved the book, and immediately asked when the next Glimpse is coming out so she can find out what happens next. Don’t get me wrong, this is wonderfully flattering and I am not complaining, but my trilogy now has to be a series. I jokingly said to someone recently I have the first trilogy of four books and the person I was talking to said no, it had happened many times before, so I did some digging.
Most people think that The Lord of The Rings is a trilogy; wrong, it was one book. However, it has at times been published as three, but on another occasion it was a series of seven. My favourite trilogy of all time is The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, by the late Stieg Larsson who died after presenting the three books to his publisher. I suppose its no small wonder that at last count I think there are now five in the series, using a new author to pen them. Another famous example is The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Universe, which even the author called a trilogy of five parts . . . What? How can that be? But wait, there’s more. For its 30th anniversary, part six of three was published. This book was called And Another Thing, written by Eoin Colfer since the original author had died by then. Isaak Asimov wrote The Foundation Trilogy, and then promptly added several more volumes, so he re-named it The Foundation Series.
And it’s not just books. How about the ultimate trilogy of Star Wars? I’ve lost count how many there are now, but I read a recent article which describes it as three separate trilogies. What?
To finish, here is a pop quiz. How many books in The Dune Trilogy? If your answer is three, you’re wrong. Frank Herbert finished at six, but his son picked up the mantle and is still going strong writing about the Dune Universe.
So all in all, I think I’m in very good company, and I am now 30,000 words into writing book 4 of my trilogy, which will be called Glimpse, The Angel Shot.
Book 1: Glimpse, Memoir of a Serial Killer
Book 2: Glimpse, The Beautiful Deaths
Book 3: Glimpse, The Tender Killer
What a great topic… the trilogy that has more than three parts. I followed (and enjoyed) your informative chat all the way to the end, Stephen, where I read this:
“For more information, visit stehen-b-king.com.”
That caused me to loop back to find out if your name really was Stehen (without the p)… which triggered me to post this comment.
Cheers,
Gary
PS: Aside from this one typo, congratulations on your writing success!
Hi Gary. Thanks for reading and replying. There is no typo there, yes this really is my name, Stephen (Bryan) King. I hasten to ad I am A Stephen King, not THE Stephen King, so I write with the middle initial B to differentiate. I like to think of myself as the Australian version. All my books are set here in Oz, I don’t write horror and I hope my work is read on it’s own merits and not because I’m mistaken for the other, slightly more famous American. I have a US publisher, and slowly gaining more readers/followers both here and abroad. I hope that doesn’t disappoint you.
Steve
Hi Stephen,
No disappointment at all!
Your comment about not being “the” SK reminds me that my mother was astonished some years ago to find that I was not the only Gary Harvey around the place. Turns out there are dozens of us, all with the same name. No doubt your situation is the same.
Best wishes with your writing. As an Aussie myself, it’s good to see Aussie writers succeeding.
Gary
aka, Pat Wilpenter of PatWilpenter.com
Thank you for letting us know about that typo! I’ve fixed it.
What a fascinating post, Stephen. My trilogy started life as a short story and then morphed into three connected ‘stand alones’ which together form a trilogy. I too thought I might write a fourth but wondered if one could have four books in a trilogy. Then I remembered the Foundation series, and realised it was quite ‘legal’ to do this! 🙂 Good luck with your series, and congratulations on having got so far with it!
Interesting! I look forward to seeing what you do with book 4.
Part of the problem is a reluctance to buy into a series until all the books have been written. My Mother-in-law was inconsolable when, after asking me to get the next book in a series for her, I had to tell her that the author had decided not to write it – and had later died (which made it difficult to persuade him!). Some authors have written a series of trilogies with a logical separation between them.
I gave up on Dune when things described in the second book should have been well known to people in the first book but were not mentioned. I can’t stay with a series (and sometimes not finish a book) when there is a glaring inconsistency in it. Magic or messing with the Laws of Physics are all right if carried through.
I help out in an OpShop and one of the common second-hand books we get is the 4th part of a trilogy!
Hi Charles
I take your point about not buying until a series is complete. As I pointed out in my case were it not for reader demand it would have been complete. Im flattered readers want more and I’m going to do my best to make it worth their while. I write on pure inspiration, the characters I create are like family to me and I love revisiting them.
Thanks for taking the time to comment – I hope you don’t see my books in an op shop, but then again, if people can find pleasure in them, then I hope they do
I’m not sure that a 30 year gap (1951/3 to 1981) is really ‘promptly’ adding to the Foundation trilogy…
And most people, including you, seem to forget The Salmon of Doubt, which Douglas Adams was writing when he died – which may have been another HHGuide volume (or possibly a third Dirk Gently… )
Along with Adams (not my favourite writer, by any means) I’m not sure that the Dune sequence did itself any favours by extending even beyond the first volume – and most certainly the second ‘trilogy’ are far less good a read than the first. I have tried the posthumous additions – and while I usually like Anderson’s writing I have found them… turgid, to be polite – though I should also admit to failing to finish reading any of them. I no longer even seriously consider adding them to my ‘wants’ list. (I am, however, somewhat amused that these extra-canonical, to abuse a term, prequels are mostly also in the form of trilogies… It’s almost sad that that the post- Chapterhouse sequels that complete the original ‘planned’ sequence only comprise two books.)
Carping and cavilling aside – good luck with your extended trilogy! (Now added to my wants list… So many books… )
I didn’t mention the Foundation continuations by other authors – partly because I’ve not read them and so had forgotten about them – but I was aware that Asimov was endeavouring to unite his oeuvre into one vast future history chronicle (if I may be permitted such a loaded term). Looking into it this morning – prompted by your reply, for which many thanks, I see the field is even larger than I imagined.
I’m not likely to be picking up any of either Asimov or his ‘alter egos’ extensions – I feel that his work, like that of many ‘Golden Age’ writers, hasn’t borne aging well. It may be due to the hothouse pulp magazine environment because I don’t have the same response to similar aged detective novels – generally the output is rather smaller than, for example, Asimov. I am, however, looking forward to seeing what the Foundation tv series is like, if it comes to fruition… And also the new Dune. I realise there is a lack of logical rigour there…
Hi Julian
Thanks so much for your comments, I’m glad my ‘ piece’ sparked some interest. Thank you also for adding my books to your list -I hope you enjoy them. BTW, my comment about ‘promptly’ was made with tongue firmly in cheek. I must admit too, you are correct, I did forget about the Salmon of Doubt.
In my particular case, the only reason the trilogy will be extended is because of reader (and publisher) demand. I’m very grateful for that. To be able to tell a story and people demand to know more is extrememly flattering, and I will do my best to make book 4 worthwhile.