Series Decay

We all know some long running setups that succumb to this.

• Honor Harrington, esp after book 8 IMHO
• WoT, only got to Book 5.
• Sword of Truth, managed to get to book 9. 
• Tried McDune (The expanded Dune-verse by Brian and KJA.) That didnt work out.
• Anita Blake, jumped ship after book 5, esp when I saw her deconstructing Richard into being a full-time Asshat because she uses her series as an emotional tampon for her IRL issues. 
• Malazan 
• Saga of Recluce
• Shannara Series

Even though I enjoy Harrington and Sword of Truth, esp towards the first part, sometimes a series can go on for far too long.

Books I feel that have circumvented this:

• Empire of Bones
• Galaxy's Edge
• Galaxy Ascendant
• Empire's Corps
• Aeon 14 
• Scout Series
• X-Seed

TO name a few.  A few things that successful long series do to keep my interest.

Breaking things up into seasons. Like what GE does. That way each one has a natural stopping point. It doesn't feel forced, in the way of milking a cow til it keels over, but rather the series will continue but be able to tap into different avenues. Sword of Truth, while interesting, can only tell so many stories around Richard and his cohorts. The Shannara Series tried to go a generational route but Terry Brooks keeps tapping into the same formula over and over. IE: staying with the Shannara Family as a focal point.

I think this is why his Word/Void series did better. Also why he ended up melding it to Shannara overall. Its ok to use the same setting over and over. But how you keep people engaged with it:

• Provide a change of POV characters because otherwise you will have to bend over backwards to come up with new storylines with characters that had a full run. Kinda like Honor. Once she got to stateswoman level there were only so many avenues you could go to add more things to her life. The Shadow series within Harrington worked because it followed newbie characters taking up the fireseat position for Honor. Since she was so high up you couldn't really have her go Navy Rambo anymore. 
• Like GE, provide seasons. Even in Uplift Protocol, once the main series is done, if I feel more needs to be said, it will be little side novellas. More than likely Ill be making a Bardaxian side series. Heck, I could even make a Typherian Scout Corp series. The sky's the limit. I have so much lore for this darn thing. I could go off in many directions beyond Star/Eliza's story.
• If you love a setting, you don't need to abandon it. Just make a new set of people to follow. Lots of pulp serials did this. From what I can see.
• Shannara had some interesting sequels but I think ass pulling the same families of characters in it: Leahs/Shannaras/ ect limited it. Kinda how Star Wars was married to the Skywalker line in someways. The EU def. expanded this. So when Expanded stuff is done without dismantling the core of a series, then that can breath new lift into long running things. Considering how moldy most Corp Franchises are, I wouldn't recommend trying to resurrect them. They must all die out first. Let it sleep for some years then see if actual creatives can breath new life into it.

Hell, even Dune is suffering from series mold. I get it, people want their favorite franchises to invoke that feeling of yesteryear. That wont sway corporate $$$. You have to cut them off cold turkey. In terms of wallet access. I look at various updates to see just how decayed the zombie corpses are getting. Its gonna be a slow death for many things. That's why I put my money in new IPs that don't hate me. Or drag the iconic through the mud. When I can fund it that is.

So many say they want alternatives but when push comes to shove, they stay with DEAD IP like a man hanging on a vine. Saying, "It will get better if I support X writer rather then the crappy BENDIS tier writers." Nope, they dont care. They just want your money. Dont give it to them: Buy it 3rd hand to make sure they dont get your money. Plus you'd be helping a used book store.

With any series just have an actual stopping point. Otherwise it will be endless cliff hangers and people will drop it after 4-6 books usually. Personally I think for any long running series, 7-12 books should be more than enough.

Even though I enjoy Jay Allen's Blood on the Stars series, I am glad he's capping it off with 18, I can only invest so much time with a story. A good example of "Stopping while ahead." Symphony of the Ages. I felt that her last trilogy within that series was unneeded and unraveled all the hard work of the previous books. B/c she had to force some sort of extended action. Even though it was wrapped up nicely after book 6. 

I guess even writers have trouble letting go.

Plus we have much more to learn from older pulps and serials. Those kept stories going even if they weren't always a sprawling epic.

Some Series mentioned: (Take a peek if you want.)

Blood on the Stars
Wheel of Time
Galaxy's Edge
Symphony of the Ages (That link has the first 6 books. Dont worry about the rest, not worth it.)
Galaxy Ascendant
Malazan
Heritage of Shannara I liked Heritage of Shannara the best.
Aeon 14
X-Seed (Get in on the whole thing for 5 bucks! A steal!)

But wait! More!

Empire of Bones
Saga of Recluse Holy...22 books in this thing, right. I call that over ooooooooover kill.
Scout Series

In any event, back to the writing board. It's keeping me away from news and other things I really enjoy ignoring at the moment.