My favorite influences, of the moment, for series that do a good job juggling large casts, humor, angst/tragedy, romance, a teen angle, and a strong supernatural element: the Harry Potter books, the Buffy TV series, and the Avatar: the Last Airbender series.
Why I mention this:
This Greek myth series has been giving me a writing experience I've rarely had: that of handling a large cast, over a sprawling amount of time, with lots of subplots and embedded smaller stories. (Thus "The Chrysomelia Stories" instead of "The Chrysomelia Series.")
You know that feeling when you're watching a TV series and thinking, "What ever happened to Person X, or that development we haven't heard anything about since the beginning of the season? What's going on with those?" Well, I now understand how the writers are probably answering, "We're BUSY, okay? There's all this other stuff to deal with!" So I shall try not to drop any threads or subplots utterly, but it's a complicated matter, and I have new respect for the writers and editors who organize such things into a coherent whole.
Why I mention this:
This Greek myth series has been giving me a writing experience I've rarely had: that of handling a large cast, over a sprawling amount of time, with lots of subplots and embedded smaller stories. (Thus "The Chrysomelia Stories" instead of "The Chrysomelia Series.")
You know that feeling when you're watching a TV series and thinking, "What ever happened to Person X, or that development we haven't heard anything about since the beginning of the season? What's going on with those?" Well, I now understand how the writers are probably answering, "We're BUSY, okay? There's all this other stuff to deal with!" So I shall try not to drop any threads or subplots utterly, but it's a complicated matter, and I have new respect for the writers and editors who organize such things into a coherent whole.
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