Monday, June 10, 2013

Random Post: Stand-alone vs Series

Another random post. Yeah, because I have to concentrate on my revision so I can't write reviews for about a week or something. So another quick thoughtful post.

Feature: Stand-alone vs Series.

What I think about stand-alones:

Stand-alones are just a single book. I can't say I hold anything against a stand-alone because I really don't. But well, I just can't like a stand-alone most of the times. Partly because it lacks the excitement and cliffhangers that can hold you long enough to make things nice. Yeah, cliffhangers are frustrating creatures (creatures?). They tend to torture people, especially if you like the book very much. But... guess I'm one of those readers who like to torture myself.

Stand-alones are often very long. Well, often, because Cursed by JLA is totally NOT long. But sometimes, you need to create a proper world (whatever the world is) for the characters to live in. It's a rush to create a world like that because not only a world might not be set up properly, this can get really messy in some worse case scenario. So if you can't create a world in proper words' length, you need to stretch the book and... well, I can't say I like holding a big, heavy book on my hand every single time.

Stand-alone? Mostly nay, but there are exceptions.

***

Series:

Series, eh? This can get really complicated. Basically there are two kinds of series:

1. Real series (i.e. the story is set in the same world/dimension/whatever the hell that is AND the storyline is not separated)
2. "Not-real" series...? I don't know what it's called (i.e. the story is set in the same world yet there are different stories in different books. So different that they are actually separated.)

And a series usually has:

1. two books
2. three books aka trilogy
3. four books
4. five books
5. six books
6. seven books or more

* sometimes a prequel series or sequel series is included.

Yep, I can foresee the mess of the following words.

Okay, anyway. Do I prefer REAL series then NOT-REAL series?

Not really. It's complicated. They have their own good plots. The not-real series are often found in NA or adult novels, in which a world can be created very easily because... come on, you can just use the current world already. Real series, however, often involved paranormal stuff (I can't say this is the ONLY option because I know it's not. I'm just stating the majority...in my own perspective). It's complicated to say which is better because I have MORE experience with REAL series than the other one. Yet I know there are some good plots in the not-so-real series.

So what do I prefer? Well, I prefer BOTH. For very different reasons. For the "real" series, I love cliffhangers and sometimes how the story stretches. As for the not-so-real series, I love that they are set in the same world yet they are different story and sometimes we can find characters from a previous book and that's kind of fun.

And do I prefer two, three, four, five, six, or seven or more for a series?

Mostly not two book for a series, especially if the series is really fun to read. Like Unraveling by Elizabeth Norris. It's really hard for me to say goodbye to the series and the characters because I love the world so much. There's another case though, like Breathe. Yeah, I plan on reading Resist, the second and FINAL book of Breathe series. But let's just say I'm not into Breathe series.

Three... well, I hold nothing against trilogies. Although I'm getting tired of trilogies lately because it seems like every single new announced series are trilogies and... I'm a little sick of it. But trust me when I say I think three is a good number.

Four is a good number (not just because it's one of my book-boyfriends XD). It's good to have four books because more excitement will be provided if the author is good.

Five is an odd number. I mean it's a really ODD number because writing a series of five is kind of unimaginable to me in more ways than one. But again, there are two that I really like which is Lux and Covenant series by JLA. So no, nothing against them.

Six, eh? Six is a tricky number as well, because many things can go wrong in the middle of a series of six. Like The Immortals by Alyson Noel. Things go horribly wrong in Shadowland and Dark Flame to me. I can barely bring myself to read the rest of the series. But then there are good ones like The Mortal Instruments (actually it's two trilogies rolled into one in one way). And Gone series that I'm reading now. You have no idea how much I love Gone series.

Seven or more? Seven is a hard enough achievement because again, things can go wrong in so many ways in the middle of a series. Luckily Soul Screamers (yeah, it's a series of seven technically) does not disappoint me. But House of Night? A twelve book series? That's way too much. I'm practically numb about reading this series and I'm not sure I can make myself to read Revealed anymore. So mostly nay for seven or more in one series.

What do I prefer:

Two: Nay, because it's too short especially if the story is cool

Three: Despite getting tired of trilogies lately, I still love reading them

Four: Perfect number if the series is good

Five: Odd but good enough

Six: Mostly yay.

Seven or more: Mostly nay but there are exceptions.

What do I prefer? Stand-alones or Series?

Series. Because I like to be tortured by teasers and cliffhangers?

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