This week’s question comes from Martin M. in Peoria, IL, another new reader who found us through the Ardent Wings sample:

Is [Ardent Wings on Jealous Skies] part of a trilogy or a bigger series?

Both. Tales of Ciel is a saga of sequential trilogies. The first trilogy includes Ardent Wings on Jealous Skies, Ophiuchus Flinched, and The Mark of Cain. For readers, that means the primary plot arcs initiated in Book 1 all reach a satisfying conclusion by the end of Book 3. The larger metastory of Ciel, however, continues with Book 4: Cut Him into Stars, the beginning of a new trilogy. You can expect some continuity from Book 3 to Book 4, but plenty of new characters, settings, and conflicts, as well.

This structure might seem more form than function on its face, but it’s actually substantive. Reader retention becomes a challenge in any long saga. There will always be a small cohort of zealots who hang around for the duration, but most readers like to get some resolution after a reasonable page count. The “saga of trilogies” format offers something for both classes of reader. While there is a larger story developing across the full saga, each individual trilogy represents a complete narrative arc. The trilogies do build on each other, with characters and plot elements recurring intermittently throughout, but anyone who wants to get on or off the ride at the beginning or end of a self-contained trilogy can do so having experienced a complete narrative.

You can contrast this approach with true serials–one long story told over several volumes. Popular examples include A Song of Ice and Fire, Harry Potter, The Sun Eater, Malazan: Book of the Fallen, and the Green Rider. A well-written serial still respects the novel format, offering something of a complete experience between each set of covers, but at its core, it’s one long story broken up into publishable bits.

At the other end of the spectrum you have cycles and episodic series. A cycle is a series of standalone novels that share some common elements of character and/or setting. For a good example of a cycle, check out Ursula LeGuin’s Hainish Novels, which are so loosely connected that they’re often read independently. An episodic series is very similar, though a bit more interconnected than a cycle. Episodic series typically follow one protagonist or cast through a sequence of standalone stories–almost like a classic television format. See Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files for a good example of this structure. 

I didn’t invent the saga of trilogies structure. Robin Hobb’s Realm of the Elderlings fits this format, as does Raymond Feist’s Riftwar Cycle, though the latter sees some diminishing returns in the later trilogies. Ultimately, it’s the format that made the most sense for the story I wanted to tell in Tales of Ciel. The other HTP series are all structured differently. The Compact Cycle is a true trilogy with a firm beginning, middle, and end. The Divine Heretic is episodic, an homage to the classic sword and sorcery tales that inspired it. Shattered is a serial–one long story broken up into seven books.

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