Click to viewWhy do so many amazing novels straggle into so - so trilogies ? Let alone claptrap tetralogies , or wearisome ten - book series ? Blame “ Herbert ’s Syndrome , ” in which a great author gets entice to keep writing about a pop universe , like Frank Herbert ’s Dune , long after its going date . ( The Fantasy Review coin the term “ Herbert ’s Syndrome ” back in 1984 , so Brian Herbert did n’t enrol into it . ) Here ’s a ready to hand scout to the symptoms and causes of Herbert ’s unfortunate ailment .
The sprawl saga that loses the train of thought is a more common trouble in fantasy al-Qur’an than in science fiction — think the Robert Jordan ’s Wheel Of Time , or Marion Zimmer Bradley ’s Darkover books . But science fiction still has its own never - ending tale that really ought to end . Here are the biggest problems :
change the rules : When I first show To Your Scattered body Go by Philip Jose Farmer , I was incredibly excited by its story of an artificial satellite where everybody who ’s ever lived come back to sprightliness . Until I beget to the final stage of the book and realise it was actually Book One in a long series , and none of my shrewish questions about the resurrection planet , Riverworld , would be answered for another three or four books . I was even more steamed when a protagonist of mine state me that Farmer change the rules of Riverworld after the first book , to make it comfortable to keep spinning out story . I think there my have been some book - throwing involve .
The inheritor ostensible . As I cite , a commentator coin the condition “ Herbert ’s Syndrome ” in 1984 , when Frank Herbert was still awake and had yet to bring out his sixth Dune novel , Chapterhouse : Dune . The reviewer defined it as when “ a declamatory advance induces a secure writer to unfold a successful series beyond its raw span . ” You may have your own thought about whether six Dune books were too many — but since Herbert ’s death , his son Frank and his partner in crime Kevin J. Anderson have already drop a line seven Dune books , with more on the path . Say it with me : “ The cash must run . ”
The bully trilogy that becomes a mussy tetralogy , and more . The first two Hitchhiker ’s Guide To The Galaxy books by Douglas Adams seemed middling well - rounded , encompassing more or less the same arc as the original radio series and telecasting series . So I was a little nervous about the third book , Life , The Universe And Everything , but it was still a fun ride and seemed to move things forward . I was less thrilled by the fourth volume in what Adams call “ the more and more inaccurately named Hitchhiker ’s trilogy . ” So Long And Thanks For All The Fish , feel sort of anemic , as if Adams really did n’t have any more ideas for the series , but he need the Ningis . And then I think I read the 5th volume , but I have no memory of it whatsoever .
The need to explicate the import of everything . Feminist science fictionbloggerLiz Henrysays this is where many series breach down :
People write a series , and then they feel the need to finish it off and excuse it and they go all mystic and metaphysical . [ They ] render to figure out every gargantuan incinerate Issue of Existence and in force and evil , and why does the creation be at all , and [ the meaning of ] Zion . So often , you get the underlying pronunciamento or attempt to issue forth up with a coherent philsopy of the generator , but all too often , you sure wish they had n’t . By the time Herbert hits God Emperor of Dune , he has gone compeltely insane , test to excuse Everything , and there is no plot any more .
Another object lesson : Gene Wolfe ’s Urth Of The New Sun , which is a follow - up to the four - book Book Of The New Sun series . In the Urth Bible , Wolfe tries to draw everything from the first serial together , while project in a lot of mystical ideas , include kabbalah .
The random left over turn . Isaac Asimov give into fans ’ pressure sensation , after a thirty - twelvemonth gap , and begin write more Foundation novels again . And few would fence that Foundation ’s Edge or Foundation And Earth are in the same conference as the original trilogy . One major job : a slew of new character , include one who ’s introduce right at the end of Foundation And Earth , who might have played a bigger purpose in a final Foundation record book , had Asimov written one . But in the end , it just feel as though Asimov is stagger a bit , in the unneeded subsequence .
The miraculous save . In Suzette Haden Elgin ’s Native Tongue series , there ’s a clan of women and children who become language expert , and learn a ton of alien languages so they can serve as translator . But over fourth dimension , theycreate their own secret languagethat the men do n’t understand . Which is great , but then in the third book , suddenly the women discover that they can eat sounds . They can make it by ingesting noise — sort of like a plant ’s photosynthesis , except noisier .
https://gizmodo.com/want-to-invent-an-alien-language-368134
The shrinking protagonist . Harry Harrison ’s Stainless Steel Rat Scripture become less and less merriment , as his roguish booster , Slippery Jim DiGriz , becomes more and more of a puss . But worse yet is when we get a Modern admirer whose story cheapens our original hero , like Beanin Orson Scott Card ’s Ender ’s Shadow .
To be sightly , why should n’t novel go on and on and on ? It ’s what flick do , with their sempiternal continuation . And idiot box series — who really cogitate Smallville merit an eighth season ? On the other helping hand , the affair that makes novel superior to other media is the fact that they have a single author , who puts his / her stamp on them . When that one person run out of ideas , the novels themselves start to deflate .
With TV , movies , comics and other media , as long as the corporate copyright - bearer can find another Akiva Goldsman or Roberto Orci to whirl out a fresh mind , you could have endless installments . In possibility , no TV series ever postulate to go stale , as long as the writers have the grace to leave when they feed out of ideas . ( Which almost never bechance . ) It ’s a bit harder with playscript though — and I care nibble up a novel and discovering a novel universe for the first meter .
Orson Scott CardSmallville
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