Hi everyone!
As I sit here and write this, I’m looking outside, comparing the weather today with the weather yesterday. Today it’s overcast, thirty-five degrees, and raining. It’s even supposed to snow later. But yesterday it was sunny and warm.
I prefer the cold…but really, I like weather extremes. I like having all four seasons. Mild weather all year long annoys me, which is probably why living in San Diego was not my favorite assignment (hubby is Coast Guard.) Don’t get me wrong – I loved San Diego. It was beautiful, oddly not crowded, easy to get around, and there was a lot to do.
But I don’t think I’d want to retire there. I like extremes way too much.
Which is why my Demonica series is very, well, rangy, in terms of tone.
For example, the first book, Pleasure Unbound, is dark and gritty, but there’s a lot of humor and lightness. The heroine is a smartass, and the hero is a bit sarcastic and dry, and they both bring a lot to the table in terms of setting the tone of the book.
Book two, Desire Unchained, has a totally different tone. It’s MUCH darker than Pleasure Unbound, so much so that I knew I’d take heat for it. Sure enough, a lot of reviewers have commented on the dark tone – some love it, some…not so much. But in this book, humor just couldn’t work as well. The hero is rather serious (and so is his personal situation,) and the heroine is harboring some dark issues. Then there’s the setting – a lot of dungeons and caves. The light moments in this book come more from the secondary characters than the primary ones.
Book three, Passion Unleashed, is actually the lightest of the three despite the fact that the hero is a messed-up bad boy and a lot bad stuff happens. It’s all about the personalities. He’s cocky and laid-back, she’s optimistic and sunny, and even the setting is very bright, with a lot of outdoor time. This book could potentially have been the darkest of the three, but the characters and setting just didn’t allow for it as I was writing.
I really enjoy books within a series that have varying tones. To me, it gives each book even more individuality and makes each one stand out even more.
Just look at real people around you. I have friends who are extremely serious and somber, and everything around them, including their homes, reflect that. But I have other friends who are bright and sunny, people who are super-optimistic and happy about everything. Again, their homes reflect their attitudes. So I love it when books within a series offer varying degrees of tone within the pages. The author turns each book into a “home” that reflects the books’ characters and situation.
BUT…there’s risk involved in making books within a series so different, even if you are using the same authorial voice (and, I like to think, quality.) People who liked the tone of book one may be disconcerted to see such a big change in book 2. There’s something to be said for consistency, for sure. And there are plenty of great series out there that feature memorable individual books and characters while still maintaining consistent tones throughout the series.
So…what about you? Do you mind if books within a series offer a variety of tones and settings? I’m not talking about major changes, like going from third person books to first person mid-series, or taking a comedy series and suddenly doing nothing but death and destruction. I’m thinking more along the lines of how some TV series are consistent in tone and content (ER, The Unit, Lost,) and others change it up a bit. Think Star Trek, or Buffy The Vampire Slayer, where the shows are mostly consistent, but every once in a while there’s an episode of hilarity and lightness, and then you’ll also get the extremely dark, gloomy episode. Does that kind of thing work for you?
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Stacy ~
on Mar 4th, 2009
@ 6:42 am:
Hey Larissa! What a pleasure to have you here, and I know many others here totally agree. I don’t know if I should even confess, but since there’s a point to it, I have to admit it took me a bit to warm up to “Pleasure Unbound”, but it definitely has me curious for book 2. Sometimes I feel guilty when I don’t enjoy a book as much as others do, but then I will go back and re-read it and find myself “getting” it. That’s what happened this time around. My mind needed a second viewing to process everything that was going on. I guess I’m a slow learner.
Hmmm, love your question. I live in the midwest and have decided that I could handle mild weather all year long. I’m totally not a fan of winter. The only time I enjoyed it was when I was snowmobiling, and living near a big city (Chicago) doesn’t give me much opportunity for that. And I don’t like super hot temperatures either. Give me 85 degrees all year long and I know I could be very happy.
As for the differing tones set in a series of books, I totally love that idea. Huge, huge fan of BtVS here, and I savored those lighter, sometimes whimsical moments on the show just as much as I got caught up in the darkness and despair. The contrast fascinates me, leaves me wanting more, and I think allows the author to explore so much more of the world they’ve created. As you mentioned your friends, it made me think of my friends and how completely different some of them are. I love their differences as much as I love the similarities that initially brought us together. Books are like that too, I think, to a degree. There might have been one element that attracted me to a specific book, but seeing that continuation flow in different directions is what keeps me interested. I say that kind of thing definitely works for me.
Larissa
on Mar 4th, 2009
@ 8:05 am:
Hi Stacy! LOL–your confession sounds familiar. See, I have this terrible confession to make…I didn’t like JR Ward’s Dark Lover when I first read it. I know…*gasp*. I kept hearing so much about the series, to the point where it finally wore me down when a friend sent the book and said, “Read it or I’ll kill you.” Okay, so threats aside, I figured I’d better see what all the hoopla was about.
I got about halfway through and couldn’t go any further. I could NOT figure out what the big deal was. I didn’t like it at all.
About a year later, as book 4 was coming out, I decided to give Dark Lover a try again. This time around, I don’t know…maybe my head was in a different place, but I liked it. Enough to get book two…which was what hooked me on the series. Dark Lover still isn’t my favorite of the series, but I definitely liked it better the second (and third!) time around.
And yeah, love BtVS! Just like Star Trek, my favorite episodes are the light, fun ones, but the darker ones also stick in the mind and make you remember them because they bring about such a strong, emotional response. It’s just hard to have a solid diet of constant dark and gloom and doom, which is one of the reasons I’ve backed off of Lost, and why I’ve replaced ER with Grey’s Anatomy. I like variety within a series, whether we’re talking books or TV.
Okay, I’ve rambled. Cold medicine and coffee do not good conversation make…
Thanks for commenting!
Kati
on Mar 4th, 2009
@ 8:27 am:
*waving*
Hi Larissa! I’m thrilled that you’re here! Welcome back to RNTV. Congrats on the second release in the Demonica series. You already know how much I adored Pleasure Unbound (in fact, I nagged Stacy into reading it until she did just to shut me up
).
I also really enjoyed Desire Unchained, and found it to be a bit darker in tone. So I think it’s right that book three would maybe be a bit lighter. It’s always good to find the funny sometimes, I think.
It’s funny that Stace would bring up BtVS, I flew from DC to Denver yesterday and I spent part of it watching Dr. Horrible (another Joss Whedon production). And it really brought back to me how much I adore Joss’s ability to infuse the funny into incredibly dark moments. I always think of Once More With Feeling with a man bellowing out: “THEY GOT THE MUSTARD OUT!!!!!” Hilarious, and pitch perfect. There are few writers who could pull off some of the ambitious things he did on TV.
I always found that bringing in the funny makes the dark almost darker, you know? Shakespeare did it too. Even in Romeo & Juliet there were moments of comedy, the Nurse and Mercutio. It’s a juxtaposition that I think makes things stand out even more in stark relief.
Wow, that was a long way of saying, yes, I think it’s totally find for books in a series to have a change in tone. Now, a change in genre midstream, that would be a bit odd. But tonal changes? Oh you bet.
Charlotte Featherstone
on Mar 4th, 2009
@ 9:25 am:
Larissa, I’m a huge fan of the Demonica series, and am even shrugging off a looming deadline for a few hours to read Desire Unchained. I only hope my editor doesn’t lurk here! lol!
I applaud you for taking the risk and writing to character personality and setting. You gotta listen to the character and be true to how they are. I’m even more intrigued now to read DU because of what you’ve written here. I was, in fact, expecting a similiar read to book 1, but the fact its not makes it even more exciting to me.
I think its a mark of a good writer when you mix up tone when called for by plot, setting, characters, and I think it’s healthy for the longevitiy of a series to make them ’sound’ different.
Good luck with this series. It was an auto buy for me after book 1!
Marisa
on Mar 4th, 2009
@ 9:49 am:
Hey Larissa – So Glad to have you back. I’ve got Desire Unchained sitting on my night stand waiting to be read! I’m intrigued by your saying that this book is darker in tone. Now it’s moving to the top of the list.
I enjoy range in a series. I believe it gives the series as a whole more depth and each individual book its own unique flavor. It also keeps me on my toes as a reader – no time for complacency. I won’t mention any names – but I’ve been a fan of some series with 10 or 11 or ah hem… 17 books and when it’s all the same tone I feel a bit like I know what’s going to happen. And for me that’s the kiss of death… I’m not going to be picking up any more books in that series.
Larissa
on Mar 4th, 2009
@ 10:11 am:
Hi Kati! Ooh, I LOVE Once More With Feeling! Totally my favorite Buffy episode ever! Joss is a freaking genius. I’d drool all over him if we ever met in person, which is probably why that shouldn’t happen. I’m not into restraining orders..
Charlotte! Wow…thank you! Huge compliment to have an author I admire be so enthusiastic about my books! I hope you enjoy DU — I’ve really been nervous about it because it’s so different. Plus, I leave a subplot hanging…which I actually wouldn’t have done if it weren’t for the fact that book 3 follows so quickly on its heels. I figured I could take a little risk because of that. Hopefully readers will forgive me! *g* Thanks for stopping by!!!
Marissa, I know what you mean! There’s definitely something to be said for consistency, but sometimes when it goes on so long that all the books blend together, you can lose the freshness. Which is something I totally fear. I’d love to keep writing the Demonica series, but realistically? I don’t know if I’ll go past five books. We’ll see…
Thanks again for having me!!!
Willa
on Mar 4th, 2009
@ 10:56 am:
Ooh – loved Pleasure Unbound, had a great mix of a kick-ass heroine, a fab hero, great worldbuilding and shades of dark and light through the book. Desire Unchained was fab too – I love dark reads and this was dark, very dark – but as you said it was true to the characters, notably Shade who we had met in Pleasure Unbound. There is nothing more annoying than meeting a character in a book, getting a sense of him and then having their book represent him as someone totally different from previous appearances.
What I would like to know is who are books 4 & 5 going to feature as the H/H? Any clues/hints you can give us? Have we met them in books 1 & 2 yet?
Willa *waving-from-that-place-we-won’t-mention!*
Larissa
on Mar 4th, 2009
@ 12:01 pm:
Aw…thank you, Willa!!! And gah–you are SO right about meeting someone in a book, but then having him be a totally different person in his book. ARGH! Especially when he’s this tough, mean badass all through a series…and then in his book he’s suddenly a kitten. Yeah, he’s got to grow, and he’s got to soften toward his heroine, but if the guy didn’t have a problem decapitating the bad guys in one book, then dammit, I want him chopping off heads in his book too.
Larissa
on Mar 4th, 2009
@ 12:04 pm:
Okay…only half of my comment (the bloodthirsty half) posted! Whaaaaa!!!!
Willa, here’s the answer to your question…again.
The hero of book 4 will make an appearance in book 3. The h/h of book 5 will show up in book 4. I’m not trying to be elusive or anything, but I don’t want to spoil anything for book 3. *g* I’ll be posting details about book 4 once Passion Unleashed releases. I’m hoping to have a cover by then, too! The book is tentatively titled Ecstasy Unveiled.
Karin
on Mar 4th, 2009
@ 12:45 pm:
Hey Larissa! I really enjoyed your post. Like you, I’m an extreme weather girl and love that I get to see all four seasons. It’s one of the reasons why I doubt I’ll ever move away from Denver.
As for books, well, I like it when each book in a series can stand out as different from the others in some way. I haven’t had a chance to read Desire Unchained yet, but I’m really looking forward to it. However, even from just the blurb, I was able to tell it would be darker than Pleasure Unbound. The descriptions of what is going on just scream dark to me, especially when Shade and Runa are reunited in a dungeon where they’re both chained. Changing the tone in the book seems like it will totally work because of the situation and the people involved.
orannia
on Mar 4th, 2009
@ 2:38 pm:
Hi Larissa *waves*
Hmmm – I think I like variety, even though at the moment I’m currently very into dark books. Who was it who said you can’t have the light without the dark? Same thing applies in books. I think you need to carry a sense of hope with you…what I mean is, the knowledge that even when it is very dark and bleak all is not completely lost. If all that rambling makes sense I’ll be very suprised
There is nothing more annoying than meeting a character in a book, getting a sense of him and then having their book represent him as someone totally different from previous appearances.
*nods* If the hero has an edge then he should keen it, not lose it by falling in love and become, as you so beautifully put it Larissa, a kitten
All the best with the release of Desire Unchained Larissa!
azteclady
on Mar 4th, 2009
@ 7:33 pm:
*waving* Hi, Larissa!
It’s an interesting question. I’m not sure I have one answer that applies in all cases, though.
To go with a widely read book series as example, JDRobb’s … in Death. Some of the installments are relatively light and fluffy, even though it’s about murder and mayhem and the like. Others are really dark, mostly when what the main characters are going through is particularly traumatic. I can and do enjoy both types, but it tends to be that the meatier reads are the ones I will re-read more frequently.
On the other hand, my mood influences my reading quite a bit, particularly for authors new to me–when I am familiar with the author, I tend to be more flexible to whatever they are putting forth.
Yikes, this doesn’t make sense, huh?
I think I should just keep quiet now.
Larissa
on Mar 4th, 2009
@ 8:21 pm:
Karin — I’m SOOOO jealous that you’re in Denver! I ADORE Denver. Hubby and I are thinking of moving to Colorado Springs when we retire. Just love Colorado!
Thanks, Orianna! And it did make sense! Unlike my usual ramblings…
Azteclady (*waving back*) Actually, you do make sense! Keep in mind that I’ve been taking cold meds and drinking champagne, though, so I might not be the best judge of that! LOL
But now you’ve got me thinking about MY re-reads. I do tend to re-read the meatier, darker reads too, now that I think about it. In fact, of my lighter reads, I really only read the LIGHT stuff, like, the funny stuff by Patrick McManus. Hmm…now you got me thinking, which is never a good thing! *g*