Is TELL ME HOW IT ENDS a series?

9 Jan

My ARC readers have asked: Will TMHIE be a series?

And I will answer: Yes (but let me tell you more)

TELL ME HOW IT ENDS is my YA fantasy debut releasing April 9th 2023. The novel is pitched as a cozy coming-of-age fantasy with a queer cast and witches, in which a sheltered lesbian tarot reader meets an asexual nonbinary thief who offers a large sum to leave home and go on a rescue mission to save an imprisoned witch in a castle.

I. Standalone with series potential

If you’ve queried before, read a query letter or are someone who receives query letters, you may be familiar with the phrase: “is a standalone with series potential”.

You may also be familiar with this question: “Can I write a series? Will agents really not want to rep me?”

There is no lack of series content on the shelves, but this is a fair and common fear that many emerging writers have. Picking up a series is a commitment and often sales and trends drive the industry. If a publisher were to pick up the start of the series, how long could they hold it up? Or perhaps, will a series just be too much for a few people to handle, and so they never try?

When I started writing TMHIE, I thought it was going to be a standalone. At the time I was already brainstorming a fantasy trilogy, but it was becoming a lot and so I went for a standalone instead, to get some words on paper and show myself I could finish writing a novel.

Fast forward a couple years, I completed the first draft and went on to edit so I could prepare for querying. When it came to writing my query letter, I approached the meta-data paragraph with questions. What comps do I have? How do I write them? Is TMHIE a series or a standalone?

The terrific solution was “standalone with series potential”.

I knew that my novel had a story within itself to tell, a journey of leaving an abusive and stifling environment in order to find yourself and find expression in other places. But alongside this there were threads and questions that remained unanswered.

For some novels, these unanswered questions could stay as such—adding to the mystery and purpose of the novel.

I continued to convince myself that TELL ME HOW IT ENDS was a standalone, until December 2022.

II. A Series of Possibilities

When December came about, I started thinking about what pre-order goodies I wanted to include to thank my readers for pre-ordering. Bonus content came to mind—a digital goodie that I could produce and distribute myself, without much hassle.

I began to brainstorm what this bonus content could be about. I knew I wanted to write from my second main character’s point of view, and that grew into taking place right after the first novel, and then highlighting an important cultural event for the characters, a lighthearted way to enter a new part of the world for Iris.

But as I chipped away at concepts and played with the idea of this bonus content becoming a novella instead, and then imagining what other novellas I could develop in this world, the possibility of a non-traditional series came to mind.

Given, when I was querying TMHIE I had come up with a title, aesthetic and general vibe I wanted to aim for in the sequel. That meant I had benchmarks for my characters and their development. It also bred the question: where do these stories fit into place?

III. CHAOS IN THE CARDS Series

I’m confirming it here, folks. TELL ME HOW IT ENDS is the first novel of the CHAOS IN THE CARDS series! 💖

There’s always been this reservation, that a series would be too large of a commitment, that my novel didn’t belong with series’ because they didn’t get picked up, especially if you were writing yet another YA fantasy.

But here’s where that mindset ends. As an indie author, I have the power to control where my stories go and how I want to share them.

I’d love to share my plan so far, a little reveal for all my blog readers.

READING ORDER OF CHAOS IN THE CARDS (unconfirmed, just plans and ideas)