Adventures in SciFi Publishing discussion

I'm embarking on a new reading experience, the epic series, or even short term, a thousand page book. Funny enough, I'm also reading, or just started by Brandon Sanderson. I'm 20% into .

This is especially hard for me to see through since I review books here for AISFP and SF Signal. I want to be a part of the new release fever of reviewing a hot new release. Those happen every month for me, or at least I try and then end up putting a book down and picking up what I hope will be the hot new release for next month.

As a writer, I'm curious how authors weave so many storylines without losing the reader. How many chapters can you go in one pov before you've taken the reader too far from where another pov left off? Does this sacrifice them remembering what emotional circumstance they were left in when that chapter or scene ended? I'm considering a serialization of the current work in progress, and then having different parts take a set of povs more seamlessly from one point to the next.

For readers, it seems like the best way to read epic fiction like the above mentioned is to not distract yourself with other books. We'll see how far I can get into this before I have to read another book for the podcast or review.

I love epics. I read and write series. I even have a Discord for Epic Series Writers. :-)

So... I do think that series are a different art form than stand-alone novels, in the same way that novels are different than short stories. IMO, too many authors feel pressure to write epic series when they don't actually like epic series. So those authors don't really pull it off well.

Two hallmarks of a good epic, IMO, are 1) a large cast of characters with great contrast, and 2) dynamic interpersonal power imbalances.

I have tried an epic series, and being science fiction, it is connected by one character being in several different time periods, thanks to relativity. Each period has its different auxilliary characters, but overall there is one united goal that is only reached in the last book.

While my story is over 1,000 pages long, it is not a difficult story to follow. The plot follows a normal timeline so there isn't a lot of jumping back and forth in time, though there is a little in the begging just to set the stage a bit.

It seems long, but the thing is, it is an adventure in three parts. The beginning sets up the characters and the overall setting. The middle involves the settling of a planet and the development of that planet's new civilization. The end is where the principal action takes place, though there is action throughout.

I always loved long epics and with the ebook format, we are finally free to explore ideas (carefully edited of course) in a longer format where we can immerse ourselves in the settings and get to know the characters.