The Why of Trilogies

  • Post author:
  • Post category:Opinions

Now that I’m at the end of my first full series, I’m come to a conclusion about why people write trilogies.  What was supposed to be so magical about the number three so far as a series went?  In my opinion, there is no magic.  It strictly a question of practicality.

If you’re going to write a series, two is absurd, and after writing four books I wished I had stopped at three.  At some point, I wanted to wrap up the arc.  That didn’t stop me from making the finale a novel-length adventure, but it will be good to move Pencheval along to a new setting with new companions and a vastly larger scope, namely the capital.  The new series will also be novel length, but unlike The Stonemaster Series, will be three books and no more.

Live and learn.  Fewer books in longer form works for me, either in stand-alone books or trilogies.