Series fiction

Stories that share certain elements, like characters, have a long tradition. For example, William Shakespeare reused the character of John Falstaff in several of his plays. Before E. Nesbit, she also identifies other British authors of series fiction, such as Anthony Trollope with his Chronicles of Barsetshire (which started in 1855 with The Warden), and Margaret Oliphant's The Chronicles of Carlingford (begun in 1861 with "The Executor", a short story, and a novel, The Rector) As for non-English language examples, Watson mentioned German writer Erich Kästner with his Emil and the Detectives series (1929), and French writer Paul Berna with his A Hundred Million Francs (1955). Duthie again identified an earlier French example, the mainstream series of Honoré de Balzac, La Comédie humaine, that debuted in 1829. In the interwar period, series fiction expanded from literature (novels) to other mediums, notably comics and films. During that time, Edward Stratemeyer's Tom Swift series was extremely popular among young readers in the United States. The postwar period saw the emergence of a female protagonist in series fiction. The use of female protagonists during this period is often criticized for being one-dimensional, with a focus solely on beauty. The popularity of series fiction increased during the internet era, from the late 1990s onward. == Characteristics ==

Victor Watson defined series fiction broadly as "a sequence of related stories about the same groups of characters, usually by the same author", as well as "a series of narratives, published separately, often over a considerable period of time, mostly about the same characters, and usually written by one author". He notes that its key characteristics that distinguish it from other types of fiction is its "extended overall length and its composition in separate narratives". Watson although noted that there are notable exceptions to his definition. While the unifying feature for most series are characters, for some, that can be a concept, a place or an institution. For example, the Greyfriars School series by Charles Hamilton, the Chalet School series by Elinor Brent-Dyer or the Green Knowe series by Lucy Boston feature changing characters, and are connected through a particular place; while Lucy Fitch Perkins's Twins series had a theme of featuring twins, with characters, countries and historical periods varying between the installments. Other reasons for continuing the series have been described as the author's desire to "fill in narrative gaps" or to write "major ideological reappraisals". Such communities, particularly in the Internet era, can also lead to increased interaction between readers and writers, influencing the course of the series in line with fan's wishes as expressed online. Shortest series can be as short as a single trilogy. Larger series can number as many as several hundred installments, particularly in cases of larger franchises and shared universes, such as, for example, Star Trek and Star Wars science fiction series, or the Longarm westerns. Other terms related to series fiction, sometimes used as synonyms, include, among others, multi-part novels, sequences, and sagas. Also related are the concepts of shared universes, fan fiction and canon, particularly common in speculative fiction series (science fiction, fantasy and horror). == Reception ==

Critical appraisal of the series can wane over time; where a first book may receive critical praise, later installments, despite strong sales, may be simply summarized or just listed in catalogues. Longer series are sometimes perceived as mass-produced works of inferior quality; this is in particular common, and sometimes justified, for authors that produce numerous installments a year, and where editing is of low-quality. Series directed at young audiences, as well as series belonging to the romance genre, tend to have the weakest reputation, due to the volume of production and formulaic plots. Series targeted at teenage girls have also been a target of criticism, due to their common focus on activities such as "frenzied shopping, gossiping, partying, and sexual encounters", and portrayal of beauty and wealth as most important and desirable qualities. Series based on television and film franchises (tie-ins) also have a poor reputation among critics. Nonetheless, even series that suffer from lack of critical acclaim and formulaic repetition can be long running, commercially successful and have a dedicated fanbase. Expected familiarity with the setting, character and author style has in fact been identified as part of the appeal of series fiction. == Types of series ==

A series is sometimes differentiated from a work that is divided into smaller installments due to its size, but which forms part of a single story that begins in the first volume and concludes in the subsequent ones. Such works are often referred to as trilogy, tetralogy, etc. depending on the number of installments, and while literary scholars classify them as series fiction, they are not referred to as such by publishers. They can be compared to the concepts of "books published in installments", A well known example of such a work is J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings (split into three volumes The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King). A proper series, on the other hand, features more strictly defined tales in each of its installments, and such installments can be more easily read without familiarity with previously published parts of the series. Series can be divided by size as well: • trilogy is series composed of three parts • tetralogy (four parts) • pentalogy (five parts) • hexalogy (six parts) • heptalogy (seven parts) ==See also==