You probably know how it goes. You write a story. It could be about a sweetheart (many stories are) or a villain (you know that is a common theme) or a lively and promising young man. You work hard at it, polishing it and improving it, sharpening and culling distractions. You work at finding a publisher or an agent to help find one. About two years after you finish writing, your book comes out, having been fast tracked. It sells! It sells more! You have a thing for this writing stuff. In fact, how about another book?
By now, there are fan clubs and discussions of the lives and obstacles faced by your main characters. People are familiar with the area where they live, the advantages and disadvantages of life in that place. Why not write more about that sweetheart or that villain or that promising young man? OK, time passes and book 2 comes out. It actually sells a bit better than the first book did. Now you are really clicking. Some people say that the 2nd book is the test: pass it and you can take off.
By now, you have grasped how much you owe to Molly and Jack and their corner of Pikesville, Minnesota. The pair of stories is so popular that major tv producers are interested. Books 1 and 2 are fairly easy to use as the basis for scripts but the tv folks can see further down the line. Taken together, your first two books will make for a good season, maybe two. The producers are interested in making a series but only if you can produce the equivalent of two more books while they use the first two to get started.
Oh, man! Back to Molly and Jack. Should they face marital problems, crime, aging, legal problems? What about their health? By now, you are carrying a rather heavy burden. Couldn't the two just quietly go off somewhere? It is getting hard to think of anything further. Should we have a dream sequence where Molly misbehaves and Jack misbehaves but they wake up and find it was all a dream? Can Molly become very concerned about old Mrs. Schilling and begin trying to help her?
If you are Shonda Rhimes (Grey's Anatomy) or Alexander McCall Smith (The No.1 Ladies Detective Agency and several other series) or P.G. Wodehouse (Jeeves and Bertie and many others), you may be in for a long time with these people you invented. You could have ten years or more wrestling with every combination of their lives and characters. Molly and Jack can be a real asset to your life but they can also be something of a burden and a pain.
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Bill
Main blog: Fear, Fun and Filoz
Main web site: Kirbyvariety
