I especially enjoy series fiction because as a character or set of characters is introduced, we follow them through several books until they feel like our own literary friends. I realized that several weeks ago. I’ve read nearly every book Anne Perry has written. I was just finishing the sixth book in Perry’s Daniel Pitt series where he and new bride, Dr. Miriam fford Croft, a forensic scientist a few years his senior, solve a riveting case both in the courtroom and on the autopsy table. Perry fleshed out the characters in this series with such depth and originality that I looked forward to following them on their fascinating journey through life. Would the next book feature a child? After all, Miriam was in her thirties. Would we get to see Thomas and Charlotte Pitt become grandparents. I had followed Inspector Pitt and his brilliant wife since the late 1970s.
The sixth book released April 2024, so I went to my calendar and marked “Seventh Daniel Pit book” on April 1st 2025. I told my daughter, Rebecca (also a fan), that I’d finished it and hated that I’d have to wait an entire year for the next one, She was silent for a moment before she said, “Mom, Anne Perry died last spring.” What? WHAT? How did I miss this?
I’m still mourning the demise of so many literary friends. Thomas and Charlotte Pitt, William and Hester Monk, Daniel Pitt and Miriam fford Croft. Luckily, with 32 books in the Pitt series and 24 in the Monk series, I’ll be able to revisit them once again when my memory of the books gets fuzzy. I used to laugh at my octogenarian mom who said the best thing about getting old was discovering favorite book anew.
No Z is for Zero?
Sue Grafton wrote the famous alphabet crime fiction series featuring detective Kinsey Millhone beginning with A is for Alibi. Each year from 1982 on her fans would anxiously await the newest Kinsey book. The character grew as the stack of Grafton’s bestselling books grew. My daughter was a loyal Grafton reader, collecting the whole series in hardcover (see her bookcase below). Kinsey Millhouse and her friends were Rebecca’s literary friends as well. I asked her how she felt about never having Z is for Zero. she said, “You never get to see the characters complete their arc. It doesn’t feel like you get closure or resolution.” The series ended with Y is for Yesterday. According to Sue Grafton’s family, there will never be a Z is for Zero. She insisted no one be allowed to finish the series if she was not able to. When you commit to a thirty year series you can never predict how long you’ll be able to write.
Is There a Place for Fanfiction?
What about Fanfiction? Copyright attorney, Jarrod Easterling, wrote an excellent article about the legality of fan fiction, which is building new stories using copyrighted characters created by another author’s work.
He wrote, “The legality of fanfiction is a complex issue that depends on a variety of factors, including the circumstances, jurisdiction, and the owner of the original copyrighted work. In most cases, fanfiction involves using someone else’s copyrighted work (or portions of it, like characters, setting, etc.), which can technically be copyright infringement, because copyright law grants the holder exclusive right to control how the work is used and distributed.However, there are many instances in which fanfiction is legal. For example, if protected under Fair Use (by adding new elements, commentary, or criticism—in some way “transforming” the work), if the work is under public domain . . . or if the creator has allowed fanfiction of the work.
As an author, how would you feel about fans using your settings or characters to create new works of their own? Is it a compliment or an infringement?
What About AI?
Apparently artificial intelligence can whip out a book to sound as if it came right off the author’s keyboard. An recent article on Tech Round by the author Zee, addresses the issue.
She writes, “Last month, The Authors’ Guild and 17 well-known authors like Jonathan Franzen, John Grisham, George R.R. Martin, and Jodi Picoult filed a lawsuit in the Southern district of New York against OpenAI. They alleged that OpenAI “copied plaintiffs’ works wholesale, without permission or consideration”
Guess what? This is plagiarism plain and simple. But it’s happening. Our own Janet Grant addressed the issue here and here.
Is There Another Solution to the Unfinished Story?
Tom Clancy, whose first book, The Hunt for Red October, became a bestseller, died in 2013. But his character, Jack Ryan continues to live, managed by his family estate, through various authors. The Clancy name and Jack Ryan have become a valuable brand to the family and the publishers. Likewise, son, Todd MacCaffrey continued Ann MacCaffrey’s Pern series; the 15th OZ book was written after Frank L. Baum’s death and although he was credited with writing it, it was entirely written by Ruth Plumly Thompson; and Jill Paton Walsh finished Dorothy L. Sayers’ last novel, Thrones, Dominations.
How About This?
I prefer to simply leave the story unfinished. It’s a lot like life, isn’t it? Friends move away. Cases go unsolved. People we treasure pass away, right? But that’s me. I’d love for you to chime in. What do you do when you have to say goodby to an unfinished story? To characters you wish you could follow forever? Or maybe you’re nothing like me and you get tired of the same characters long before the series ends.
A Writer and Career Planning
Will you remember what I wrote
when I am dead and gone,
a sonnet-writing billy goat
who lived like Cheech and Chong,
who tried to bring at least a smile
through the drifting ganja-haze,
and make my words somewhat worthwhile
by offering my stoner-praise
to the Lord who make the weed
(though not for me to smoke it!),
but skakes His head, forgives my need
to go ahead and toke it.
I stand upon no dignity,
but hope that you’ll remember me.
For the record, I’ve never smoked the stuff in my life, but Barb says I can do an awesome impersonation of a dedicated stoner.
But this sonnet does have a serious purpose, to say that even the lives of the most visibly flawed can have a grace, and a meaning.
Yes unfinished series do mimic life. After an initial disappointment that there will be no new books with my favorite character, I’ve decided I actually like the loose end better than one where my character favorite is killed off by its creator. With the loose end I can imagine multiple adventures and endings that suit me better.
Two of my favorite literary characters are Maggie Hope and Maisie Dobbs. Both series are ending in 2024. I’m reading Maggie’s story now, aptly titled Maggie’s Last Hope, and I’m savoring it slowly. Maisie’s last tale, The Comfort of Ghosts, debuts June 4. I am bereft. However, you’ve given me the inspiration to go back to the first Daniel Pitt book and begin again a series that I never finished.
I love the book series that are all written by the same author. So I would want the books to stop when the author was finished. My oldest son adored the Red Wall books, but whe Brian Jacques passed away, he eagerly read the final novel that the author had penned as he was ill, and then was satisified although sad. Grief is part of life and I feel a bit like I’m encountering something unnatural (like a zombie shuffling toward my bookshelf) if the beloved series continues past the author’s time.
I thought the same thing when the female half of the Charles Todd writing family died last year.
It had felt the last couple books that the stories were being drawn out and they were unsatisfying. I now wonder if the reason is “Mrs.” Todd, who actually was the mother of the male pseuonym “Charles Todd,” was ailing. It lacked a female point of view and had become exasperating.
I’m not sure how many writers wrote on Goodreads, “will you finish this. It’s absurd. They love each other. Given them and us a happy ending!”
I guess Bess Crawford will never resolve the relationship. 🙁
OTOH, the Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes saga was starting to sag. But the recent one–published several weeks ago–redeemed it all now that the (same) writer focused on what’s been the strength of the series: Sherlock Holmes and Mary Russell’s personal lives.
Best book in years.
And more are coming. 🙂
I’ve never considered fictional characters dying like real people – and we need to acclimate and grieve them. It makes total sense though. Sometimes we get lucky. Vince Flynn the political thriller writer died of prostate cancer but his editor knew the Mitch Rapp character so well (and Vince’s writing style) he continued writing the series in place of Vince and the books are still selling!