Should I have each main character have their own book?

by Taia Harris, United States
(Lilburn, Georgia, United States)

Question: I'm working on this saga I came up with a few months ago. Once I started writing, I noticed immediately that some events had to be postponed, hence why there suddenly was more than one book for me to write.

The problem is that I want five characters in the story to have their own book, as in each character has one book in their point of view. The main character has the first book, and what I'm wondering is how many authors have done this? I don't mind doing something new, but I'm worried that my future fans (hopefully they'll like it) will not be able to follow.
Does anyone else do this, and should the main character's point of view dominate the saga instead of what my intention?

-Thank you very much in advance!

Answer: It is natural, when working on a story, to start finding tons of ideas for events that would fill more than one book.

In fact there is no shortage of ideas, and never enough time to write them.

My suggestion is that you create a file for all your ideas for other books in the series. If you are fortunate, and your first book sells well, you may be asked to write a sequel, in which case that file may be your starting point.

There are many ways to create a series, and having different main characters for each book is okay, provided there is something to tie the books together, so that someone who reads one and likes it will be able to identify the rest. For instance, you could have a series title based on the story world.

However, the important thing for now is to focus on writing one outstanding book. Don't let your ideas for sequels distract you from this goal.

If you succeed in this, you may find by the time you've finished the final draft your ideas for the other books will have changed anyway.

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