Making a series can sometimes feel like you're keeping a secret for months until it comes out; so when it finalizes in front of you, if you like the final product, it can be very exciting.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
There's always that relief you feel when you're working on your own series that you can actually make it to your planned ending and that your audience will still be there to support you - and that your publisher will still exist.
When a series is doing well, it's very tempting to keep writing it, even when the creative well is drying up. It's tempting because that's where the money is. I've had to be very careful; as soon as I think I'm getting close to that dry well, I wrap the series up. I don't want to just keep writing something because it sells.
The luxury we have when we do a series is that we go through a long journey, and it keeps a lot of information and things to be revealed.
Inevitably any series that goes on too long will reach a point where it starts struggling for ideas, so I've always been really aware of getting out while the going's good.
It is quite different, but I love doing a series because you get to live with a character for a much longer amount of time. And the other aspect of it is that you have a steady job.
When you start working on a series, it's almost too much work. It's like a movie a week.
When I first starting conceiving series like 'Courtney,' 'Polly,' 'How Loathsome,' etc., I was shooting for closed story-arcs but open-ended concepts. Then I started realizing I was committing myself to potentially endless series.
It makes my skin crawl when people tell me, 'Don't worry, you'll get another series.' Their expectations have little to do with mine.
When you're doing a series like this, you're constantly looking for new ways to excite your audience.
When you're on a series, it's tough to go on and do something else afterward. If you're smart, save your money and you can wait out the bad times, until something else comes along.