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Post by tallshadowstar on Nov 19, 2021 11:15:41 GMT -5
During my re-read of the series, I've noticed that the third book in any given arc tends to resolve the central conflict. Not every arc follows this pattern, but consider the following examples:
TNP: This arc was originally supposed to be three books, but a sudden explosion of popularity caused it to be lengthened to six. Vicky has been on record saying that Dawn was the original ending for the arc, and it really shows in the following three books. Some of the arc's most well-known plot elements, like the WindClan civil war, the Crow/Leaf romance, and Hawkfrost's death, were all introduced after Dawn. TNP is the one arc listed where I can't decide if the quality improved or worsened past the third book, but it's undeniable that everything past then was added in solely to fit what the publisher requested.
DOTC: The First Battle wraps up the conflict with Clear Sky and introduces StarClan, who tell the cats to stand united. This would have been a satisfying ending to the arc, but since six books is the standard the writing team needed to stretch the story past its natural conclusion to fit that benchmark. New villains like One Eye and Slash are introduced and quickly disposed of, and the cats are suddenly too obtuse to interpret the very obvious prophecy to spread into five distinct groups.
AVOS: Shattered Sky has the death of Darktail, another primary antagonist. The following books consist of bickering over territory rights and interpersonal disputes. There were some plot threads left unexplored in SS - like Violetshine and Twigbranch's warrior names and Dovewing's romance with Tigerheart, for instance - but these were either resolved quickly or drawn out for far too long respectively.
With this in consideration, do you think that the series should have three books per arc instead of the usual six? I'm conflicted, personally. I think that six books is too many considering how swiftly the writing usually declines as the arc goes on, but three may be too few for an entire arc-worth of story.
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Post by Midnightcacoon loves Sunbeam on Nov 19, 2021 11:21:03 GMT -5
It should probably depend on what they're writing. AVoS only really needed like 4, but TBC was perfect for 6 books as with all the chaos it needed time to cool down and explain what was going on.
So I think it should depend on how many books they will need to write a full story.
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Aroace
#ffa100
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𝕱𝖑𝖚𝖙𝖙𝖊𝖗𝖋𝖆𝖑𝖑
Villain Enjoyer
Taking a break from the forums because my cat died. Will probably be back mid to late October.
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Post by 𝕱𝖑𝖚𝖙𝖙𝖊𝖗𝖋𝖆𝖑𝖑 on Nov 19, 2021 12:34:27 GMT -5
I think it depends on how much story is actually important/relevant to the plot. TPB is good with six books. TNP should have been a trilogy (that second half made BrambleSquirrel even more unbearable and Brambleclaw look naive). PoT could have been fine as a trilogy as well (take out the mountain stuff and Sol) while OotS would be better with less than six books but more than three (focusing on the Dark Forest instead of sister drama). DotC deserves six books while AVoS works better as a trilogy. Not sure about TBC. I voted for "less than six but more than three".
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Cloudstorm
Don’t let it kill you. Even when it hurts like hell.
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Post by Cloudstorm on Nov 19, 2021 14:33:27 GMT -5
TPB. 6 books works perfectly for the plot .
TNP. Could of ended with three. But I Love the latter half equally as well so 6 books.
Pot and OoTS. As they stand, they could both be consolidated into 6 Books, but feel there was wasted potential where they could of fleshed out and implemented a lot of the themes and elements more effectively, scrap the sister and romance drama of OoTS , exclude everything revolving around Ashfur/Brambleclaw/Squirrelflight/leafpool drama . Make Holly/lion and jay BrambleSquirrels Kits and make cats of the Dark Forest start breaching into the living world starting in Long shadows, though in small undetectable groups or even solo at first , have cats start mysteriously disappearing and offer inexplicable chaos to start ensuing that leaves us in suspense and a feeling of foreboding heading into Omen of the Stars.
DoTC. Haven’t Finished yet so can’t make solid opinion on it.
AVoS . 4 books would of wrapped this arc up just fine .
TBC. Remove all the forbidden romance jargon, unnecessary repetitive gatherings reiterating the same stuff, and compress it into 4 books , or keep it as 6 books and elucidate in more depth all the inner workings and mechanics of all the supernatural elements and power influx’s in the series, less plotholes to make the world feel more defined and crisp, and polished .
Note: these are my Subjective Opinions, and I’m not willing to debate over them. Your never gonna change my mind on any of it.
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Post by kells on Nov 20, 2021 2:40:09 GMT -5
I feel like there was some major padding for all the books past TPB, except for maybe OotS, but even that felt drawn out with that random timeline mumbo jumbo
AVoS and DotC should have both ended with book three, and TBC and POT could have been shaved down
Yeah, three books would definitely save time and not cause a bunch of random shit to be shoved in places for book quota
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Post by Twilight Sparkle on Nov 20, 2021 7:07:06 GMT -5
Like others have said, I think it should vary, depending on the arc.
It's funny that you made this thread, though. I had noticed the same thing: the main climax of an arc is always the third book (except for PoT and OoTS).
TPB: Tigerclaw is defeated TNP: The Clans reach their new home DoTC: Clear Sky stops being a villain AVoS: Darktail is defeated TBC: Ashfur is defeated
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