What to Leave In, What to Leave Out

I came to a decision this past weekend, one I've actually been putting off for some time now. After giving the matter a lot of thought and applying a good deal of medicinal Kahlua (not to mention indulging in a Vosges Blood Orange Caramel bar...or maybe two), I decided to cut everything I'd written out of one of my WIPs and start the book over. From scratch.

I know. Ouch. Seeing it in black and white like that makes me wince too. Especially given all the time I've already put into it. However, it's not as bad as it seems...well it is, to be honest, but there's a light at the end of that particular tunnel; we'll get to that part in a bit.

This weekend's manuscript massacre was the result of on-going problems with the series, some of which I've been dealing with from day one. It's a pretty good story, if I do say so. People have really bonded with the characters and that's really helping to keep me motivated. So, thank you all for that!

But somewhere along the way the time-line for this series has gotten completely screwed up. When I told myself the story, it all made perfect sense. When I started to plot it out, however, that's when I realized I had a problem. All the action was happening at once and, trust me, there was a lot of action!

In addition, there are far too many characters for me to cram everyone's story into one book. Not even one really long book. And then there's the romance problem. Not everyone's story ends happily. And I'm still not certain how I'm going to address that issue.

Going through all of this has given me a lot of insight into how Tolkien must have felt when his editor decided to cut The Lord of the Rings into three separate books. Although, that was arbitrary and after the fact. What I'm doing is something similar, except I'm attempting to separate the different books out as I write them, which is a whole different headache-inducing endeavor.

And that's even before I try and layer in all the years and years of backstory.

The bright spot in this all? Most of what I've cut out of this book, and the one before it, I plan to add to the next book...or maybe the book after that. So it's not really wasted, it's simply deferred. Or at least that's what I keep telling myself. 

Series writing is a very funny thing. Some series come together seamlessly, with each book standing easily on its own while still forming an integral part of the whole. Other series...not so much.

If you read series, what do you look for? If you fall in love with a set of characters or a particular world, does it bother you if the individual books don't really make complete sense on their own?  And if you write series, where do you draw the line between giving too much info away in the later books, or not saying enough?