out of many, one world

[petra_quince]

Joe and I were just talking about how some authors write characters from one book of theirs into others.  The effect is that seemingly unrelated books form part of a cohesive world. For example, a major character in an early book makes a cameo in a later story or novel, or a minor character becomes a protagonist. We agreed that this phenomenon

Comments

[petra_quince]

Cool examples, thanks!

[wellstar]

Harkening back to childhood, I am fairly certain Madeleine L'Engle did this, as well as Edward Eager.

The Ramona books are also technically a spin-off of the Henry/Ribsy/Beatrice series. And what about Super Fudge and Sheila the Great by Judy Blume? It's been a while, so I'm not actually sure about this.

[ayelle]

You're correct; Sheila is a minor character in the Fudge books, and in Sheila the Great, Sheila briefly mentions Peter and his dog (and Fudge, but only as "Peter's brother"). And I remember this having an impact on me when I was a kid -- realizing the books all took place in the same world.

I feel like I ought to be able to come up with more examples, but apparently not off the top of my head.

[petra_quince]

Madeleine L'Engle had several books featuring the Murrays...I always thought of them as a series but they weren't necessarily. Now I'm curious if she had other overlapping characters/families.

I forgot all about Beverly Cleary and Judy Blume!

[petra_quince]

I feel like I ought to be able to come up with more examples, but apparently not off the top of my head.

Exactly, it feels like it should be easy to think of lots of examples but it isn't!

[muffyjo]

So I'm not clear on how to define this. I mean, Neil Gaiman has a world of characters where some that were in other books, show up as a minor characters in the other because the Neverwhere world overlaps this one but the narratives are not strictly a continuation of the prior story which would, in my mind, make them a series. In other words, the protagonists change while old protagonists make cameos.

And Terry Prachett does this although his are very clearly a series based on his worlds.

I'm just not clear on where to draw the line of "Ze writes about this world" vs "Ze is writing a series"

[petra_quince]

That's a good question! I'm not clear either. In some cases books are clearly marketed as a series, such as Pratchett's Discworld Books, but sometimes they're not. Its easier to identify the ones grouped together, but I'm more interested in the ones that aren't identified as part of a set.

[muffyjo]

So, if it's something where the "world" is what we consider closer to the non-fiction world, we are surprised to find matching characters in a way we are not in "other" worlds. I mean, Stephen King writes books that are all in Maine and I gather some of the characters overlap but we don't consider his books a series in the "Maine" world.

And Ursula LeGuin who wrote tons of books about Pern, wrote many stories where the protagonists' stories were not related to other books or even at the same time in chronology but because they all took place on Pern (or other planets in that "world" they are considered linked.

So it's hard to define this in fiction/fantasy,

[tenillypo]

I can't think of a specific example off the top of my head, but I've seen this in romance novels often enough. Someone who's a minor character in one will pop up as the hero or heroine of another one. Not really a sequel, more like... an expansion?

[cos]

Molly from Johnny Mnemonic reappeared in the Neuromancer trilogy.