De-escalating Sequel Escalation

A common problem of long-running fantasy and science fiction series is Sequel Escalation.

The problem, in a nutshell, is that the longer the series runs, the characters need to face more and more powerful antagonists in order to up the stakes. Like, in the first book, the protagonist defeats an orc chieftain. The next book, an orcish king. The book after that, a dragon. Then a demigod. Then an evil god. Then, like, an entire group of evil gods!

It becomes increasingly difficult for the writer to think up appropriate scenarios to challenge the protagonists, and that might start to strain the reader’s suspension of disbelief. Like, the characters saved the world in the last two books! Do they really have to save the world yet again? Or do they save the solar system? Then the galaxy? Then the universe?

So Sequel Escalation can quickly become a problem in long-running fantasy and science fiction series. Since I’ve written quite a few long-running series, I’ve given some thought to the problem. Here are five tips and tricks to keep Sequel Escalation from escalating out of control.

1.) Decide on the scale of the conflict.

Before each book, decide on the scale of the conflict that will drive the book’s plot. Not every conflict has to be “if we do not stop this thing, the world is DOOOOOOOOMED” or to avert some kind of global catastrophe. Smaller-stakes conflicts are equally significant if handled properly. For that matter, adding in complications can quickly make a smaller-scale conflict into a spiraling problem.

Like, for example, say in the previous book a paladin killed a mighty dragon. Does that mean the paladin has to fight an even more powerful foe in the next book, like a demigod?

Maybe – or the conflict can arise out of the consequence of the dragon’s death. Maybe two different kingdoms claim the gold in the dragon’s hoard, and both demand that the paladin hand it over to them. Or maybe a tribe of orcs, realizing that the dragon’s demise has created a power vacuum, decide to invade and claim the dragon’s territory for themselves. Or perhaps an evil wizard seizes a powerful magical item from the dragon’s hoard and uses it to go on the warpath.

By deciding on the scale of the conflict before starting the book, you can keep from having to escalate the conflict’s scope to challenge your character.

2.) Not all forms of power are equally useful.

I’ve written about this before, but it’s worth repeating.

Let’s say that your main character is a mighty paladin,  or a powerful wizard, or the Lord Commander of the Space Navy. After multiple books, they’re powerful, maybe rich, and have a network of friends and allies to call upon. How do you present a challenge to such a character?

By recognizing that there are different forms of power, and not all of them are suitable for handling every kind of problem. Like, the Lord Commander of the Space Navy can win battles, but that won’t help much if he’s brought up on misconduct charges. (As many veterans will tell you, historically senior general and flag officers are often very suspicious of competence in their subordinates and don’t like it.) The paladin’s holy sword that destroys undead might not be useful when fighting a thieves guild. A wizard might have the ability to summon firestorms and lightning bolts, which isn’t all that helpful when tracking down thieves or attempting to solve a murder.

This technique can work for simpler character attributes as well – put a socially adept character in a situation where their social skills aren’t useful, like surviving in the wilderness. Or put a physically powerful character in a situation where physical strength has no bearing, like a legal case of some sort.

Placing the protagonist in a conflict where their chief strengths aren’t helpful and perhaps even a liability can create intense conflicts.

3.) Make the conflict emotionally significant.

This is an important rule of thumb for both conflicts in general and de-escalating conflicts in a long-running series – the conflict has to carry an emotional significance for the protagonist. This means that the protagonist has to be emotionally invested in what is happening. A common (if occasionally overused) technique is to have the protagonist’s spouse or small child kidnapped. This has become overused enough that it’s something of a cliché, but you can also have emotional investment in smaller-scale conflicts.

I happened to watch an excellent example of that before I set out to write this post. ABBOTT ELEMENTARY is a comedy about a failing public school in inner-city Philadelphia. Anyone even remotely acquainted with the manifold dysfunctions of the American education industrial complex will probably find it funny. Anyway, in this episode, the protagonist, the most cheerful of the school’s teachers, gets food poisoning and has to take a day off. Due to the lack of substitutes, the principal has to step in and teach her class. The principal is a self-centered con artist who is more interested in selling medically questionable beauty products and creating TikTok videos, but is forced to rise to the occasion to keep the class from falling apart.

Ultimately, of course, who teaches a particular class for a day isn’t all that big a deal. But the conflict is emotionally important to all the characters, and therefore it makes for a compelling story.

4.) Make the stakes consequential.

You can have your protagonist save the world, but they can’t do that every book. Therefore, the stakes of the conflict have to be consequential to the protagonist. Emotional significance, as we just discussed, is usually the easiest way to do this. Like, instead of having to save the world, the protagonist needs to save the life of a single child, or perhaps the family of one friend. Many writers go for the big scale conflicts where the hero saves the world in order to rouse emotion from the reader.

However, the flip side is also true – it’s hard to visualize and care about millions of people you’ve never met and will never meet. It is much easier to care about people you know personally and with whom you have had good interactions. This truth can work for your protagonist. Instead of having your hero save the world, have him or her save someone they’ve met that they come to care about – say the friendly innkeeper in a fantasy novel, or perhaps a small colony farm in a science fiction novel. This will satisfy points 3 and 4 simultaneously – the conflict will be emotionally significant because the protagonist cares about the people in peril, and the stakes of the conflict will therefore be consequential.

5.) Make the antagonist/villain suitable.

Not every villain has to Sauron, trying to take over the world. Or Professor Moriarty, the greatest enemy of Sherlock Holmes. You can have a really effective antagonist for the story without the villain presenting a world-ending threat. The key to doing that is to look back at points 3 and 4 that we already discussed. If the conflict has consequential stakes and is emotionally significant to the protagonist, that means the villain is the one creating the conflict that is putting those stakes in peril, which in turn will make the villain effective.

It can also be challenging to make the villain a threat to the protagonist in a long-running science fiction or fantasy series. The way to do that is to place the villain in such a way that he or she is outside of the hero’s area of power. For example, the Lord Admiral could be threatened by a corrupt Senator who isn’t subject to his authority. The honorable paladin could face an assassin who can turn himself invisible, thereby neutralizing the paladin’s ability in open combat. A powerful wizard could face a foe who is immune to magic, or impossible to track with magic.

But so long as the villain is instigating a conflict that is emotionally significant and consequential, he or she should work in the story.

So those are my tips for de-escalating Sequel Conflict Escalation. I have to admit I thought about this a lot lately – CLOAK OF SHARDS and CLOAK OF SPEARS both had pretty high-stakes conflicts, so I tried for a more focused yet significant conflict in CLOAK OF MASKS. You can read the books and see if I succeeded! 🙂

-JM