A while back on Threads (of course) I saw a craft-related comment that went something like this: People are leaving one and two stars reviews on my book because they say the plot wasn’t resolved, but it’s clear this is the first book in a series. Of course, the plot is not resolved! How do I get my readers to be more patient?
And, like, bold of you to assume the readers are the problem in this scenario. This is giving, ‘If only I had better readers, I would be more successful!’ I actually admire the audacity.
But I do understand why this author is confused. The readers are complaining the plot is not resolved, but in a series, plots don’t usually get resolved for a while, and there are famous examples of books that ended in cliffhangers that were very beloved and successful.
But here’s the thing: even when you’re writing in a series, each installment in that series needs to be a satisfying reading experience on its own. Full stop.
This doesn’t mean you have to tie everything up in a pretty little bow. That actually might hurt your read-through. We need to leave some loops open so that readers will come back to get their questions answered. However, from each installment there needs to be a sense that something important has been resolved. The story is obviously moving to a new phase. An Arc has been completed. Some sense of transition that supports this story being told in this volume. That’s what this author’s readers were complaining about, not the existence of unresolved plot threads.
There’s an author adjacent to some of the writing groups I’m in who wrote a multi-volume space opera series that sounded right up my alley. I read the first book, and there were a lot of plot threads going on, and at the end of that first volume they all just … stopped. There was no sense of a climax, or of a phase transition. Things were getting bad for the characters and then … read book 2!
Readers, I did not read book 2. I did not trust that author to provide a satisfying reading experience.
But ok, I can hear you saying, books end on cliffhangers all the time! And if you resolve all the plot threads readers will have no reason to come back for the next books. I actually ran into this problem with my Broken Stars series. Book 1, All the Promised Stars, ends up with most of the characters’ problems solved. There are some larger plot threads dangling, but the couple is together and happy, and we get a sense of what their new life together will be like. It was structured like a traditional romance novel, so it ended like one.
Problem was, it was the first book in a five book series. There was a lot of plot left that I knew was going to be very interesting, but the subsequent books weren’t romance novels anymore, they were sci fi romantic suspense which has a similar but not identical audience. I didn’t have great read-through between book 1 and book 2. However, if readers got to book 2, they almost always finished the series.
So, I get why there’s confusion here, so I’m going to illustrate what I’m talking about with a well-known example of how this was done right.
In House of Sky and Breath, the second of Sarah J. Maas’ Crescent City series, she ends it on a massive cliffhanger, (vague spoilers incoming!) but the main plot of this installment involves a conspiracy against the evil Asteri, and the main characters’ plan to take them down. At the end of the book, the plan is implemented. It goes horribly wrong. Several of the characters have been captured, enslaved, and are being tortured. The main character has been sent elsewhere in the multiverse with no idea what’s happened to her lover and her friends, or any idea of how she’s going to get back to them. Things are not looking good for our intrepid heroes.
So, what did Maas do right here, even though she left us up in the air? The main plot of this book was putting together, gathering resources for, and getting ready to implement this desperate plan. Then, and this is important, WE SEE HOW THE PLAN WORKED OUT! The main plot of this installment is resolved. There’s a definite sense of transition and movement. The story is definitely about to enter a new phase. The readers are left hanging, but in a way that makes sense, and which we enjoy (masochists that we are) rather than feeling frustrated by. If Maas had spent the entire book building up that plan and then ended the book right before the plan was implemented, and we didn’t see how it came out, that would have been very unsatisfying.
This will look different for every author and every plot, but if you’re getting complaints the story is not resolved, and you protest that there are more books coming, this might be the problem. Your readers don’t have unrealistic expectations. They’re not reading it wrong. Each installment of your series needs to be a satisfying reading experience on its own.