I have two separate series. Both are mostly fantasy, and both use a lot of inspiration from legends for certain races. However, some of the races have similarities becaue I like the races so much. Is this possible?

Could I place them in the same universe sort of, without outright saying it? Maybe imply that one occurs in the history of the other?

Thank you for your time!

I have a world in which many stories of mine take place. Actually, I have several world-type settings in which more than one story takes place. I can't think of anything at all wrong with it.

I'm not the only one, either – Zenna Henderson wrote many stories about one particular group or kind of people, almost all of J R R Tolkien's stories and writings were set in Middle Earth (though not all, there was Farmer Giles of Ham and Roverandom and so on). There are certainly more who've done it, but they don't come to mind (and I haven't heard of all of them, of course ).

Then there are people who write stories that all take place in the same fictional world/setting, and call it a 'series', although most of the time the stories are pretty disconnected and usually have separate storylines and characters, though some characters may be shared. L Frank Baum did this with his Oz books.

Ah. Thanks tons!! This answers my question perfectly! And I had forgotten about the Oz books...

Awesome.

Have you read them all?

No. I have read three, but then our library got rid of them all-I don't know why-and I've never found them again.

Aw. But they're a good example of a series that doesn't really follow the same characters all the time, just hangs out in the same setting – it gets even more varied sometimes later in the series, at least Baum's part of it (I haven't read any of the books by other people).

WEll, that works perfectly!!!

Yeah, you can do definitely do it, as stated. A lot of genre writers do that. David Weber, for example, has the Honorverse series, which is a shared setting in various points of time. Elizabeth Moon has Paksworld. Terry Brooks, I believe, does that with his Shannara series.

*hopelessly lost in list of series but latches on to the beginning*

Thanks for the affirmation!

I'm not sure. If it isn't stated that it's the same race or in the same world, I'd be bothered that the author is using a cliche they've set up for themselves. Just my perspective.

What do you mean, 'a cliche'?

Well, I've noticed that for some writers, they end up making their own little cliches in which they operate, for example, with Bryan Davis, in the DioM series, a cliche he makes is that most of the characters speak the same way, despite being human, dragon, slave, etc. Perhaps cliche is the wrong word, but it's something that I personally notice amd don't care for--simply because I feel like I'm reading the same story, only...made different....and then I get confused.

Ah...! Thanks for explaining!! I will have to keep that in mind - thank you!

No. Mine are going to be literally descended from an earlier race and developed differently because they have been isolated for thousands of years. Yes, I've thought about it since then...

Oooooh. Now that sounds intriguing. o.o

Thank you!

I spent too much time one day listening to fantasy music and thinking about deserts and mirages...

there is another of my kiiiiiind

*grins deviously*

Well....

*rereads*

What do you mean?