Blurb for novel broken up in parts?

[JT Woody]

Those of you who know me and my longtime WIP know that its been through A LOT of changes.
Most recently, I split up the monster manuscript into a three book novella.
Well... I got some feedback on the first "book" that, to sum it up, said that there was "no plot" because nothing that was mentioned ever got wrapped up or resolved in the end and the MC's arc is unfinished.

Before that feedback, I made a journal post about "Books" versus "Parts" where calling something a "book" meant that everything is more or less wrapped up in the end and has a neatly contained plot. Where as "part" is a piece of the plot and is not wrapped up by the end (I've read many webseries that do this... and call chapters "episodes" that come out each week, and call volumes/books "seasons")

anyway.... my question is, how do I convey this in the blurb or beginning or even at the end of Part 1? How do I set up expectation that the story (plot) is not over?

 

[CatrionaGrace]

Please forgive me if I'm not tracking here.

Do you mean you've divided a single manuscript into three novellas but intend to publish all three novellas in a single volume?

 

[JT Woody]

Please forgive me if I'm not tracking here.

Do you mean you've divided a single manuscript into three novellas but intend to publish all three novellas in a single volume?

Sorta.
My manuscript was original one, but had 3 parts. It was at 130k words (too long to query). So i tried to cut it down by 10k.
That didnt work (still too long, and beta readers felt like they were missing things).
So i decided to not worry about cutting, but instead, split the manuscript up into parts.
These parts became novellas. I intend to self publish the novella parts.
(Maybe one day.... ill publish it as 1 book. But i feel right now, 50k-60k novellas are more palatable than a 130k word novel in this day and age)

 

[Madman Starryteller]

Hmmm. This is a difficult one, JT.

I'm leaning towards the camp that suggests you should try to query it as one book. 130k isn't that far above the average.

But if you want to continue as a three part novella, I would suggest that at the end of each part/book, you give some hints at what's to come. This may be easier said than done. Maybe take the first small part that is in the next book and cram it in at the end of the previous?

 

[CatrionaGrace]

Ohhhh, so you're publishing three separate items, like the three volume novels that were popular in Victorian times?

That's an interesting revisitation. If you framed it that way and sold the novellas in a set, it might work.

To accommodate modern expectations, though, something needs to get resolved in Novella A while leaving a tempting trail to Novella B. If I read a novella that lead nowhere except to another novella, I'd quit reading in the expectation that the next novella would do the same thing.

 

[JT Woody]

I'm leaning towards the camp that suggests you should try to query it as one book. 130k isn't that far above the average.

Oh, i did try querying it. Rejected on all counts. One agent actually gave feedback and said it was too long for a debut author (even within Fantasy wordcount criteria).

 

[JT Woody]

To accommodate modern expectations, though, something needs to get resolved in Novella A while leaving a tempting trail to Novella B. If I read a novella that lead nowhere except to another novella, I'd quit reading in the expectation that the next novella would do the same thing.

Ah.
So, a B plot does get resolved. The "mad man of the mountains" and the MMC's connection to the FMC.
It sets him up to be the villain, but then all that is resolved and they become allies and hints at a romantic relationship going forward ("i gotta do something, wait for me and we'll talk about this when i get back" is basically how Part 1 ends). In addition, an important side character who had a conflict with the MMC gets resolved (the reader did mention that that resolution was satisfactory).

Part 2 has other side plots (the romantic plot, and the magic plot.... which the MMC helps the FMC explore) tha get resolved bet the end of P2.
But the OVERALL plot (big bad guy, growing village discord, etc that was set up in Part 1) is built upon across the Parts until the big confrontations in Part 3 where everything comes together (even the mini plots).

The reader says that i set up the FMC's magical abilities, but then it never went anywhere. Reader also said i set up the mysterious Shadow Man, but never reaveal who he is (which is intentional because none of the characters know who he is until he reveals his identity in Part 3) and that they would not read the other novellas....

 

[JT Woody]

Ooh!
I have an idea (came to me while dusting my husbands Star Wars dvds).
The blurb can be like the text crawl that happens in the beginning of the movies! Recapping what happened before and hinting at whats to come.
Right now, my blurb just kind of mashes it all together