Susan and John Ruff, Fantasy Authors

Happy 4th! I hope you’re all having fun with family, food, and fireworks this weekend.

My happy 4th involves working on the fourth book in our cozy fantasy series. (Yes, we’re also doing the family barbecue, of course, but I really doubt you want to hear about that in a blog.)

John and I are about three-fourths (Haha — see how I got another “fourth” in there?) of the way through the first draft of our new novel. We’re having a great time collaborating on the project, but we face some challenges in this fourth book.

Here’s the tricky part: How much background from the first three books should we include in the fourth? While each book in the series has a separate plot with a clear begining and end, the books also contain an ongoing story arc running through the background. Will our readers remember enough from Book 1 to appreciate the new parts of the story arc in Book 4? When does a gentle reminder of past events stray into unnecessary repetition?

For example, I’ve read sequels where the author spends many pages at the beginning of the latest novel reminding readers of what happened in the previous book. That gets tedious very fast, especially if you just finished the first book before buying the second.

On the other hand, John and I don’t want to force our readers to reread all three previous books just to understand the plot of the fourth. Some type of short recap solves that problem. So, it’s a balancing act between too much information and too little.

The next challenge is what to do about the reader who picks up book 4, but has never read books 1 through 3? After giving this problem some thought, I’ve decided not to worry about it. I’ll just hope people realize that starting with the fourth book is like starting a television series in the fourth season. You might need some help to figure out what’s going on.

The third challenge with a fourth book involves continuity, making sure the characters, setting, and events are consistent throughout the four books. To help solve that problem, I recently read through the entire series again (including the prequel) while I was on vacation.

With the help of our wonderful editor Terri Wells, John and I have also started keeping a style sheet for the Post Host series. That should help us stay consistent with the little things that are easy to forget. (How many pillars are in front of the Starwatch town hall?)

The fourth challenge is trying to think of a fourth challenge to include in this blog. After all, I am talking about fourths, so there really should be a fourth challenge!

But I think I’ll be glad to find only three and leave it at that.

Anyway, that’s how I am spending the weekend. I hope all of you reading this have a fun weekend, whether you celebrate the holiday or not.

By the way, I finally found out what a 250th anniversary is called: It’s a semiquincentennial. Try saying that fast five times.

-Susan 7/3/2026