The Trilogy Curse

Ok. Let's be frank. Let's just say it. YA TRILOGIES ARE HORRIBLE.

I feel better now.

The Hunger Games: Compelling. Interesting. FINALLY a heroine that's more interested in actual world issues than her super hot (all the girls love Gale) "bestie". She wasn't even aware of the boy from the class up that was in love with her. So refreshing. She was in mortal danger, all the time, and it was believable. The ending was satisfying, and yeah, just like you, I wanted to know what was coming next.
Catching Fire: Well hello there Bridge book. So glad to have read you. With your new array of colorful characters for me to love and watch die. And ooohhh, a twisty surprise! Wait. Nope, I called that. Oh but what about this reveal! Nope. Called that too. Ok. I get it. We had to walk the road to get to the destination in book three.
Mockingjay: Katniss has mental breakdowns now? Understandable. Oh, so that's all she is now. Really? Seriously? Hold on. Did you just set Gale up to fail spectacularly? Yeah. You did. Peta, our sweet artist is trying to kill everyone? UUUUGGGHHHH. Stop it. Why is this battle so boring? WHY ARE YOU KILLING FINNICK. Oh, I know. Shock value. Because your book is boring. Your ending is predictable and also completely against the character of Katniss. WTF author. What the actual fuck. Were you tired of writing this story? Was this even your idea? Who do you think you are to completely change EVERYTHING about your lead character?

---I could go on and on, but I think you get the point.--- And can we all just agree that Divergent should have switched endings with Hunger Games? Please. I mean, really, can we all just accept that. Because it's true.
And it's not just The Hunger Games and Divergent that fall into this travesty of the trilogy issue. the Chemical Garden trilogy. The Maze Runner. The Immortal Instruments. The  Selection.  Really, the list goes on and on. (and why is this so much more common with female protags?)

So what gives? Why are we continually being subjected to this? Hello? Publishing industry, I know you're concerned about sales, but can we please stop churning out endless disappointments? If you must insist on trilogy based contracts, how about trilogies that don't have the same crappy ending that everyone knows is coming? Please? If you do that I'll buy extra copies for my friends.

This trend concerns me as an author, because I care about the quality and integrity of my stories, my characters and my craft. And you know what? I bet all the authors whose work I have just insulted care about theirs too. When a story ends, it should be able to end. When a character doesn't give a rats ass about the men fighting for her attention she shouldn't be forced into a marriage with one just because the audience wants to see that happen. Now, I'm not yet on the receiving end of a YA series contract. But I do have a series contract, and I consider myself lucky that I have so much control over what is going to happen in my books. But I know that no everyone has that. And for some reason, the crap that these contract restrictions are forcing out, they just fly off the shelves. Because we, the readers hope against experience that this one will different. We even occasionally get one that is :The Grisha Trilogy by Leigh Bardugo for example.

And with so many amazing series out there showing how it can be done, why are we restricting our YA books this way? Harry Potter was 7 volumes and easily could have extended. Wheel of Time is 14. Chronicles of Narnia is 7. The Lord of the Rings is 3 plus two prequels and countless extended volumes. The Giver Quartet. The Circle of Magic series is currently 11 books long. The Enchanted Forest Chronicles is 5. Eragon is a quartet. Percy Jackon-9. So it's obviously not that readers of YA can't be held at attention. It's not that they don't recognize quality work when they see it. It's not that they can't be immearsed in deeper and more complex story lines. So what is it? What gives? Why have we created this black hole to suck all the potential out of a great story? Who wants to wait a year to be disappointed? I don't. And I'm tired of it. Step it up publishers. Loosen the reigns a bit. Give a sequel option in your contracts, so that you can continually give if the story goes for it. Something. Anything, Just please. Stop forcing your needless, arbitrary trilogy worship on the readers.