I had a thought not too long ago. An idea for a series of books. One featuring the same 6-10 characters but centered around a different disaster. One that doesn’t occur sequentially but simultaneously like in parallel worlds.

My husband and children thought it would work.

They don’t read much.

So I put the question to my sister and mother, both avid readers.

It took a while for the idea to sink in. My sister likened it to Doctor Who, same people different settings. And then they hit upon the very thing that had been bothering for a while. A character would react the same in similar circumstances.

All the books would become formulaic–no fun twists and eventually the series would become predictable. The kiss of death.

And so a good idea has gone bad. Ah well, there’s always another idea where that came from.