Ø Your personal time line. Series books are usually released by
publishers a year apart. Are you
prepared to immerse yourself into the fictional world of your protagonist for
many years?
Ø An intriguing concept should
be at the core of every conflict. Will
your series be open ended or have a predetermined shelf life? Will the series
be a collection of stand-alone books or will each be a continuation of the
previous story?
Ø Which Point of
View (POV) will you utilize for each
book?
Ø Character, plot
driven, or both? There should be
a perfect marriage between plot and characters to sustain the strength of a
series.
Ø Character Roster.
Will all characters move through all the books or only the main characters? Do
you plan to add new characters as the series progresses?
Ø Main characters
must be memorable and have activities
thrust them into situations to test their courage or resolve. Through the
course of their adventures, personalities should evolve. Make every crisis
relate to their inner development.
Ø
Setting is a time period and space. This is
the world you give your characters to dwell in or visit. Decide whether the
setting is an integral part of the story or just a backdrop. Once you determine
this, you can create a setting that is interesting and believable in the mind
of the reader.
Ø Plot the timelines when you write the first book in the series. Will
story timelines be concurrent, consecutive, or will there be overlap?
Ø Be consistent
with the genre of each novel or readers’
expectations won’t be met. Maintain a
similar tone or style throughout the series.
Ø Be thorough with
fact-checking. If you have a
lot of research material, excess can go into subsequent books.
Ø Keep readers
guessing – avoid getting stuck in a formulaic pattern. Plant clues and connections for future stories within each book. Make notes about how characters, events, and
location may intersect and influence each other. Plot high points and
incorporate other tension points such as internal conflicts between main
characters, secondary characters getting into hot water, or past traumas popping
up to haunt the protagonist(s).
Ø Introduce new
questions to deepen mysteries across stories but ensure each book
has its own story question, conflict, and resolution. Don’t solve the big
questions or resolve all the conflicts in the first book.
Ø Order of
stories. Will it matter if they are read out of order? This will
happen so ensure each book is both dependent on and independent of the other
books.
Ø Will the climax
of each story leave readers with a different feeling? What about
the ultimate climax for the series?
Ø
Each previous book is backstory. Excess
backstory can stall the current story’s momentum. Pretend each sequel is the
first in the series to avoid the dreaded info dump and avoid repetition when
relating snippets of backstory.
Ø
Hook readers’ interest
within the first paragraph of each novel. Some authors repeat one book’s
closing line as the opening in the next book or provide a sneak peek of the
sequel.
Ø
Keep track of essential details. Develop a “bible” of vital statistics or a style
sheet of your main character(s), world settings, timelines, etc. Create a draft synopsis for each novel, as
you write.
Ø
Become a sketch artist
when creating fictional or real settings. Mapping out rooms or crime scenes where your
action takes place can help you keep details straight. Tools like Google Earth are helpful to view
satellite imagery, maps, terrain, 3D buildings, etc.
Ø
Be creative with each book and the series’ title.
The title will be what represents your work to the rest of the world, now and
forever. Aim for interesting, easy to remember titles, appropriate for the
genre. A number of famous writers create titles that follow a pattern unique to
their series of stories.
Books have personalities. Enjoy the time you
spend creating memorable characters and weaving interesting threads to connect
your novels. With advance planning, an
eye for detail, and a little luck, readers will relish spending time with your
series’ character(s) the same way you enjoy immersing yourself in a T.V. series.
Article by Donna Warner
References:
3 comments:
Lots of good points there Donna. I'll print this off for my notebook.
Thanks, Pam.
Good stuff. Wish I'd read this before I started book 2 or a series. Haha. Would have saved me a heap of learning the hard way!
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