So you want to Write a Series, part III

I’ve left my most cumbersome advice for last, and not because it's April Fools'. It seems appropriate considering that’s what a series is… cumbersome. It can be unwieldy and demanding and yes, fun. These are characters that become people to you. They are real and you’ve named every one of them. And they are so important because they made you a writer. Now here’s the tricky part. You have to learn to ignore them.

<GASP>

Yes, she’s a greedy b*^$# and sometimes she needs to know she’s not the center of the universe. You have other projects (hopefully) and while I was writing my series, tons of ideas for new books, uncomplicated STANDALONE books <sigh> would come to me. I’d write them down and put them in my ideas notebook then get back to the behemoth.

But there were days, sometimes weeks, where I was stuck. It was usually in the editing phase when I needed to connect one scene to another or had to make the difficult decision to cut whole sections. Sometimes the characters were just silent, and I didn’t know how to move forward. So I’d go back to my ideas notebook and start fleshing out one of my completely unrelated stories.

This was hard because I like working on something until it’s done—I’m linear like that (thank you Orb Prophets). But around book 3 I realized there was an end in sight, and I had to have something to write when the series was done. I started purposely ignoring my series in order to further another project. It also helped me deal with the nagging voice in my head that wondered how some of my favorite indie writers release multiple books a year. I don’t think I’m at that level yet, but I have three projects at various states in the writing process that will make it possible for me to release at least one a year. And that’s fine for me.

So the difficult advice to learn this time is, one day your series will end. Have a plan for that day.

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So you want to write a Series, part II

If you’re back for more on writing a series, clearly my initial advice didn’t scare you away—i.e. don’t write a series. But we already covered that, so let’s move on.

A series, by definition, has more than three books. A case can be made for saying anything over two books is a series, but trilogies have become so commonplace that I think over three makes more sense. Now, this is going to sound harsh because your stories are like your children. You love them. You nurture them. You give them time and space to grow. Eventually you send them out into the world little by little—those are beta readers—then with more trepidation—that’s your editor. Finally you send them out into the world and hope you’ve done enough to make them ready for it. And you know what? You’re going to have a favorite.

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Yes, I said it. All your precious darlings are not equal no matter how much you’ll tell bloggers and readers and anyone who asks that you had just as much fun writing the first one as you did the last. It’s not true. There will be a favorite and what’s worse, there will be a problem child. If, like me, you decide to write the entire series before editing and publishing, the problem child will demand attention while you’re writing another novel because it refuses to conform. You’ll go back to it over and over again because it’s just not working. There may even be times you consider whether you should keep it in the series.

Here's my advice, which runs counter to most of the advice I’ve seen. Keep your series loose. At least until you send it off for professional editing and publication. Some books will flow out of you. Others will come in fits and starts and then have another fit when you least expect it. Expect it. Sadly, this will require that you write the whole of your series first because the problem child might be the first one, or the second one.

If I had known this ahead of time, I wouldn’t have stressed so much when I realized I had to start the first book all over again—and that wasn’t even my problem child! Hopefully, this saves you a lot of heartache in the long run but honey the run will be LONG!

So you want to Write a Series, part I

When I first started my writing life, I was told to start a blog to attract followers to my books. I did so, reluctantly and one of the reasons was I felt I had nothing to offer in the way of expertise. Don’t get me wrong, I know a lot about a lot of things, and I say that without an ounce of conceit. I’m naturally curious and when I want to know about a thing, I research it and study. And yet, I didn’t know what to say to people I didn’t know, who didn’t know me and hadn’t asked me for any advice. That was almost 13 years ago.

Now I have a few new skills under my belt. I just published the last book in my four-book series as an indie writer and publisher. It doesn’t make me uniquely qualified to give advice on writing a series—plenty of people have written multiple series—but I would like to share some of the insights I’ve learned along the way that I haven’t seen anywhere else.

Firstly, if you want to write a series—DON’T! I mean it. They are a headache for people who already have tons of voices in their head from characters screaming that they want attention, that you didn’t get the right voice, that they would never do that, etc. Now add to that continuity. Charles Dickens is a beloved author, was prolific in his time, only wrote standalone novels and even he lost the thread sometimes. It’s exhausting!

But, if you’re like me, and decided that you can take on a little insanity, here’s my advice. Continuity on your own is daunting. I have a series bible and each of my novels have at least two notebooks full notes, scenes, and chapters and I still sometimes forget the eye color of my main character. To combat this problem, I have one consistent reader who remembers stuff I no longer see because, you know, forest-trees bit. I have other beta readers, but one had made himself in charge of all the things I forget, and he does it by not remembering. We all have beta readers or readers in general who read so closely they know your characters better than you do. What you need is a non-reading reader who will write things in the margins like, “Where did this come from?” or “Can you draw a map or something?” That reader is gold because they come with no baggage and genuinely want to understand the story in front of them. Answering their questions will definitely make the story better.