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Deep sigh of relief. This is totally what I do in my writing. I wasn’t sure if it would be considered a series or not.
ReplyThanks for the awesome advice!
I find a spreadsheet helps keep track of my story arcs across my series. Along the top I label my books, and down the side the important characters and themes, I then just fill in spaces with a sentence or two that tells me the significant arcs for each character.
Whenever I have a question about the big picture, I can just glance back at my cheat sheet!
ReplyThis is definitely something to think about. I did not originally conceive my current WIP as part of a series, but maybe. Maybe. A short story I’m working on right now is actually using the main character as child, just because I love him. Prequel, perhaps.
ReplyI am in the revision stage of the first book of my trilogy. As this was my first novel, I was kind of overwhelmed by just plotting book 1 (I’ve always been a pantser for past, shorter works), so the idea of trying to plot the whole trilogy made me want to run screaming from the room. What I found was as I got deeper into the plot and into my characters, seeds for the other two novels began to take root. Thanks for sharing these tips. I’ll definitely be using some of them for novels 2 and 3. 🙂
ReplyThanks, Rachel and KJ, for an interesting and helpful article. I’ve created a couple of TV series, and I was struck by the similarity of the steps used in preparation. A novel allows more opportunity to explore inner feelings and motivations, but a screenwriter must also develop a strong working grasp of her characters.
ReplyThis is exactly the information I need right now as I’m editing book 1 and outlining book 2 of my series. Thank you for laying it out. I’ve got a lot more to think about now, but I’m looking forward to doing the work.
ReplyI never start out writing a series. I have come up with ideas for another book at the end or after it’s out, but never at the start. I am a amazed by those who can sit down and sketch out a whole series then stick with it until all are written.
ReplyGreat tips, thank you for sharing! You and I embarked on a similar journey… a novel that turned into a series. I find the more compelling the characters, the easier it is to spend an entire series with them. Though my second installment has less “new” characters, we see a lot more of the minor characters from book one, who return for much larger roles.
Thanks again for sharing your experience!
I found this post fascinating and full of helpful advice because though I’ve written series in the past, I’m a die-hard panster. But recently, I found myself envisioning a new series, and before I could even begin spinning ideas around, I picked up a notebook and started making character pages and the like. That something I’ve never done before–in part because I worry if I spend so much time on creating the ‘Bible’ so to speak, I’ll never get around to writing the actual story.
But this time it really feels right. I’m more excited about this set of characters and the potential for this series than I’ve been in a long, long time!
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