Five Tips for Writing a Compelling Book Series by guest @KJWatersAuthor

I have book 1 out on a series and about to start work on book 2 – I already have notes etc. I will be sure to implement this advice. Thank you so much. x

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.

Thanks 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!

This 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.

I 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. 🙂

Thanks, 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.

Jennifer, so excited for you! Best of luck writing your second book. I promise it will be significantly easier this go round. Thank you for participating in #NANOPROMO!

Daniella, if you’ve got the same characters or some thread it is a series. I hope it all goes well in your writing! I’m here if you need a cheerleader! Best of luck!

Jessica, what a wonderful piece of advice. My editor (Jeri Walker who was on #Nanopromo last week) puts together something similar but not with the Arc as the theme. I think that is another great way to stay on track. Thank you for this idea!

I’m working on a series, and your post has highlighted one of the things I haven’t yet done enough work on – getting to know my minor characters (some of whom will become major characters in the subsequent books). Thanks for the tips!

Lisa, I’m so excited my article is giving you ideas for a series. If you’re that in love with a character so are your readers. I love the idea of a prequel — GO FOR IT!!

Fabulous information. Thank you! I am going to get a copy of the Marshall Plan so I can continue to work on my character building (which I always thought I was very good at until I realized I wasn’t 🙂 )

This 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.

I 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.

Great 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!