Writing A Series: An Inside Look

When I realized today was my day to write for the blog, I looked up in a daze from my latest WIP and thought...but what should I write about?  I asked the other Relentless Writers for suggestions and bemoaned the fact that I suck at blogging.

The conversation went something like this:

Me: I suck at blogging.

RW: You don't suck at blogging. Your posts are generally good. What you suck at is planning what to write. (*this is true)
 
Me: No, I really do suck at blogging. And planning.

(even Sherlock agrees)

RW: Wait, I know. Have you done a post about writing a series yet? (*because I write a lot of series)

Me:  And what would I say about writing a series?

RW:  How did you maintain the continuity between the historical western books? Was it different from how you approached the sequel to Hunter's book? Is contemporary easier than historical? How do you keep track of things? Pinterest boards? Google docs? Have you ever had a reader (beta or otherwise) catch a continuity error? What'll you do to keep that from happening? Are there any sources for "how to write a series" that you've found particularly helpful? From an agent's perspective/your knowledge of the industry, what are the pros and cons of writing books in series? What's your best piece of advice for a newby starting out with a series?

Me:  Oh wow. Okay, so my answer to all that is...I didn't plan that far ahead (big shock, right?). I did it all as I went. Oh, and Google.

RW:  ...

Me:  My post can consist of this: How to Write a Series, by M. Madigan. Come up with a fabulous idea (or you hope it is. It sounds fabulous in your head at least). Make a page of general notes (It's contemporary/western/post-apocalyptic and there are maybe five core characters you'll focus on for the series). Make more specific notes for book one. Start writing. Worship Google. Start the next book by making specific notes. Shoe-horn it into the series to fit with book one. Lots more Google worshipping. Do the same for the rest of the books. The End.

 RW: Um. Don't forget gifs.

That's how the conversation went, but I'm being (mostly) facetious about the process (okay, only partly). Everyone who writes a series will have a different process, so mine is just mine and could probably stand to be improved upon.

However, how do you write a series is a legitimate question because in many genres (romance, mystery, scifi, fantasy), series are hot. Readers want them, agents and editors look for them, so writers need to think about writing them. 

I seem to be a series addict. I've got no fewer than eight in progress at the moment: the Nevada Bounty series (historical romance), the Caine Brothers series (erotic contemporary novellas), the Forever Faerie series (paranormal romance), the Tap Zone series (contemporary MMA romance), the Dragon Club (shifter romances), Never Too Late (second chance at romance/women's fiction), the Timed Out series (space opera), and the Tales from Beyond the End (post-apocalyptic fairy tale retellings).

(that's a lot of series)

Why do I write series? Because I like to set up a world, fill it with people, get to know them and then put them through the wringer. I think that's why readers like them, too. I know that's what I like when I'm reading them, so that's what I aim for as a writer.

But how do you write a series? I can give you some idea of how I do it, but again, all writers are different. I write romance and science fiction so I can get away with some loosey-gooseyness where authors of mystery and fantasy probably can't. Those genres require some pretty tight plotting and planning.

So although I was being snarky when I said this is what my post would look like, in the end, it kind of does:


How to Write a Series, by M. Madigan

1. I'm struck by a fabulous idea for a series.  Often when this happens, I'll brainstorm with another writer friend just to be sure the story idea sounds as good out loud as it does in my head. I also look at some of the stuff that's selling in the industry to see if the idea has merit. If it has potential to sell (for instance, if I came up with an idea for a vampire/angel/demon romance, even if it was amazing, I wouldn't write it because that stuff is dead right now. It'll come back around again eventually, but I don't want to spend time now on something I can't sell), I'll move on to step two.

2. Make a page of notes for the series. What's the genre? Who are the characters? When I came up with the idea for the Caine Brothers series, I immediately sat down and made some general notes for each brother - his name, what he does (billionaire, biker, SEAL, rock star, fighter, shifter), who his heroine is, and a short paragraph blurb for the plot. All these things are subject to change, but the notes give me a vague shape for the series.

3. Make more specific notes for book one. I'm not a detailed plotter, but I do want notes to work from. I don't like writing myself into corners (I did this with the space opera and it took me a long time and some rewriting to get out). I do a character profile for the main characters, a setting worksheet, and write a couple of pages of linear plot summary. Often I will expand these as I'm writing and need more detail. I also make note of important details like dates, quirks, props, secondary characters, relatives, etc...anything that can be used throughout the series to tie them together. I love Pinterest as a visual way to keep track of characters, setting, props, clothes, etc. I have Pinterest boards for each book and/or series. Google is also my friend. I never know what kind of research I'll need until I'm deep into the story, so sometimes there's a lot of stopping-digging-starting going on. Writing a historical western required some pretty interesting research (for instance, 19th century western curse words). One of the great things about being a writer (I think) is that I get to teach myself about a whole bunch of new stuff that I probably never would have learned had I not needed to research it for a book!

Once the first book is done (after I've had my awesome betas read it--and yes, they've caught stuff I didn't see like continuity things, improbabilities, practical problems) and off to an editor, or self-published, it's time to move on to the next one.

4. Start the next book by making specific notes. Repeat the process with the next book. I go back and look at my series notes, figure out who's next, what the general plot is about, then open a document to begin expanding that into a fleshed-out plot. I'll review my notes from book one to see what I need to carry over (themes, tropes, etc), and get to work on the next one following the same general writing process. I kid when I say I have to "shoe-horn it into the series to fit with book one" because although I don't have obsessively detailed series notes, I hope they're good enough I don't have to force anything. And if I come across a problem, I just see that as an opportunity for creative solutions.

5. Repeat the process for as many books as are in the series.


For me, that's it. That's the process. It's part organic, part planning, part linear, part disorder, often frustrating, but always a wonderful, juicy, creative, wild ride!

The point is, if you write series you need to find what process works best for you depending on what genre you write, but also what kind of writer you are. There's no right or wrong as long as you figure out some form of organization and creative process that works to maintain your continuity and inspiration.

(use yours)

Now, go write.

~Margaret

THE END: A Commentary on Editing

THE END

Two of my favourite words. To a writer, they are the culmination of days, months, or years of blood, sweat, and tears. But they are misleading. We write them, sit back, and revel in our cleverness, in our determination, our grit, our savvy, our persistence, and our sheer magnificent brilliance. It could grace the page of a blog post, social media blast, short story, novella, screenplay, or novel. Writing THE END feels incredible, but it’s just another beginning. THE END is the start of EDITING.

I recently attended Bookapalooza, which is a really cool venue in my hometown where local authors get together and sell their wares. There were speakers and panels and celebrity guest authors. I was honoured to sit on a panel with fellow romance authors Molly O’Keefe and Mary Sullivan. These ladies are veterans. They’ve written a lot of books. They’ve been doing this a long time. Avelynn is my debut historical romance. I was the newb in the room, but they welcomed me with open arms. I was humbled and thrilled to sit at the table beside them. *girlie fan crush moment over* Back to my point: one of the audience members asked the panel a question, “What do you like better, writing or editing?”

Interestingly enough, both Molly and Mary liked the editing phase of writing better. I stared at them gaped mouthed as they waxed poetic about the brilliance of polishing a first draft and turning something misshapen and clunky into a work of art. I concurred with their sentiment, but ‘like_editing?’ That sounded like something out of a fairy tale. Seriously. Editing_is_hard!

Gone is the euphoria of creation, the buzz of new witty lines of dialogue, the high of brilliant lines of prose. In its place comes the breakdown and rebuild, the dissection and amputation. Our writing is better for it, sure, but the_pain, the_torture.

I recently (like yesterday) finished editing the second book in the Avelynn series. It took me just as long to edit the manuscript as it did to write it. Now, I blame NaNoWriMo for part of the first draft’s shortcomings (writing 50,000 words only to cut 40,000 of them, sucked) but I’m also a pantser. The first draft is a misnomer, it should be called Hundreds of Pages of Verbal Diarrhea. It’s the thrill and rush of creating new worlds, populating them with interesting people, and then making them do all sorts of crazy shit. Shit that just pops into your head, like out_of_no_where.

Inherent in that wild, organic process is wee bit of surplus and ludicrous, irrelevant tangents. We write THE END and then grab our red pens, or click up our track changes and get to work. And we keep working. For_a_very_long_time. We tweak and hone, over and over again. First drafts become tenths drafts and then morph into eighteenth drafts. We get to a point when we can’t figure the damn thing out anymore and call in for back up. We send it out to beta readers and beg for perspective and direction. The verdict comes in, and we crack our knuckles and sit down and get to work. Again. For_a_very_long_time. By the fortieth something draft, we pray we’ve reached the finish line. We send the manuscript to our agent or editor, or we query and submit. We get feedback. It’s still not quite cooked all the way through. So we sit_down_again.

For this final round of baking, I used the Heminway App. The whole writing process this is a never ending learning curve. I now know, I should have tried this handy little resource a few drafts prior. But, nonetheless, I plugged in my pages and reduced my passive voice, cut my adverbs, and cleaned up my run-on sentences. In a final pass through, I obliterated my comma splices and polished my prose until it shone. In short, I made Avelynn #2 as close to phenomenal as I could possible get it.

The good news is, I’m getter faster. My process is more efficient. I’m learning. Avelynn took me six months to research, a year and a half to write, and a year and a half to edit. The second book in the series took me a month to research (same time period just a slightly different setting) a year to write, and a year to edit. I’ve shaved my process in half!

Editing is essential. It’s a tough market out there. As authors, we have to put our best work forward. That being said, do I like editing? I love the results, but I’d rather each broccoli. Trust me. That’s saying_a_lot.

What do you think? Editing: love it or tolerate it. :D

In gratitude,

Marissa xo