Category Archives: Book Series

Writing a Book Series-Author Guest Panel

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Thanks for joining us today. I’m stoked about today’s post. In my ongoing discussion on constructing a book series, I asked a group of writers, who are in the process of, have written, a book series, to provide some insight into their process and books.

My panel includes V.S. Nelson, Camelia Miron Skiba, Shanyn Hosier, Mary Buckham, and Gina Conkle. I’m very excited to have this incredibly talented panel of authors bringing varied knowledge and experiences, some traditionally published and some self-published, writing different genres that include romance (including a LGBT ménage romance!), paranormal romance, urban fantasy, and historical. Next to their pictures below, I included a brief description of their book series. At the end of the post, please find a brief bio on each along with a picture of their latest release or cover to one of their series!

Mary BuckhamMary Buckham: I’m writing two series. One in fiction, one in non-fiction. The fiction one is an Urban Fantasy series focused on a group of five human women with unique gifts recruited to fight growing agitation from the preternatural world that exists side-by-side with the human world, though unknown to most.  They do this via a new agency called the INVISIBLE RECRUITS, which echoes the theme of women in the shadows, fighting their own fears and limitations as well as battling threats unknown to most humans. The initial books in the series focus on Alex Noziak, part/witch, part/shaman, who must learn to embrace her gifts to help her team and others or die in the process. The non-fiction series is called WRITING ACTIVE SETTINGS, which explores different elements of utilizing setting on the page as a dynamic, powerful craft tool in several distinct ways.

Shanyn Hosier, Desert MenageShanyn Hosier: Desert Menage is comprised of three books. It follows three characters—Beth, Paul, and John—and their triadic relationship from its comically tenuous beginning in Nine Dates, through its evolution into a strong and equitable bond in Tri Me, culminating with the threesome facing unique and politically charged challenges in Wholly Trinity as they strive to live more openly and begin a family together.  Amanda Ryder (series) never asked for her special gifts—she’d been born with the ability to see, hear, and sense things around her no one else could. But her family never believed her innocence and accused her of witchcraft. Her father threw her out of the house on her eighteenth birthday, when an exorcism went horribly wrong. The series follows Amanda as she makes her way in the world, meeting others with paranormal talents, struggling to find her place. It’s not always easy, especially when “good” guys don’t always make “good” choices.

V.S. NelsonV. S. Nelson: Long ago, seven stepped forward and volunteered for a mission to protect Earth from an evil that escaped their world. Today they are known as those that run Guardians Inc., a world renowned protection agency. Although the books in the series are multi-plotted, each book centers on one of these heroes and their quest for true love.

Camelia Miron SkibaCamelia Miron Skiba: My series is a 5-story historical romance series called Dacian Legends (Born In Vengeance and Born In Sin already released; Born In Darkness will come out 2015). Each book follows the story of one of the members of a Dacian brotherhood in their quest for revenge, honor and love.

Gina Conkle, Norse JewelGina Conkle: Midnight Meetings, a 3 book series with Sourcebooks, tells of men and women entwined with the once golden Sanford family. The Industrial Revolution looms ahead and each character must adapt.  A pivotal “midnight meeting” changes lives in each book.

All the series sound great and some I’ve had the pleasure of starting to read! I’d like to observe something here, which I find very interesting. The book titles are connected in some way (all very creative and intriguing), and we definitely see this with many book series.

We have V.S. Nelson’s two published books in her Sekhmet’s Guardians: Eternal Lovers and Eternal Nights. The eternal already clues you in to the immortal aspect.

Cami’s Born In Vengeance, Born in Sin, etc…touching upon each hero’s conflict/story.

Shanyn’s Nine Dates, Tri Me, and Wholly Trinity which all play into the ménage theme.

Mary’s Invisible Recruits, Invisible Magic, Invisible Power. Automatically I wonder, why invisible? Mary explains the invisible relates to internal and external conflicts.

Gina’s Midnight Meetings, which I find a fantastic idea., and the series title immediately clues you in.

My Necromancer Series: Necromancer’s Seduction, Necromancer’s Betrayal, and tentative third title of Necromancer’s Redemption. Each title reflects a specific theme for the heroine’s arc (and other characters as well).

If you visit these authors’ websites and look at the book covers, you see a design theme as well. All this helps the reader connect immediately to the series, and also shows the author put a lot of thought into the look of their series, etc.

One of the challenging aspects for me in writing my series has been filling the reader in on what happened in the previous book. I’ve seen authors do this in various ways, and I think the method used depends on the type of book series. How have you approached filling the reader in? Continue reading →

Writing a Book Series – Character Arcs

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Good to be back after a brief hiatus. Juggling revisions on one book, my own editing on another, and actually writing the third has been a hair wringing task, (lots of new gray hairs) but I’m still on track to meet deadlines, thankfully, and, am currently reviewing galley proofs for book release July 15!!

This was a tough post to write because characters are such fundamental parts of our stories. And how to make them grow and change over a series even tougher. I don’t claim to be an expert, and am sharing my learning process. One thing is for sure, nothing turns me away from a series more than, after the third or fourth book, the protagonist doesn’t learn or grow. They become plot devices. Argh.

I began writing my necromancer book when my protagonist, Ruby, invaded my head, told me about her power over the dead and how she struggled with it, and I got excited, started writing, and thought, well this is a story of how she masters her power.

Well, yes, but no. As I explored her character more, I realized it was also a story about how she changes her beliefs about herself, her world, and her power. Even more exciting.

What is character growth? Change? External events can drive the character forward (more of a plot driven scenario). Changes in the character’s skills and knowledge take the arc a bit deeper, but deepen it more, and you get the internal changes, the beliefs, that make the story more interesting. I always loved the interplay between Scully and Mulder in The X-Files. Okay, I just loved the damn show. But Scully really changes, in many ways, more than Mulder. She starts out very scientific and skeptical and slowly over the series, she faces death, kidnapping, possible alien experimentation, and she becomes a believer. But it wasn’t just belief in aliens, but in herself, in her relationship with Mulder. At times, she had to convince him to keep believing.

So how to approach character change over a series? Before continuing, I must insert disclaimer here again.

I’m speaking from my experience of writing my series and what worked or didn’t work for me. Everyone has different writing styles and different stories. There are also many different types of book series. My series is set in the same world throughout, with the same characters, and has a major story arc that will only get resolved in Book Three.

The latter is important because this discussion centers on a character’s growth over a series of books. Think Jim Butcher’s Dresden series or Kelley Armstrong’s Woman of the Underworld characters, such as the werewolf Elena.

Ruby’s growth revolves around her ever growing and changing necromancer skills, her past, and the past history of necromancers.

In Necromancer’s Seduction, Ruby is seduced by her power and by her love interest. How does she respond to the seduction? How does it affect her beliefs? The book ends with Ruby making a major decision that has very important consequences for her growth, but also for the plot. The second and third books begin with her dealing with the consequences of her decision from the previous book. Did she make the right decision? Did the end justify the means? And how does the decision impact her relationships with the other characters? And her relationship with her power?

I loved writing about her struggles with her decisions. How maybe her decisions were not the best, but they seemed like the best decision at the time and were certainly justifiable, the lesser of two evils, so to speak. Either way, her decisions lead her in the direction I need her to go for the next book. (Maybe not exactly the direction she would have chosen, but I’m mean like that J )

So: external change, event leads to new capability/new use of power creates new circumstances/consequences results in change in belief/decision.

Ruby goes through this cycle in each book. She explores a new necromancer power, related to the plot, which leads to a change in belief and a decision, but with each book, the stakes go up, the skill she learns and uses is more difficult and leads to more significant and perilous consequences. The advantage to writing a series is the author can explore different stages of that growth.

Here are some questions to frame this journey:

What propels the hero on his or her journey? Why does s/he need to go on the journey? Does the hero have a mentor or someone to talk to? What are the mentor’s motives? Why does the hero keep going forward? What tools does s/he have at his/her disposal?  Did the hero fail or succeed? Why do we care if the hero is successful or not? What was the hero’s major struggle in each book? With his/her power? Personal or romance?

Lots of questions.

In addition to exploring different facets to the heroine’s growth, a series also provides space to show the hero faltering. Book Two has both Ruby, and her main love interest, Ewan, both struggling immensely. External forces, split loyalties, or decisions made in order to defeat the bad guys drive them apart. Ruby stumbles quite a bit as she navigates her new powers and other things I won’t reveal, which lead her to commit an act that is morally questionable. She comes to terms with her actions in Book Three.

Ewan is quite confident in Necromancer’s Seduction, and over the three books, he has to break down and reform himself before he can be the demon he wants to be for Ruby, and to help her in the end. If he doesn’t go through that process, he will not be at that strong place, mentally or emotionally, to help her.

The relationship with the villain also plays an important role in the hero or heroine’s growth. In the beginning of the story, the villain has more choices and tools at his disposal, which makes him more powerful. It’s the opposite for the hero or heroine. Every scene and plot point strips away options from the hero until the black moment. At the black moment, the hero’s belief, ego or some cherished value is destroyed. Then a new choice presents itself that wasn’t available before because the hero wasn’t ready to make that leap of faith (Saito to Cobb in Inception—“Don’t you want to take a leap of faith? Or become an old man, filled with regret, waiting to die alone.” Love it!)

Ultimately our hero prevails because, while the hero grows and embraces new beliefs that drives her/him to take actions that ultimately lead to success, the villain adheres to inflexible and intolerant beliefs that keeps him/her from growing, and unable to take the actions or make the right decisions, which lead to his/her demise.

Speaking of the devil, each book in a series can have an ultimate black moment, but the series as a whole should have a major dark moment where the hero makes a choice that would have been unthinkable or unavailable in some way at the beginning of the series. Harry Potter, in the end, comes to the realization, the belief, he is a Horcrux, and accepts, understand he has to die in order to kill Voldemort. Fortunately, he doesn’t.

On a side note, I’m a big fan of the television show Game of Thrones. What I like is how some characters begin as unsympathetic and bad, then they suffer various experiences which test their beliefs, and they become better. Like Jaime Lannister. He friggin pushed Bran off a window when Bran saw him having sex with his sister, Cersei. Jaime starts out as conceited and ruthless, but he changes, and we begin to like him, or I do, at least. I need some new characters to like as my favorites keep getting killed off, sigh, Red Wedding, sigh Robb Stark.

How have you seen, treated character growth? How has the villain helped or hindered the hero’s growth?

Writing a Book Series – Book One as Act One

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I’ve wanted to write a series about writing a series 🙂 for a while now, partly because I’m stumbling along, learning as I go, and find that in posting and sharing, I’m learning from others and from the process. I’d love to hear what other writers have learned about writing a book series. Please share your insights, tips, and frustrations, if any. Or, as a reader, things you like or don’t like about book series.

The Necromancer’s Seduction is Book One in a three book Urban Fantasy series. It’s my first book. My first series. Sometimes I wonder what the hell I was thinking. But I guess I wasn’t thinking when the story came, just writing.

Disclaimer: I’m speaking from my experience of writing my series and what worked or didn’t work for me. Everyone has different writing styles and different stories, but that’s also why it’s very cool to hear about people’s different approaches.

There are also many different types of book series. Some are connected by the world and characters, but each book is a book unto itself. The next book in the series may take place in the same world, but may feature different characters facing a separate challenge. Or vice versa. Same characters, different world. And many variations in between.

My series is set in the same world throughout, with the same characters, and has a major story arc that will only get resolved in Book Three. So my Book One has a plot (or in reality a subplot) that gets resolved at the end of Book One, but it ties into and hints at the major story arc that builds and builds until it culminates in Book Three. Think Harry Potter. Each book deals with Harry discovering something about himself and his wizard skills, and resolving one specific threat, but the Voldemort story hangs and builds over everything that happens, influencing things in subtle ways, until the final battle at the end. For example, we don’t learn about Harry being a horcrux until the very end although we are given clues.

I wrote Necromancer Seduction-Book One-with maybe a smidgen of thought to the end of Book Three. And now, after writing the first draft of Book Two and starting Book Three, I’ve altered my mythology some as my characters reveal things to me, and as I develop the story. In hindsight, I wish I would have plotted out my entire series before starting Book One, but my brain is just not wired that way. The story for Book One came out as it came out.

However, despite the changes in my mythology, I’ve made very minor tweaks if any to Book One, and it hit me. I had written Book One almost like it was Act One of the Three Act structure, but for my major story arc. It’s an arc within an arc. Yikes. I do better with diagrams. (Here’s my high tech graphic 🙂

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It’s helpful to review the purpose of the Act I or first chunk of a book. Usually, an author introduces the main characters, the basic plot, clears up any important action or events that occurred before the book began, maybe introduce a subplot or two, and some basic clues. And usually, the first chunk ends with a major action scene or complication that carries the story into the second chunk. (Sometimes sagging middles occur because too much was given away in the first chunk.)

What really made me realize that I had treated Book One of my series like the first chunk was that I hadn’t given too much away. I introduced the main characters and gave some insight into their background, but not everything. (For example, my hero Ewan has a major back story problem that impacts his life immensely and I’m not telling what it is until Book Three, although I provide some hints along the way.) I did slip in some basic clues about the world and past events that are important to the overall story arc in Book One, but I’m talking slivers because more wasn’t necessary. The rest comes in the subsequent books.

With Book Two, I reveal lots more, like an Act II. The purpose of Act II or the second chunk: add more complication, grow the seeds planted in the first chunk, provide new clues, expand and inform. The threads are still loose, but closing in. Usually, the second chunk ends with a bigger bang, but we don’t know how things will work out. And in the third and final chunk, pacing increases because we are solving problems and tying everything together. That’s basically how Book Three is panning out. A rush to the endgame, which was mostly revealed in Book Two. There are a few more surprises in Book Three, but it’s basically a race to the finish line.

Using the Three Act structure as a lens to view my three books helped me organize my series in my head, and how much to reveal in each book. Any thoughts and suggestions to share on how you organized/structured your series?

In my next post on writing a book series, I’m going to discuss character arcs and relationships throughout the series.