Posts Tagged With: Writing Tips

While writing my latest book, I ran into a bit of a dilemma, “Do I make the book into a series or leave it as a single book?” Leaving out the promotion of this book, I will say that there were changes to the book that made it very different from what I planned, and as I came to the conclusion of the novel I realized that for it to be a single book, I need to either remove a few sub-plot points that I created earlier in the book to support a bigger plot point or resolve them altogether. If I did the first option, then the book would have been shorter than I planned it and a single book. If I did the latter option, then the book could have been a single book, albeit a little longer than planned, or a series of books. If you have had the same problem or wish to know more about writing a book series, read on.

1) Before you write your book, decided whether you want it to be a single book or a book series. Why should you decide now? Because it can save you a lot of rewriting later. Now the romance industry has created a twist on the book series idea. Rather than have the series being about the same two characters, they link each book in the series through a time and place and characters from the previous book. So if Jane and Earl got together in the first book, then Marge, Jane’s sister, and Henry who were minor characters in that first book will have their own love story and so on.

2) If you have a lot of research material, the overflow information can easily go into another book. Just gather all the extra material, organize it into some sort of order, and develop it into a separate book. The best time to start collecting research for book two is when youa are organizing book one.For non-fiction writers, select a sub-topic in your book to do further research on. Doing more research on sub-topics you might have only touched upon in the first book to cover fully in the sequel will bring your readers back for the additional information.

3) Consider your readers. ask them who their favorite characters are, who’d they like to have their own book in a series. If the book is a non-fiction ask them what they want to know more about in your book and expound on that. There are many readers out there that love series books. A sequel sometimes sells better than the previous book. And if you write a series that people love and can relate to, then your readers will go out and buy every title in the series. It can be a profitable as well as an easy way to write a few books.

4) If your book starts to get too large, separate a larger book into sections, then divide them into serveral books. Remember series books have two main plots, or three if it has a romance in it. The first one is the series plot and the second one the book plot. The series plot is just like what it sounds. It is a plot drawn out through entire novel or novella, from start to finish, and every book resolves just a little more of the series plot. A book plot is just the plot done for each book. It starts at the beginning of the book and it ends at the end of the book. And the romance plot, if you have one, is threaded throughout it.

What do you think of these tips to writing a book series? Did I leave anything out? Do you have anything to add? Or questions that I might not have answered? I’d love to hear from you below!