I thought writing a series would be the same as writing a novel; I was wrong. There are so many more factors that you need to focus on, and you need to know about when you write the first book. A lot of those factors might already exist in a book, you just use them differently when you write one book, to when your writing three or five or twenty.
Series have always drawn me in, 10 – 20 books where you can read until all you can see is this incredible world and fantastic characters. Some authors’ characters are so real and compelling that I would read them doing their shopping! You don’t get that connection to a single book, or at least I don’t.
Some of my favourite series have characters arcs that travel through three books (or more), but it all starts with a set up in book one. The reader needs to know their flaws and needs, and while each book will get a resolution to that main story, you follow onto the next book to see the character grow, learn and change. See how they get themselves out of trouble next time. Those are my favourite kind of series.
I want to learn how to create that joy, that pull.
I always imagined Earth Bound would be a series of short stories or novels when I originally published it, but I never got around to completing that promise to myself. As I was revising it, I was thinking about how do I do this? How do I create this magic that I love so much? So I dusted off my copy of Holly Lisle How to Write a Series, and I started series planning on Earth Bound. It’s a long course, and I am far from finished, but in just those first 2 weeks of modules, I have learned so much.
Characters, mysteries, conflicts and questions make up a large portion of week 2. Each section has various elements that are created. Some are loadstones that help centre the reader in your world, others a thread that pulls readers through. Each aspect adding to what makes this magic exists.
I am going to use this course to write what I have called the Rift Bloodlines Series. Earth Bound will be the first story in this series of what will probably be three or four Novella length books.
Additionally, I am doing this course for the Second Sight revision, but this story will be a prequel to a longer series. Much more loosely connected.
Doing this course now on these stories means that I can make sure all these elements are in the first books. Hopefully, I can create some of that magic I love for others to read.