The Secrets To Writing A Series (Part 1)

I’ve spent the last 22 years working on a series. That’s working, not writing, as there were plenty of years where I never put pen to paper, just thought about the story and characters in that way that we writers count things that aren’t writing as writing.

I then spent the last three years publishing that series (Blackbirch books 1-3 are out now. The fourth and final book will be released soon).

Does that make me an expert on writing a series? Nope. The best way to write anything is whatever way works for you. But I’ve learned what works for me and what doesn’t, so I’m sharing it here in case it’s helpful for anyone interested in writing a book series.

The Secrets To Writing A SeriesStart A Series Bible—And Keep It Updated!

When writing a series, there are a lot of details to remember. From the basics of what your characters look like, to remembering a line in book 1 so you can call back to it at just the right moment in book 4. Sometimes, you might be the only one who even remembers such references, but it’s those little details that help give a series the connections to each book and the characters. To keep track of everything, start a series bible.

Ideally, you’ll do this as you’re working on book 1 and remember to keep it updated as you go, so that by the time you pen that final book, you can easily refer to call backs, book events, and what characters were wearing when you need to.

I started one after the first book of my series, I didn’t keep it updated for the following books, and I regret it all!

Why did I not take my own advice? Simple. I thought I could remember it. Dear reader, I did not. Or rather, I remembered all the things I’d drafted but later cut from books. And you know what comes of not writing down little details across a series? Plot holes and incorrect information. They might not be huge. Some readers might not even notice or care, but you will.

Like the typos that haunt you at 2 a.m., the tiny details you messed up because you relied on your memory instead of what was on the printed page can sully the experience of your series.

So, start a series bible and keep it updated. Thank your past self when your future self gets to the last book and you have solid references to everything that you need.

Bonus secrets: 1. Keep notes (this picture is 22 years worth of notes, manuscripts, and feedback). 2. Gather items that inspire what you’re writing (crystals, amulets, cherry-tree rings, birds in trees, and magickal boxes—all items featured in my series that I now own). 3. Have fun with in-book world items and use them as prizes (merch from the fictional bookstore featured in Blackbirch I had made for a giveaway).Plan What You Can, Discover The Rest

If you don’t have a plan or idea of where your story is going when you write that first draft, that’s perfectly normal.

When I started my series, I had one clear idea of a girl saving a boy’s life with magickal powers. It’s not even a scene that’s in the first book, but something that happens in the second. I just wrote my way to that scene, and in the end, I had to create a whole first book to get to it. That wasn’t something I planned.

In fact, other than a few key scenes across the entire series, and knowing what characters I wanted to have, I didn’t plan much. I just wrote until it came together.

This is both a good and bad thing. Good, because writing like that gives you the joy of discovery. You don’t know what’s going to happen until you write it on the page, which I’ve found translates to readers also not knowing (in a good way) and being surprised by the events of your book.

But that kind of unorganized writing also means you could write drafts or whole characters that will later be cut. I have drafts, pages of whole book scenes, and ideas that never made it into the series (as pictured above).

Looking back on them, it’s like they’re not even part of the series, but I had to write them to discover what was. No writing is wasted. It all helps you to become a better writer. I may not have used those pages, but writing them taught me what works, what doesn’t, how to write exciting sentences, and how to shape my characters.

Even if no one else ever reads them, the knowledge of your fictional world and the characters that you build up for yourself does come across in your writing. Don’t dismiss the power of it or feel that it’s a waste just because it didn’t make the cut. It shaped your skills as a writer—and your book.

Pay Attention To The Standalone Story

This might sound obvious, to write each book like it is its own story while sprinkling in the parts that connect them all together and create the overall story, but it’s an easy rule to overlook.

As I said already, the initial idea for my series was a scene that doesn’t appear until the final chapters of book 2. I had to write book 1 to get to it, and while writing that book, I really just wanted to get to that scene.

That doesn’t mean I rushed book 1, but looking back now, I wish I’d taken more time developing it into its own stronger story instead of just getting through it to get to the book I really wanted to write.

Although each book in my series is a standalone story, I did always have in my mind that it was building toward an overall story and I do sometimes wonder if that helped or hindered what I put in each individual book. The secret? Get those overarching storylines going, but not at the cost of crafting a kick-ass standalone story. There is room for both in a series.

Bonus secret: Writing buddies make writing sessions fun. I’ve had three grace (aka walk all over/sit on) my writing desk as I’ve penned my books over the years. Slinky, Dash, and Luna. All are mentioned by name as easter eggs in my series.Do Some Outlining

While I am a total pantser when it comes to writing, I don’t just sit in front of a blank page with no idea what I’m doing. I might not outline anything before I write, and I don’t complete notebooks of character profiles and produce timeline graphics. At least, not initially.

I’m a big fan of taking the few chapter ideas, bits of dialogue, or the scenes I can see in my head and writing my way to them. After that, I will do the planning and outlining.

Reverse outlining is one of my favorite editing tools. It’s where you write the outline for the book after you’ve written at least the first draft. I’ve also learned to do chapter summaries and new outlines once I’ve reached the final few drafts just to get an idea of what the whole story is and to see what is missing or needs to be re-arranged.

This works for me. I also can’t deny that the fourth book in my series was not only the easiest and fastest book to write the first draft for, but also the easiest book to pull into a final draft. I believe this was because it tied up everything from the 3 books before it. By the time I started writing it, I knew what happened in the start, middle, and end, because I’d already been thinking and planning it for years.

Every time I finished a draft of the other books, every time I published them in book form, I knew what pieces of them had to be resolved in the last book. That made writing book 4 easy.

That’s not to say it didn’t take me 6 years from the first draft to the final 10th draft. There was also a time when I was so confused by certain parts of the plot that I wasn’t sure what was happening clearly, let alone my poor alpha reader who helped me sort out what I was trying to achieve. The takeaway from that experience is to plan and outline as much as you can, either to start or as you’re writing. It really helps!

And that’s part 1 of my secrets to writing a series. This post turned out bigger than I expected, so I’ve split it up, and the ramblings and tips will continue next time with part 2!

Until then, do you have a secret to writing a series? Let’s talk about it in the comments!

— K.M. Allan

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