Guest Post – Stephen Zimmer – My Approach to Writing a Series
An epic fantasy series is, without question, an epic undertaking if done right. It can involve a mountain of research and many years involved in the writing and publishing of the entire series. From trilogies like Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien and the Fionavar Tapestry of Guy Gavriel Kay, to series with a larger number of installments such as Terry Goodkind’s Sword of Truth Series (12 titles) and Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time Series (14th title coming out in 2013), epic fantasy series come in various sizes, but none of them are what can be deemed as small writing projects.
I know intimately what this process is like, with both my Fires in Eden Series and my Rising Dawn Saga, two concurrent epic-scale series that I have been developing and writing since the mid 1990’s. All authors are different, and there are many approaches that can be taken to writing a series, but for me there are a few basic things I have done that have helped me stay on course.
At one end of the spectrum there are those that heavily outline, and there are other writers that really don’t outline or plan too much in advance, setting off down the road to see what might come from the initial story spark that they felt. I find myself in a balance between those two ends of the spectrum, and I have a very good reason for it, one that is based upon my particular writing style.
I write in a multi-threaded style, with several story threads that follow the points of view of a particular character, written in third person. This is not too different from the style employed by George R.R. Martin. I had gravitated to this style by the early 1990’s, with my first attempt at a novel and series, as it was a natural fit for the kinds of stories I wanted to tell.
The multi-threaded style gives me a full range with which to tell a grand story. I can work from a broad number of perspectives, and I can insert a short thread here or there to give an important viewpoint to the reader that doesn’t fit entirely within a particular character thread. The multi-threaded style is the reason why I fall somewhere in the middle of those who heavily outline and those who do not.
I knew the endings of the Fires in Eden Series and the Rising Dawn Saga before I started to write them, or had even fleshed out their beginnings. To me, the goal, the destination of the literary path of each series, was of paramount importance to me. The journey of getting to that destination is great fun, in terms of the writing and development, but I really needed a clear idea of where I wanted to go before I tackled the foundational first books, and proceeded into subsequent titles.
The importance of having a destination reflects across each title in the series, where the subsequent novels have goals of their own within the context of the broader series. To do this justice, I need to have a basic outline in place for the core of the storyline.
At the same time, along the quest of writing these epic adventures, new characters and ideas emerge, including some potent sub plots that add to the richness of the overall story. I never wanted to be “boxed in” from having outlined too extensively, and inhibit myself from taking advantage of the new things that inevitably crop up along the way.
The destination remains the same, but new entire threads and characters are given room to help the reader have an even richer adventure and reading experience. I see this as maintaining creative flexibility.
I briefly mentioned each title having its own goal within the broader context, and that is definitely another part of my own approach to writing a series. I feel that each title has its role, and each title should contain satisfactory components in and of itself, while leaving other things in place for the reader to look forward to in the next volume.
This is a fine line to walk, but it is one that I am very conscious of with each new book. I should also mention that there’s a little more weight on the first titles of each series, in the sense that they are the foundations from which the entire series will be built. The first books set the parameters, and in the case of my two series they introduce the worlds that the novels are set in. As such, they have a little slower pace than the ensuing titles do, but giving them this kind of task and attention sets the stage for so much more with each new release. A foundation of rock is much more effective than a foundation of sand when building a grand edifice, and I feel no differently when it comes to the construction of a compelling fantasy series.
Another important task that I have in mind when writing the titles of my series concerns the things that I set up, and the payoffs I have for the reader when I deliver on those setups. All throughout each series, from the first books onward, I plant many seeds in place that grow and set something up within the storylines. Nothing can be more frustrating for a reader than when an author has a beautiful setup of something, and then walks away from it completely. I’m not one of those authors. I really work hard to make sure that the reader gets payoff after payoff on the things that I set up, and I am very confident that my readers will back me up strongly in this regard.
Finally, and this was a lesson learned the hard way, the importance of doing your homework cannot be stated enough. In the 1990’s I was so excited about the ideas that I had that I wrote the first manuscripts of what eventually became the first books of each series. The problem was that I gave the research and world-building components a more cursory level of attention, and when I finished the manuscripts I found that both books were lacking something significant.
After careful thought, I realized that I needed to flesh out the world-building, and acquire a more comprehensive thought process about lands, cultures, religions and more. I had studied quite a bit before, but I knew that I needed to apply that study, and work to build onto it. This resulted in a few years of very thorough research into medieval societies, history, weaponry, and much more that applied to the things of both series. When I did another pass through the books, I was able to bring them the organic reality and depth that they needed. I also found my thinking becoming more comprehensive, as I had hoped, which greatly strengthened my approach to the inventive elements in my series that do not have a historical foundation in our world.
I certainly do not presume to judge the ways of other authors take to the task of crafting a series. Best-sellers and enduring series have been written by authors with entirely different approaches. I have simply found what works best for me. Balancing between outlining and leaving flexibility for new additions, having goals in place for each individual title, working to match the things I set up with strong payoffs, and doing my research are the four main pillars that I have come to rely upon in moving my two series forward in strong fashion.
This post is brought to you as part of the Spirit of Fire blog tour, celebrating the release of the third book in Stephen’s Fires in Eden series. For the full schedule, check out the publisher’s press release at Seventh Star Press.
Additionally, the first book in the series, Crown of Vengeance, is available free on the Kindle today. So now is the prefect time to drop by and pick up a copy to get started on the series.
About the author:
Stephen Zimmer is an award-winning fantasy author and filmmaker based out of Lexington, Kentucky. Stephen has two series being published through Seventh Star Press; the epic fantasy Fires in Eden Series and the epic-scale urban fantasy series, The Rising Dawn Saga.
For more information about Stephen and his various works, see his website, his Facebook page, or follow him on Twitter.
