A Series of Fortunate Events

When I was a kid, my dad worked at 1000 3rd Avenue in Manhattan in the Bloomingdale’s Book Department. (I always thought of it like that, with Capital Letters.) Naturally, I never wanted for reading material. I had a 66-book collection of The Hardy Boys (the ones with blue covers), and a 64-book collection of Nancy Drew Mystery Stories (the ones with yellow covers). I had stripped books without number. (Stripped books are paperbacks that have not sold and whose covers have been removed and returned to the publisher as proof they didn’t sell.) I also had several Peanuts collections, several Garfield collections, and several Calvin and Hobbes collections. My eclectic taste in books remains unchanged.

It should not be surprising, then, this rabid love of the written word that overwhelms me. Eventually, the focus of my eyes and mind shifted and I found myself trying to peer beneath the ink and paper to the inner workings, sort of the literary equivalent of man, how do they do that? As I’m writing this post, I find it telling that those titles above are the ones I remember rather than anything from that enormous and varied stripped book category. The first two collections were intended for a young adult audience; the last three were comic strips.

Series books, series characters, are popular with all readers but are especially so with children. When the same character/s appears again and again, young readers feel they’re reading about a friend, one who learns to handle some of the same problems they themselves face and who maybe does things they can’t. Think The Berenstain Bears, Ramona Quimby, the Magic Tree House’s Annie and Jack, and Diary of a Wimpy Kid’s Greg Heffley; for older kids, there’s Alex Rider, Artemis Fowl, and Percy Jackson.

A series about a recurring character also helps young readers learn how to become immersed in the written word. There is no need to spend time becoming acquainted with the who before getting to the what and why. Through all manner of interesting situations, the recurring character changes and matures—it’s worth stating plainly: This character absolutely should change and mature—and children are comforted by his or her triumph over adversity. Additionally, this character’s temporary failures demonstrate to the reading child that he or she need not be perfect. The consumption of each book thus becomes less mechanical and more experiential.

We should probably touch on The Character. For an illustrated book, the skilled artwork does most of the work of grounding a character. Certainly it takes only a single glance to tell us all we need to know about Calvin: the disapproving scowl as he stalks away from the dinner table dragging Hobbes,  his anthropomorphic-to-only-him stuffed tiger. Without illustrations, however, a writer needs to employ some of those thousand words a picture is worth.

Consider this bit from the prologue of the first Artemis Fowl book: The main problem is Artemis’s own intelligence. He bamboozles every test thrown at him. He has puzzled the greatest medical minds and sent many of them gibbering to their own hospitals. More details emerge in the course of the narrative, but what, really, could possibly expand on your immediate picture of young Artemis’ fundamental character? The cadence and word choices paint a vivid picture.

A useful tool for a series character is the protagonist known as a catalyst. This is one whose personality is fully formed right from the start, thereby eliminating much of any possible character arc. Enter The Minor Character, upon whom the full-force of the hero or heroine’s personality falls. It’s this “sidekick”  who experiences change, who matures, who triumphs and grows due to the influence of the catalyst character.

The essential element of a book series seems to be unique, preferably quirky, characters. I say seems to be because you may have a spectacular idea for a series of books that puts the lie to everything I believe about such things. More power to you! Remember, books intended for a younger audience also appeal to, sometimes even awaken, the child in each of us. Craft a story that engages the reader, teaches an important lesson without being overbearing, gives readers something to talk about when they’re finished, and leaves your audience hungry for the next installment. Mission accomplished.

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