2013 information , notes , series , writing 0 Comments

I’ve been asked more than once on how do I write a book series? It’s not that hard really. What you have to keep in mind, though, is remembering what you wrote in one book so you don’t contradict it in the next book(s). Also, after your first book, in the following ones, you need to put reminders of what happened in the first book and the important details in them. However, you should never do what I call “information dump.” What that means is don’t unload a bunch of information at once. It needs to be subtle. You can explain a few things in a paragraph but not everything. You can also have your character mention something another character has told her in the first book, to remind the reader about it. I did that with Paige in Dark Spirits when she thought of what Anwar told her in the first book, Beyond The Eyes. I also write notes on the side that I can refer back to and sometimes I read sections of the first book to refresh my memory.

I’ve been complimented more than once that each book, even though they're essentially the same story, has layers of other stories within the body of the main one, which adds flavor and depth to them.

For example, in Beyond The Eyes, the main character Paige has to deal with her emotions she’s harbored inside of herself for years. Yeah, she cries quite a bit, and there are some readers who were and will be put off by it. But she’s 17 and needs to deal with those emotions in order to move on. It also gives her room to grow, which she does. And then there’s her relationship with Nathan. I agree they fall in love rather quickly, but there is a reason for it, and Anwar mentions the reason towards the end of the book. I wrote it that way on purpose, and their romance is both sweet and hot. There are also love triangles and mystery–all in one book.

In Dark Spirits the reader will experience Paige’s growth and her speaking her mind to Nathan. They go through a rough patch, just like every relationship goes through. The love triangle continues, and the dark spirits plays a much bigger role in this second book. Paige also discovers abilities she never knew she had and is trying to adjust to being immortal.

I’m not trying to plug my books, I’m just trying to show you when you write a series, things need to progress towards the main plot, but instead of making it linear, there should be more than one thing going on.

The main plot in my series is Bael trying to obtain Solomon’s ring/power and incantations so he can control the dark spirits, create mass genocide, and become God in our world. Only one person can help him find and obtain this power–a 17 year old girl who is secretly lonely and sad and receives premonitions from a ghostly voice.

Right now, I’m writing The Devil’s Third. To me, this book has to be epic because everything that has happened in the first two has to tie into the third one where the main plot will come to an end. Honestly, I think this is the hardest book out of the two to write. I don’t want to half ass it so I can quickly finish this series and publish it. No. I think my readers deserve more than that, so I’m going to do the best I can to make this book rock.