My characters are gaining personalities. One has become painfully shy. The heroine has a relationship with his brother. The conflict, taking place in the first chapter, involves these three young people, an assault, and a case of mistaken identity. Hopefully this initial bit of excitement will hook the reader (if they haven’t been already–this is the fourth book in the series, after all.)
A word on plot. I am writing a series of books, so I have to write stories that work on a number of levels. There is the story that begins and ends within each book. There are main characters, conflict and a satisfying resolution within this framework. THEN there is the big story that stretches over the course of the four books. It also has main characters (some different,) a much larger conflict and a resolution that wraps up all the loose ends from all four books (a tall order.) In addition to this there are the hidden themes that I incorporate into each book.
More about that next time.
November 8, 2007 at 9:32 am
ohhh fun fun! hidden themes, my favourite.
November 8, 2007 at 11:42 am
So . . . how did you do it? I’ve never done a series of that sort.
Do you plot all four at once? Plot the big story, then find the stories within? Sounds like a lot of work!
I know it’ll be great to read.
Susan
To School a Cowboy–The Wild Rose Press
November 8, 2007 at 12:18 pm
I can’t speak for suzanne, but here’s some things I’ve noticed in my own writing:
1) If you come up with some important symbols and think about hidden meaning, invariably other parts of the text start having parallel symbols you don’t realize you’re writing. I had a teacher claim this happened to all good writers because of the collective unconscious.
2) Characters often “come to life” and start reacting on their own to situations, and this often leads to new plots or unresolved stories you can come back to.
3) Like characters, when you build a world with its own history and personality, it often starts to become real in your mind and demand other stories in the same reality.
November 8, 2007 at 1:54 pm
It was meant to be one book. But I found out quite early that the story I wanted to tell would outgrow anything I could fit into a single book. There are three generations of women involved, as well as a lot of ancillary characters, gods, goddesses etc.
Writing a series can be difficult, because things you write in the second and third books affect what has already gone on in the first. You have to be careful with consistency. Also you have to add clues for people who might not have read earlier books in the series, but not repeat yourself too much.
It does, however, give you much more room to tell a story.