Happy Sunday, everyone.
Having a great weekend, I hope. Saturday was a pleasant day
with the family and I'm not sure exactly what the plans are for today. But,
part will be absorbing the insights of our Muse authors.
We're continuing our musings on series starting with the
first of four questions from Chuck Bowie:
In a series, how important is it to 'plant' facts, actions,
characters' opinions in early episodes, in order to sow the seeds for actions
in subsequent novels?
Take it away, Chuck...
This is such an important question for anyone beginning what
might turn out to be a series. There are (at least) two ways to help your
readers bond with your characters: 1) Let the reader watch them grow into their
character, or 2) embed little elements in the earliest episode.
I was eavesdropping on a couple of young women at a
restaurant one time. The less interesting one responded to questions with
monosyllables--she may have been texting!--whereas the other replied with
compound sentences. From time to time, she'd reinforce a point by saying
'...and plus,...' Was it grammatically correct? No. Was as charming as can be?
Absolutely! So yes, I stole it and got one of my secondary characters to toss
this phrase in, from time to time. Later, in Book 2, it was easy to 'hear her
voice, even with a briefer introduction. Of course, she was the only character
who was permitted this affectation!
Another time, I imposed dermatographic urticaria: that
condition where the slightest touch to skin raises red weals. Unpleasant, you
point out? Maybe. But when my protagonist needs something discrete to write on?
Perfect. I didn't need this trait as much in Book 2, but it was an interesting
point to solidify her character, and it set the stage for this attribute to be
exploited in a later episode.
Write your novel in the best way possible, but toss in some
fun facts, actions etc, to help make the reader know their characters better,
and to heighten the plausibility, when you trot out an eidetic memory, for
instance, or skin-writing in a later episode!
Write On!
MJ LABEFF, New Mainstream author
I think it's important to plant some facts, actions, and
characters opinions in early novels of a series in order to build a readers
anticipation and desire for the next book, and the next, and the one after
that, but not in such a way they might feel cheated or disappointed by too a
great cliffhanger. In my series, the
Last Cold Case, each book features a new case tied to a cold case, the books
can be read alone, no spoiler alerts, but what readers will discover is the
evolving personal relationship between the homicide detective and FBI agent.
Despite the multiple murders and serial killer they’re tracking, they manage to
find a happily ever after. I’ve enjoyed suspense/thriller series where you need
to read all of the books in the series before the killer is apprehended. The
author was able to hold my interest because of the multiple story lines and
interesting secondary characters, despite leaving the main story line
unresolved until the final book. This type of series is different than a serial
in my humble opinion, because of the other story lines that are resolved. I prefer to read a suspense/thriller series
where each book features the same investigators or amateur sleuths overcoming
personal and professional obstacles while solving a new crime in each
book. It would be interesting to hear
what readers think about series and how they feel when an author really leaves
them hanging until the next book.
The books in a series are by their nature linked, and it's
definitely necessary to provide continuity.
Even in mysteries, which are frequently standalone episodes, the
characters must have something of a back history, a life behind the scenes, developed
in earlier stories, in order for them to remain interesting and to keep readers
coming back to them. Established
thought-ways, moral standards, and core personalities influence or outright
control responses to situations arising in later works.
I viewed my Star Commandos series as one extended story.
Although each novel can be read as a separate entity, they form a history. In some, the link is stronger than in others,
but it is always present. Each in its
turn contributes to the characters' ongoing story. The unit assembles during the first three
books. There is a steady growth and
development in the individuals involved.
Love, respect, and regard deepen between all the unit's members and
within the two couples. One of the basic
threads is the male protagonist's gradual (though never complete) adaptation to
and integration with his adopted ultrasystem.
Varn slowly becomes more comfortable, and his circle of friends, his
personal universe, begins to expand. It
is this human story which drives the series, and it is through the various
challenges the people encounter that their story advances.
It depends on whether the plot and theme of each novel in
the series is dependent on the previous ones.
In the connection in my series of several standalone novels,
the first of which is Sunday’s Child characters from each novel, Monday’s Child
to be released in spring, 2016, are characters who take part in them.
Sowing seeds for companion series and sequels doesn’t have to
be a stay-tuned commercial moment for the reader. Sequels involve leaving
lingering doubts and unanswered questions, or an outright cliffhanger at the
end to irk the reader into buying the next book. I’ve written a number of
serials, each with a subtle segue into the next book. A plot line should have a
satisfactory conclusion, though side stories that will be addressed in future
books can start anywhere. In my older woman, younger man romance, the woman’s
sister is the goody two-shoes, yet she has an illegitimate daughter. It’s a
peripheral story, and the father is never mentioned. It’s important because the
love interest helps the daughter and cements his relationship to the family.
The sequel, Centrifugal Force, is the surprise father showing up.
Serials that continue to have the same main characters work
on one greater problem from book to book, addressing only peripheral plot
points in each book creates rising and falling tension as the characters get
close to solving the problem only to have the solution slip away. In that case,
you have to give the reader some sort of satisfaction during the course of the
book while leaving the conclusion out of reach only at the end.
I’ve had a number of readers ask me if such and such a book
has more books in the series and if they were all out because they didn’t like
waiting. Our frantic sound byte generation has turned into the binging
generation.
This question particularly interests me, because I have just
recently created a series from my stand alone book. I think it’s important for
the themes of a series to be in the first book. As I wrote my second book I
drew from events that had happened in the first book and related them to the
reader who might not have read the first book. This was done so you could
understand the story without needing to read the first book. However, what
happens to Jennifer and the reasons for it were hinted at in the first book.
Also in the first book all of the characters were developed and so the same
characters are mostly back in the second book and possibly in the third book as
well. But although the same characters are back, their personality and their
actions are different a little bit. Part of the reason is this is an older
grade and they interact much differently. Plus their lives are changing and
this change is seen in the second book. The themes of the first book are in
this second one and the point of view is changed as well. A different
character’s narrative is seen in the second book and this allows the themes of
the first book to be enlarged upon and others introduced as well. Many readers
told me they had identified with my secondary character, Jennifer, while
reading the first book, If I Could Be Like Jennifer Taylor. That is why the
second book is in Jennifer’s point of view. However, since Jennifer was so
developed in the first book, it was easy to use her as a main character. While
the main character, Carolyn, is still there with a different purpose.
One way or another, I find I tend to “plant” facts in my
series as they move forward. Some have been sowed consciously, some randomly.
However they get seeded, I’m a firm believer in tying your series arc through
character actions. A series indicates that each story builds upon the previous
one, and your character’s growth through the series follows the same pattern.
While my first series, The Kyn Kronicles, some seemingly random facts or
behaviors appeared before I realized how important a part they played later on
in the series. It was a happy surprise to see my sub-conscious writing mind at
work without picking up on it until later. In my second series, The PSY-IV
Teams, I made more of a conscious decision to plant various characters and
situations with an eye toward bringing them in to later stories. In my current
project, I’m very deliberate in the bits and pieces I’m laying, because each
book is closely tied together. While this works well for me, and sometimes I
surprise myself and my characters, there are some series that may not need
those interlocking threads to make their story arc work. That may be more true
if your series doesn’t follow one individual throughout each book, or if each
book in the series can stand all by itself. In the end, like most answers to
writing style questions, it comes down to what works best for the writer to
tell their stories.
When I wrote 'Daffodil and the Thin Place', I hadn't thought
about a sequel, so it didn't occur to me to plant anything that would help me
in writing a subsequent novel. However, several people have suggested I
continue the story of Daffodil and I have recently started an outline. It
probably would have made things easier for me, if I'd set things up in the
first book, which could have been developed in the second. However, I hope to
build on some of the characters and on the themes that appear in the first book
even though they don't contribute directly to the plot of the second.
I suppose that if a series is written as if each book leads
on to the next and each is part of a whole, then clues are vital in earlier
books to lead on to actions in the sequels.
If however, each book is an entire story in its own right,
so long as the characters and themes are faithful to the previous book, it isn't
vital that facts, characters' opinions and actions are planted in each story.
At least, I hope that's the case! As I start writing Daffodil 2, I might wish
I'd been a bit more farsighted!
When writing a series, I like to have lot of things that tie
in with the previous books, both small things and large ones. It's important to
leave hints, but often when I'm writing, I don't plan that far ahead, so I have
to make hints "after the fact." So sometimes, I leave things
uncertain about the characters and about the world they live in so that it can
be explored in future books. And if you leave a few "gaps" (assuming
they're natural gaps and not just glaring holes the author should have filled
in originally), then you can make them your hints that can seed actions in
future books. Of course, it's awesome when authors come up with totally clever
links and clues ahead of time, but filling in the gaps from previous novels to
make it appear like you'd planted the hints early on is probably the next best
thing.
Dear reader, thank you again for joining us and we’d love to
hear from you. Keep smiling and have a fun week. Never stop believing. See you
next Sunday…nothing better than being cozy in bed with some Musings.
If you have a question or comment you’d like us to muse upon, do not hesitate to contact me Christine Steeves-Speakman at MuseChrisChat@gmail.com
No comments:
Post a Comment