In my vlog last week, I introduced a few characters my WIP series revolves around. This series started with a bland idea of two characters and no plot about ten years ago. Now it's headed to a five-book series and several branched-off pieces. I stuck to just a few topics at the time on details that mattered to me to build my two main characters.
In the last several years, I've gotten ideas for this in various ways, but I worked on building my characters then the plot came to me. I may have pulled from my life experiences. Many of my characters feel like they are me, either older or younger, wiser or immature. Others are various versions I can picture of people in my life. What would my wife have been like if I had met her when she was younger? Could I make a person crueler than I have seen or pour all the innocent traits I can into one character?
I'll admit it's not straightforward when it comes to plotting. Part of the progress has so much to do with opening your mind and asking yourself to reflect on the areas that are not defined or are too buff and proportionate them. I've said foreign and meditation music like reiki clears my mind, especially when the plot is still waiting. Relaxing is vital for me because I can make significant and drastic connections when I'm not stressing about daily life.
For a single book, it's relatively easy to follow an idea and formulate a fantastic book barring these insightful tips to consider when starting the first chapter. You should have a draw or a catch and end the chapter with a hook line or a cliffhanger. The build of a chapter is made to hold the reader hanging. Something that makes the reader want to see what will happen next.
Often there is a sensation of danger, startling news, or a surprising encounter. Patterned with clearing the tension at the start of the next chapter, the reader should see a build-up to your climax. Knowing the pattern you hope to have will allow you to drop crumbs leading to the cake. A series can be completed nearly the same but has to end on such a note with a cliffhanger high enough to hold the reader into the next book.
The leading idea of the next book can not seem entirely the same as your first book in a series. For example, my first book will build up to an important fight and may have a casualty. Still, the death that I intend to spring on the reader in the second book is an emotional one for the main character versus the anticipated one. Instead of the adventure to the final fight, they must discover what happened to a dear friend and safeguard the love interest that has become invested thus far.
These two deaths are very different when described at least a chapter apart, if not more. One shows the personal growth of the main character rising above fears of further losses of mortals too close to them. One re-affirms her losses are high and may not matter whether or not her closest friends are eternal. Each book's titles will have the term 'blood' in them, so deaths may be a theme, but how and why can vary.
War in the third book speaks of an enormous death toll, but introducing it through the cliffhanger in the second book will be necessary, perhaps with a letter, a news show, or something similar. How you present the next conflict is up to you, but I always stress over feasibility, so be sure it's a good match. Don't choose a plot based on 'cool' factors and not create the best way to broach it. Without an essential character like a genie, my main character can't travel great distances though I did install some flaws to the genie's power so that he had to have been somewhere at least once. There is magic, but it's believable.
Plotting a series is no easy feat. Using an editor, critic, or gut feeling to asses if your plots line up throughout your series can't hurt. I love acknowledging my plot holes to make the story better. If someone had told me over fifteen years ago that a story I was working on would someday fall into place with a bigger story about vampires and genies, mindblowing would not have been able to describe it. Now I get to plan a road map of how six hundred years of immortality, a modern-day vampire, and a dystopian future are connected.
The genre type you are using might not be the same as what I've expressed I'm working on, which is fine, but most books work this way. have you been wondering how your plot is coming across to your reader? It might be time to check the formation of your chapters and even use an editor or critic partner. The ebb and flow of one calamity after another lay the groundwork, but I always ask myself if I have exceeded the limit and escalated too soon. It can help to have fresh eyes on the project.
If plotting a series is your goal I suggest always be willing to step back and take a look at the bigger picture. You are building a network or connections. Some times being up in the dramatics of it can cloud your vision to plot holes, what is lacking, or what is to much. There is no one plan though so stick to your gut in the end.
Next week is another video, and hopefully, I'll have a better topic for you guys, but please leave any suggestions for me in the comments or messages.