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Lessons in this course
  1. 1Story Structure: How Three Acts Hold a Novel Together
  2. 2Characters Readers Care About
  3. 3Worldbuilding: Creating a World Readers Believe
  4. 4Point of View and Tense
  5. 5Writing Scenes That Work
  6. 6Writing Dialogue That Sounds Real
  7. 7Show, Don't Tell (and When to Tell)
  8. 8Openings and Endings
  9. 9Genre Expectations: What Readers Want
  10. 10Pacing and Tension
  11. 11Writing a Series: Planning Books That Hold Together
  12. 12Query Letters and Finding a Literary Agent

Lesson 11 of 12 Free account 5 min read

Writing a Series: Planning Books That Hold Together

How to choose a kind of series, make book one satisfy on its own, balance each book's arc with the series arc, keep recurring characters fresh, and track continuity in a series bible.

Key takeaways

  • Book one should resolve its main conflict, even if smaller threads stay open.
  • Each book needs its own question, and the series needs a larger one that keeps growing.
  • Recurring characters stay fresh when you change their situation, not when they repeat the same job.
  • Plant seeds for later books, but never hold back your best material for a sequel that may not happen.
  • A series bible stops book four from contradicting book one.

A series offers something a single novel can't: a reader who already trusts you and wants to go back. It also brings problems a single novel doesn't have. You have to keep promises across years, keep a character interesting after their big change, and remember the color of a door you described in book one.

This lesson covers the main kinds of series, how to make the first book stand on its own, and how to plan ahead without locking yourself in.

Three Kinds of Series

  • Episodic: the same lead faces a new problem in each book. Many detective series work this way. Readers can start almost anywhere, and the lead changes slowly.
  • Serial: one large story is told across several books, as in many epic fantasies. Each book still needs its own shape, and readers need to start at the beginning.
  • Linked: books share a world or a community, with a different lead each time. This suits romance well, because each book can give a new couple their own ending.

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