Writing a Series

Aubrie Dionne (author of Haven) has hijacked my blog to offer advice about writing a series.

What I learned from writing a series.

1.        Have the series arc planned before you start. I didn’t. I wrote Paradise 21 with reckless abandon and no idea if it would be a stand alone, a novella, a short story, or a novel. When I finished it, I knew more of the story had to be told, so I started writing other books. BUT, and this is a big but, it would have saved me time if I knew where I wanted the series to go. I spent countless hours thinking about this before writing Haven 6. I needed to tie in all the books and make the series arc epic, and it was hard- let me tell you. Next time, I’m writing the series arc BEFORE I start that first book. Even if it’s just a general direction or idea.

2.         Don’t include species or characters that you don’t like enough to keep around for two more books. I learned this the hard way, too.  In Paradise 21, I hatched a whole new race of flying bird creatures at the end thinking I’d never have to develop that thread. But, in Haven 6, I’m using the same planet hundreds of years later, so I had to come up with an evolved culture from those hatched on the planet in the first book. They weren’t my favorite race-I wrote them mainly to contrast with the reckless people on Old Earth-, so it took some thinking to figure out how to make them interesting in the flesh. 

3.        Stay consistent. If they refer to Earth as Old Earth in the first book, then it’s Old Earth for the next 300,000 words if you know what I mean. Make sure you know your word building and keep to it. I was constantly going back to the first book to make sure everything was called the same thing. Keep a list!

4.        Make sure the time line works. One of my CP’s pointed out that the arrival of the last ship was too early. They needed time for Aries to fly to Sahara 354, meet Striker, then find the wormhole to Refuge (otherwise known as Haven 6 to the people of the Heritage.) This particular colony ship set out at the same time as Aries’s ship, but it should take them longer to get to Haven 6 because they didn’t have the same wormhole Striker had found. When I think about it for too long, my head hurts.

Thanks again!

Aubrie Dionne
Romantic Science Fiction and Fantasy
Get Swept Away to Other Worlds...
http://www.authoraubrie.com
http://authoraubrie.blogspot.com

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book blurb:

A product of an illegal pairing, Eridani is the only woman without a lifemate aboard the colonization ship, the Heritage, and she is determined her less than perfect DNA will not get in the way of finding love. As the ship nears it's final destination of Haven 6 after five hundred years of travel, images of the surface show evidence of intelligent life on a planet that's supposed to be uninhabited. Commander Grier assigns Eri to the exploratory team to spy on the alien society and return with information on how to defeat them.

When Eri's team lands, tribes of humans attack and Eri is saved by Striver, the descendant of a colonist and a pirate from Old Earth's colonization efforts in other parts of the galaxy. Striver helps Eri rescue her team and they are drawn to each other despite their different allegiances. While Striver battles with trusting Eri, Eri must decide whether to warn him and his people about the commander's intentions, or follow orders and complete her mission.

Goodreads Link