Writing a Novel series?

[Devora]

I've been trying to plan a story out, but there's enough material to make multiple books.

Problem is that i don't know how to approach planning, and writing out several novels for one single storyline.

Can anyone give some advice, and/or pointers?

 

[Weaver]

Can you pare it down to a single major story arc per novel? As long as you wrap up that arc, you can carry others over into later books, tying the whole thing together.

(I do all 'planning' in my head, so I cannot offer advice there if by planning you mean writing outlines and such.)

 

[johnsonjoshuak]

You want to make sure that each novel has its own arc but that those arcs tie into the greater story.

 

[MystiqueRain]

You want to make sure that each novel has its own arc but that those arcs tie into the greater story.

Yeah, you definitely want this, or else all the books in the series will seem choppy. Have a goal or motive in each book that will contribute to the final goal or motive. Focus on a certain aspect of your story in each book. If you're in need of some recording device, I recommend trying out Storybook (Google it ). It's a free planning book sort of program with stuff like characters, etc. I rarely use it because I can usually plan in my head, but if it works for you, then go for it. Or just do everything with good ol' paper and pencil.

There are other ways to approach writing a series. I've seen it done in one main character per book, as in their POV narrates each one. There's a focus on a certain object for others, or maybe a certain event. As long as your books flow well together and there aren't inconsistencies, then it shouldn't seem awkward when putting them together.

 

[Penpilot]

I haven't written a series but here's how I'd go about plotting one. First for the series, break down the big story into it's acts. Find the major plot points. If you're familiar with basic structure this shouldn't be too hard to do. But if you're not, here's a link to my post on outlining. It shows how I break down the acts. http://mythicscribes.com/forums/writing-questions/5581-writing-outline.html#post70076

Second, depending on how many books you intend, I'd find the best places to end each in book the series. Once you have those end points flesh out the points in between by breaking those up further into their own act structure. So for simplicity sake, a four book series would look something like this.

|--------------ACT1------------------------||--------------ACT2-pt1-------------------|
|--A1--||--A2-pt1--||--A2-pt2--||--A3--||--A1--||--A2-pt1--||--A2-pt2--||--A3--|


|--------------ACT2-pt2-------------------||--------------ACT3------------------------|
|--A1--||--A2-pt1--||--A2-pt2--||--A3--||--A1--||--A2-pt1--||--A2-pt2--||--A3--|

 

[Devora]

I don't want it to be very long. I'm to base the story off of the Norse Mythology where i retell them in a more realistic way, mixing Viking Culture and warfare (without the Christianization that plague the history and literature).

 

[Kevin O. McLaughlin]

Some practical questions here:

How do you hope to see this work published? If by a traditional publisher, then they tend to have specific ranges you MUST write to if you want to maximize your chances of seeing your book published. If you're intending to indie publish the book, then you have much more flexibility. Indie works ranging from serials with 10k segments to 500k word super novels have all done well, especially as ebooks.

Does your story have clearly defined mini-arcs, or is it a big, overarching story? In other words, is it like Lord of the Rings (essentially one book at the publisher broke into three novels for printing and selling purposes) or more like the Harry Dresden novels (each one a distinct story with a beginning, middle, and end, but each telling a section of the ongoing tale of the protagonist). The former is VERY hard to see published by a traditional publisher; the latter is something they are very fond of, these days. Either can work for an indie.

 

[Sheriff Woody]

The best advice, I believe, is to make sure your first book can function on its own - if you are writing it for more than yourself.

Find an "end" but leave in a few unresolved issues that can manifest themselves as larger plot points in later installments. For example, you can defeat the villain in book one, then have someone else take over command in book two.

If there is enough material in your story to fill several books, as you say, you should not have much of a problem finding that first "endpoint".