How to Keep Them Coming Back For More

Expanding Your Stories into a Series

Anyone who reads romance knows that romance writers like writing books in a series. There are stand-alone's, but they are few. Readers love series, too, and clamor for the next one in a series to drop. They fall in love with the characters and their world and want more. Authors work hard to develop those characters and create those worlds. With much of the work done already, create a new conflict, kill one character, create another, and bingo, the author can have another book on Amazon in four months. They need to keep their readers happy, don't they? Why shouldn't they? It could be that writing the second book is the simple part, but writing a good one is a tad more complicated. This article discusses how to keep the reader returning to read a series.

Rule 1. Make that first book so enjoyable that the reader desires another one. If you don't do that, I would say there is no sense in writing a series. It might be better to write a new first book that's strong.

Rule 2. Plan. It is much easier to write a series if you plan ahead. When writing the first book, I always ask myself if I'm boxing myself into a corner by making certain decisions. Instead of having my hitman leave his mark's computer behind in Hitman's Honey, I had him take it to use against his employer later. I was writing a magnet book and had no intention of writing book 2. Still, here I am months later after responding to several emails from readers inquiring when there's going to be a book 2 to Hitman's Honey. I still don't know if they'll be a book 2, but I'm glad I had the sense to put that nugget in there.

Rule 3. Drop seeds and breadcrumbs all over the place in Book One, so you can return and use them in later books. You'll foreshadow later conflicts and other bad stuff that will happen, and the readers will love you for it.

Rule 4. Make sure Book 2 doesn't turn into a saggy middle book if it's a trilogy. Each book still has to operate as its own book. Yes, authors want readers to read the books in order, but expect that readers won't. You can't just drop them into the book and expect them to swim. You still have to set up an opening and give them a few lines of setup and history.

Rule 5. Give yourself options.

· Option 1. Leave unanswered questions in Book one. You are under no obligation to tie up every loose end. Yes, give a HEA and HFN, but don't close every door. Leave at least one door open so you can return and create a conflict or problem later. This isn't always the best approach, but one.

· Option 2. The second book could be something entirely new. A totally new plot line and new characters (at least one), and let one of the old characters go (kill them if you have to). This is the best approach when handling a second, third or fourth book. At least, it appears to be when you read some series or watch movie sequels.

· Option 3. Figure out what type of series you want to pursue. Serial, Episodic, or Interlinked. Romance genres are most often serial. Serials feature a narrative told through chronological installments and often need to be read in order. Episodic books are about one protagonist, James Bond, 007 by Ian Fleming is one example and can be read in any order. Interlinked books are within a single universe, like Blade Runner.

· The second book should have different stakes, and better still, if the stakes are higher than in the first book.

· Figure out what made your first book good and why people want another, and make sure your second book pays homage to it without copying it.

· The second book has to stand independently but be different.

· Know when to end your series. Don't go on too long and squeeze all the life out of it. If you're bored writing it, chances are strong the boredom is flowing into your book to the reader.

· You can learn much about writing a book series by watching successful and unsuccessful movie sequels. The good ones don't happen enough, unfortunately. My all time favorite book series ever is Skye Warren’s, The Endgame Trilogy, The Knight, The Castle, The Pawn. It was powerful and never got boring. How about your favorite series?

I read a strange article the other day in The NY Times. I thought I'd share, in case you didn't catch it, A Fake Death in Romancelandia. It didn't reflect well on the romance writing community; it was a sorrowful story for all concerned.

Have an excellent week writing, editing, marketing, reading, or resting!