{"id":3260,"date":"2021-02-04T21:01:54","date_gmt":"2021-02-05T05:01:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nomadauthors.com\/blog\/?p=3260"},"modified":"2021-02-01T10:50:08","modified_gmt":"2021-02-01T18:50:08","slug":"writing-a-series-by-eileen-troemel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nomadauthors.com\/blog\/2021\/02\/04\/writing-a-series-by-eileen-troemel\/","title":{"rendered":"The trick to writing a series by Eileen Troemel"},"content":{"rendered":"

Welcome, Eileen Troemel!!<\/strong><\/p>\n

How to Write a Long Series<\/strong>
(in theory)<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Wayfarer<\/p>\n

If you want to write a long series, you should probably start a spreadsheet for all your details. Names, descriptions, scenes, ideas, summaries of books, and so on. That would be the logical way to start a series. If you are a person who plots out your books, that\u2019s probably the best way to start a series.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t plot my books. I just write them. I sit down to my computer and start with an idea. I let things flow as they come. If I\u2019ve finished something, I look through my WIP folder and open what sounds good and then I read. I edit as I go because the mistakes offend me (yes even in my own stories).<\/p>\n

I wrote a series of nineteen books \u2013 one short story (prequel) and eighteen full length novels. I sat down to my computer and wrote. Before I started the second novel, I reread the first one. Then I let the characters take me where they wanted. This is how I\u2019ve written most of my novels. I think it\u2019s worked well.<\/p>\n

\"Wayfarer<\/p>\n

It sounds like I\u2019m super disorganized, doesn\u2019t it? How in the world did I manage to write so many in a series? The snarky(ish) answer is \u2013 one story at a time. Let me give you some background.<\/p>\n

In 2014, I published my first books (romance novel, meditation self help book, and three poetry books). Like all new authors, I was pretty clueless. Reading articles \u2013 they all said don\u2019t wait, publish your next book.
My middle daughter and I had this conversation about books \u2013 one of like a billion. She asked what I was doing next. I said I didn\u2019t have any idea. She asked for a space scifi romance where the woman comes from a vulnerable point.<\/p>\n

Ideas popped into my head. I pulled from different experiences in building my character and the world (or more appropriately universe) she was in. Put in ideas on travelers, gypsies, and other nomadic societies, my love of Star Trek, Star Wars (and other space type movies) and about a thousand other ideas and experience into my head, mix and spew out the results. Five months to the day from my first book, I published Wayfarer.<\/p>\n

\"Wayfarer<\/p>\n

For me, it was one and done. Then my readers got a hold of it. My daughter finished it and said \u2013 what\u2019s next? (this is a theme). I said \u2013 no I told her story. I\u2019m done.<\/p>\n

I was but Adara and Decker weren\u2019t. I don\u2019t think it took long and I was working on Wayfarer Clans\u2026 and then Wayfarer Immemorial\u2026 and – well you get the idea. By the end of 2014 I\u2019d published four Wayfarer novels. In January 2015, I published Wayfarer Wedding and I thought I was done. My main characters were married. They had their happy ever after \u2013 right?
Nope. I wrote the prequel next and then just kept writing their story.<\/p>\n

Clearly, I did not start out to write a series. I almost never plot out a book. When I started Wayfarer \u2013 I only had the female main character, her race, and a vague setting. I\u2019m pretty sure I wrote several scenes before she even had a name.<\/p>\n

\"Wayfarer<\/p>\n

As soon as people \u2013 i.e. authors \u2013 hear I wrote a series with eighteen novels and a short story, the first question is \u2013 How did you keep track of everything?<\/p>\n

First book, I didn\u2019t. I think I was three novels in when the idea of keeping a spreadsheet came to me. One thing I did not want to do as I wrote a series was to mess up someone\u2019s backstory or say someone had green eyes in one place and blue in another.<\/p>\n

So I started a spreadsheet. I reread all the books and each new character, Wayfarer words, ship, and other details in the books went into my spreadsheet. I\u2019ve got nine tabs in it. On some of the tabs, I\u2019ve got a ton of information and others ended up being just a short list.<\/p>\n

I know at one point, I added the number of books so I could track who came in when and who was in which books. I used this to keep a summary of each book. I cannot tell you how many times I used the summary to figure out days between events. There\u2019s a lot of pregnancies in my series so making sure the right amount of time had passed was key. But I also used it to figure out ages and other things. If I was working on a Wayfarer novel, I had my spreadsheet open. It was my ultimate referral.<\/p>\n

One other thing which helped me was to reread the books. One reason to reread the previous books was to get the feel for the characters, setting, and tone. It helped me fall back into Adara\u2019s head or whichever character I needed to write about.<\/p>\n

\"Wayfarer<\/p>\n

Rarely did I start a book with a plan. When I reached book ten (Wayfarer Expansion), I freaked out a bit. TEN books. It seemed like such a big deal. Was the story good enough to be book ten? Obviously it had to be BETTER! I edited and edited and edited. In passing, I told a friend how I was feeling and she reminded me numerological a ten is a one so it\u2019s a beginning. It was simple. It\u2019s just another step in the series. I finished my edits and published.<\/p>\n

My middle daughter and I talked (another of those billion book conversations) about authors who kill off characters. Somewhat to tease her, I said maybe I should kill someone off in the Wayfarer novel. What was meant to tease my daughter turned into a serious discussion of how it should be done. When I started writing Wayfarer Acceptance, there were two things I knew \u2013 I did not want to write another birthing scene and one of the characters would not survive the end of the book.<\/p>\n

Around book twelve (Wayfarer Convictions) or thirteen (Wayfarer Limits), I realized the stories were leading to a huge change in the storyline. I knew at this point where Adara was going to end up. What? Plotting? Yes – minimally.<\/p>\n

One of the things I hate about long series is without fail, repeats occur. I looked at where I\u2019d been in the series and realized I was coming to the end.<\/p>\n

My daughter and I talked about different crimes and different overall themes and at some point, I realized – wow this is so hard to write without giving spoilers. Let\u2019s just say my characters evolved to a point where their lives were changing. By book fourteen, I knew how many books I had left to write. It was supposed to be three more but when I wrote the last book it ended up being too long for one book. I split it and the series ended with eighteen full length novels.<\/p>\n

My lessons from this\u2026 well bullet points work for me:<\/p>\n