The Domino Effect with Guest Blogger: Laura Kaye

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Laura Kaye today at the Book Boost!

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Five Lessons Learned from Writing My First Series


I’m so glad to be here at The Book Boost today! It’s hard to believe it’s been almost three months since my contemporary fantasy romance North of Need, the first in the Hearts of the Anemoi series, released. The Anemoi were wind gods the Greeks associated with the seasons and the weather, and the mythology offers a wonderful basis on which to build a series: there are four brothers, the mythology deemed one a repeatedly jilted lover, and another evil and unlucky. All were fathered by a powerful storm god who didn’t always treat them so nice. There’s just so many good stories in all that!


Now, book two (West of Want, releases in April) is totally done; I’m writing book three (South of Surrender); and I’m learning some invaluable lessons about writing a series that I’m not sure I would’ve learned any other way than just, well, writing one. This list is a work in progress, but here’s what I’ve learned so far:


1. Plot out the series arc.

I know some of you just made a face. I would’ve, too, because I hate plotting. I almost feel it steals some of my creative mojo. BUT. In a series, it’s more critical than ever. Across three or four or five books, you must have a continuous and consistent world. You must have a conflict that emerges in an early book and carries through, building in each book, and leading to some ultimate big conclusion that will be satisfying for that final book and for the series.

The conflict of each individual book must be, in part, specific to the story of that book, and contribute in some way to the overarching series conflict. All of this represents a lot of moving parts, and knowing some of them from the beginning will make the writing easier and the read that much more compelling.


2. Separate voices.

In a typical romance, there is usually one hero and one heroine. Generally, it should be easy to keep their character voices separate and distinct. It’s harder in a series, where you have multiple characters. For example, in my series, I have a minimum of five main male characters and four main female characters, plus a number of secondary characters, too, mainly male.

Sticking with the guys for a minute, they can’t all sound the same. I’m kinda fond of a male character saying, “Aw, hell,” but it wouldn’t be believable that all four brothers say this. They have to have different personalities, different motivations, different favorite phrases, different cadences to their speech. This distinctiveness is even more important because, since you’re writing a series, earlier characters will often reappear in later books, and some readers will sit and read all the books in the series back to back—both will highlight any laziness in this area. You therefore need a sense of these distinct characterizations and separate voices for them from the beginning.


3. Unique…everything.

For the same reason each book in the series requires a unique voice for the characters, it also requires unique plot elements. One hero drives a motorcycle and wins his woman over in part by taking her on a thrilling and romantic night time ride? No one else can do anything like that. The bike thing is that hero’s, and the romantic night time ride thing is that couple’s.

You have a heroine with a terrifying phobia she at some point will have to confront? She’s the only one who gets that conflict. You have a hero who needs to practice sexual domination because of some past trauma? Again, that plot element has been used and is now done. You get the idea. Each book needs totally unique elements while tying into a shared world. It can be tricky, and knowing some of these elements in advance helps.


4. Conflict resolution.

Here’s another tricky one. Each book must both resolve the specific conflict of the individual book, and further develop the overarching series conflict without resolving it. The first is critical to giving your reader the feeling that the couple featured got a satisfying happily ever after that resolved their issues, the second is critical to maintaining the tension in the overarching series and bringing the reader back for more.


5. What kind of series?

There are two kinds of romantic series to consider: 1) each book in the series features a new couple, and 2) each book in the series features the same couple getting incrementally closer each time and/or fighting the forces keeping them apart or trying to tear them apart.

An example of the first would be my own series or, to name an absolute favorite *grins*, J.R. Ward’s Black Dagger Brotherhood series: Wrath, Rhage, Zsadist, Butch, Vishous—they each get their own romantic plotline in a separate book.

An example of the second would be Stephenie Meyers’ Twilight series: each book features Bella and Edward, and each one throws a new obstacle at them that tries to keep them apart or from finding a true happily ever after. Both have challenges.

In the first, the issues of uniqueness and distinctiveness pose challenges—the more characters your series has, the more creative you need to be to make each separate and believable. In the second, you have to find plausible conflicts that keep them apart, maintain your readers’ belief that the couple should have and can have the happily ever after book one seemed to promise, be sure not to frustrate your readers by having them behave in questionable ways while separated, etc.

If you’re a writer, what have I missed? What lessons have you learned from writing series? If you’re a reader, what do you especially like or dislike within a series?


A Note from the Book Boost: Thanks for joining us at the Book Boost, Laura. I've known you a long time (at least since the Book Boost first launched over two years ago) and I'm really happy to see you reaching such a grand level of success with your books. So incredibly proud of you. This series sounds phenomenal. I like both types of series. As long as the "old" characters make a reappearance here and there to let us know how they are doing, I'm a happy camper. Hope you'll come back in April and tell us more about the second installment.


Blurb:

Her tears called a powerful snow god to life, but only her love can grant the humanity he craves...

Desperate to escape agonizing memories of Christmas past, twenty-nine-year-old widow Megan Snow builds a snow family outside the mountain cabin she once shared with her husband, realizing too late that she's recreated the very thing she'll never have.

Called to life by Megan's tears, snow god Owen Winters appears unconscious on her doorstep in the midst of a raging blizzard. As she nurses him to health, Owen finds unexpected solace in her company and unimagined pleasure in the warmth of her body, and vows to win her heart for a chance at humanity.

Megan is drawn to Owen's mismatched eyes, otherworldly masculinity, and enthusiasm for the littlest things. But this Christmas miracle comes with an expiration—before the snow melts and the temperature rises, Megan must let go of her widow's grief and learn to trust love again, or she'll lose Owen forever.

Want More Laura?

Voted Breakout Author of the Year in the 2011 GraveTells Readers’ Choice Awards, Laura is the bestselling and award-winning author of a half-dozen books. Hearts in Darkness is a finalist for the EPIC eBook Award for Best Novella, Forever Freed won the NJRW Golden Leaf Award for Best Paranormal of 2011, and North of Need, the first book in the Hearts of the Anemoi series, was named GraveTells’ Best Book of 2011 and won their 5-STAR Gold Heart Award, and won Sizzling Hot Read of the Year at Sizzling Hot Books. Laura lives in Maryland with her husband, two daughters, and cute-but-bad dog, and appreciates her view of the Chesapeake Bay every day.

Visit her on the web here: http://www.laurakayeauthor.com/

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