Tag Archive for: writing

Checking Out Some Great “How To” Writing Guidelines

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by Paula
Gail Benson

 

Lately,
I’ve been coming across a number of online articles that express succinctly how
certain forms of genre fiction should be written. Here are a few I’ve
discovered:

 

Dennis
Palumbo wrote “Taking the Mystery Out of How
to Write a Mystery” (https://www.writersstore.com/taking-the-mystery-out-of-writing-mysteries/).
He lists three important elements: : “1) establishing the unique character of
the protagonist, 2) making narrative use of the world in which the story takes
place, and 3) planting clues (remember, only a few) that derive from the
particular aspects of that world.” Palumbo recommends that writers consider
what makes them unique and their own backgrounds in developing their
protagonists and settings.

 

Chuck
Wendig provides “25 Things Writers Should Know About Creating Mystery” (http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2012/05/08/25-things-writers-should-know-about-creating-mystery/).
He describes a mystery as an incomplete equation. Even though readers know the
answer will be revealed by the end, “[a] good story traps us in the moment and
compels us by its incompleteness.” Readers want to be part of the process. “[S]ometimes
creating mystery is not an act of asking a question but the deed of providing a
clearly incorrect answer. Let the audience seek the truth by showing them a
lie.” And, it’s important for plot and character to be intricately intertwined.
“Plot, after all, is like Soylent Green — it’s made of people.”

 

Ginny Wiehardt gives us the ten “Top Rules for Mystery Writing” (https://www.thebalancecareers.com/top-rules-for-mystery-writing-1277089).
Her article is written about mystery novels, but the suggestions are easily
adapted to short stories. She points out that people read mysteries for a “particular
experience.” They want the opportunity to solve the crime and they expect all
to turn out well in the end. Reading many mysteries to see how “the rules” have
been applied in those stories will be helpful to a writer, and understanding “the
rules” in order to better meet reader expectations will help a writer craft a
better mystery story. Among her recommendations are to introduce the detective,
culprit, and crime early and wait until the last possible moment to reveal the
culprit.

 

Peter
Derk explains the “The 8
Keys to a Good Heist Story” (https://litreactor.com/columns/the-8-keys-to-a-good-heist-story).
“A good heist has a planning stage, execution stage, and an escape. They can be
in different proportions, but if your story is missing one of the three, it
won’t pass muster.” Derk says there must be complications and a reason to root
for success. Also, he suggests taking care in putting the team together and
having a reason behind the operation that is greater than monetary gain.

 

Dr.
David Lewis Anderson gives a good description of “Time Travel in Science
Fiction” (http://andersoninstitute.com/time-travel-in-science-fiction.html).
He offers a historical analysis of science fiction stories that have used time
travel, but he also explores the elements writers have developed through those
stories.

 

In his “6 Secrets to Creating and
Sustaining Suspense,” (http://www.writersdigest.com/online-editor/6-secrets-to-creating-and-sustaining-suspense)
Steven James evaluates how to add suspense in mystery,
thriller, and literary stories. He suggests the key is to give readers
something to worry about, then explains how to do that.

 

Finally,
Jan Ellison offers “9 Practical Tricks for Writing
Your First Novel” (http://www.writersdigest.com/online-editor/9-practical-tricks-for-writing-your-first-novel).
Two of her recommendations that I found interesting were to set writing goals
that are completely within your control and keep working on a poem while
writing your novel. The poem allows you freedom of expression and provides a way
to get started with your writing.

 

Have you read any
writing “how to” articles lately?

Back to Basics by Diane Vallere

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I’m delighted to have Diane Vallere, prolific writer and past-president of Sisters in Crime’s national board guest blogging for me today. Diane juggles well, but occasionally even she needs to go back to basics. – Debra
Back to Basics by
Diane Vallere
It
should come as no surprise to learn that fiction authors sometimes have
conversations with our characters. I once set up several chairs in my living
room for each of the suspects in my then-work-in-progress to interview each
character about his/her motives for murdering the victim. Silly? Yes. Made the
neighbors doubt my sanity? Sure. Effective? Absolutely. I zeroed in on the
killer and wrote the ending. But PANTY
RAID gave me a different problem. I couldn’t even find the story.

A
few background facts for context: 

1.    
I’m
a pantser.

2.    
I
start with a title and the loosest of concepts.

3.    
PANTY RAID is book 8 in an
ongoing series.

Heading
into the first draft of this book, I knew it would feature the lingerie market,
and it would take place in Paris.

My
routine is to work Monday through Friday and write 2500 words/ day, but after
weeks of working on the draft, I admitted there was a problem. I told one of my
writer friends that my character was not cooperating, and my friend suggested I
ask her what was wrong. I did, and details of that conversation are in this YouTube video. But the separate issue that I didn’t address
there was this: I tried to plot that book.

We
pantsers hear it all the time: you can write faster if you plot and know where
you’re going. I’m always interested in improving how I do things, so I invested
in a plotting course and gave it a shot. I even went so far as to break down
four favorite movies into bullet points to better understand their structure.
And still, I trudged, word by word, with a manuscript that was filled with “GO
BACK AND CHANGE END OF CHAPTER 2” and “SOMETHING HAPPENS HERE—WHAT???”

I
went for long walks. I dictated plot points into my phone. I deleted and
rewrote and have entire sections of a manuscript that I love but that didn’t
fit with what came before or after them. Of the seventeen days I spent working
on that draft, I only hit my word count goal on three. 23,922 words of garbage.

On
March 22, I stopped working on that draft.


On
March 23, I had a conversation with my character.

On
Marcy 24, I started writing a new version of PANTY RAID and bumped my daily
word count goal to 3,000.
On
April 15, I wrote The End.

In
those nineteen days of writing, I discovered a whole story I never expected to
tell. And I exceeded my new word count goal eleven of the nineteen days.

Do
I regret trying to plot? No. If I hadn’t tried to, I’d never know my system
works for me. Do I hate knowing I have a file of 23,922 words of a story with
parts I love that may never get used? Yes. It goes against everything in my
Capricornian nature to abandon projects mid-way. Is there a lesson in there?
Absolutely. Sometimes you have to give up control in order to end up on top.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

After two decades working for a top luxury retailer, Diane Vallere traded fashion
accessories foraccessories to murder. In addition to the Samantha Kidd Style
and Error Mysteries, she is responsible for the Madison Night Mad for Mod,
Sylvia Stryker Outer Space, and Lefty Award-nominated Costume Shop and Material
Witness series. She started her own detective agency at age ten and
has maintained a passion for shoes, clues, and clothes ever since. 

LINKS:

ABOUT PANTY RAID:

When amateur sleuth Samantha Kidd is assigned to cover the
lingerie show in Las Vegas, her excitement is more visible than panty lines.
Events in her hometown have made her a celebrity, and a romantic getaway with
fiancé Nick Taylor is timely. But when a lingerie model—engaged to a college
friend of Nick’s—is found dead outside their hotel room, their escape turns
brief. Cheeky designers, high class hookers, and secrets from Nick’s past that
don’t add up make this gamble her most dangerous one yet. When push-up comes to
shove, Samantha bares everything in order to save her future.

BUY LINKS:

In Praise of Prologues

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By AB Plum

Do you skim prologues?

Dislike them?

Shrug when you finish and begin Chapter 1 (the real story)?

Feel “manipulated” when you finish the book?

Prologues stir up a lot of discussion among writers and readers. Personally, I like them if they’re more than hype. Winding up a seven-book series, I decided to use seven prologues in the final book. 

Crazy? Maybe. But. I think they work. Because they satisfy introducing unanswered background story questions from the previous books. 

Each of the min-prologues layers into the subsequent plot—though in one instance, the reader may get a surprise at the twist. In length, they range from three lines to one page. Two different backstories emerge. Ultimately, they tie the whole series together. 

Each mini-prologue falls under the general heading of Prologue. I used lowercase Roman numerals to distinguish each one.

Would I try this structure again?
Right now, I’ll say yes. As a writer, I really enjoyed the challenge. 

What about you? Would you take one look at those Roman numerals and throw the book against the wall? Would you read them and then delete the book from your eReader?

************
The Whole Truth marks a resting place for AB. Sliding down the slippery slope of writing noir has opened up a lot of ideas. This summer she plans to read more for pleasure, dance more for fun, walk more for health and write more about love.










Chapter by Chapter

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by Bethany Maines

I recently read a review on Goodreads of my book GlossedCause. 
“I love this series from
Bethany Maines! Such a funny and interesting read throughout and makes you want
to keep reading! This series is definitely best read in order, short stories
included! A few nitpicky things that I didnt like were titled Chapters that was
a theme for the chapter. (I like a simple number or location & number) and
I’d love another book where Carrie Mae played a bigger role.”
The reviewer gave me a good number of stars and overall that’s
a pretty dang good review.  So, thanks!  But I find myself flummoxed by the comment on
chapter numbers.  I just… I mean… Chapter
numbers?
First of all she’s completely blowing my theory that no one
reads my chapter titles.  The truth is,
and this is a deep dark secret regarding the chapter titles in the Carrie Mae
series.  They’re really just for me.  I mean, I hope the rest of you who bother to
read them enjoy them too.  But really
they’re a secret code while I’m writing that means I can glance at the table of
contents and remember what’s going on in each chapter. Also, they’re usually
song titles which means at the end of the book I have a pretty nifty playlist.  (Check out this one from Bulletproof Mascara
chapter titles on the Carrie Mae YouTube channel.)
I’m not sure what lesson is to be learned from this, other
than I should stop reading reviews, but I’m sure I’ve definitely learned
it.  Maybe.  Or maybe next time I’ll do chapter titles
with latitude and longitude and possibly three character names and a
unicorn.  We’ll just have to wait and
see.

Bethany Maines is the author of the Carrie Mae Mystery Series, Tales From the City of Destiny, San Juan Islands Mysteries, Shark Santoyo Crime Series, and numerous
short stories. When she’s not traveling to exotic lands, or kicking some
serious butt with her fourth degree black belt in karate, she can be found
chasing her daughter or glued to the computer working on her next novel. You
can also view the Carrie Mae YouTube
video or catch up with her on Twitter and Facebook.

Advanced Generalist

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by J.M. Phillippe

I am a know-it-all. This is not a confession I make likely, because being called a know-it-all when I was growing up was not a positive experience.

And yet, I couldn’t help myself. I liked knowing things. I still like knowing things. It goes deeper than needing something to feel superior about (I know something you don’t!). Knowing things was how I held on to an objective reality when my personal reality was constantly being challenged when I was growing up. 
Feelings, I learned early on, lied. They did such a good job of lying they could rewrite the past, shape the present, and make the future seem like destiny. If things were good, they had always been good and would always be good. More often than not, if things were bad, they had always been bad and always would be bad. I needed something I could depend on to hold on to. And that’s when I discovered facts — things that were undeniably true. Things that surpassed emotions. Things that I could use as anchors so that my life could make some sort of sense.
My hunger to know things, really know things, also meant a huge reluctance to accept that the things I knew were wrong. My family had invested in a set of encyclopedias when I was a child, and I went to them on a regular basis. These days I use the Internet to verify that I do in fact know what I know (and that it is knowable), using skills garnered in my years as a journalist to test sources and information. Fact-checking, once a part of my job as a reporter, has become part of my daily life. To this day, I go into an emotional tail spin if a fact I have held on to is questioned — how could I get something wrong? What is actually knowable? Will life ever make sense?
It is with old-fashioned journalistic confidence — the confidence of someone who has done the fact checking — that I can say that when I know something, I know something. I have spent more time than is probably healthy looking it up and verifying its veracity, or else I will be light in my presentation of said fact, using “I think I read somewhere that…” instead of stating it as something actually true. Being a know-it-all is not something I take lightly — I try very hard to accurately share what I know. 
I have also had a lot of different jobs. In my years attempting to be a freelance journalist (which I was never great at because selling my writing was always harder than doing the writing), I took a lot of day jobs, and in fact, spent a great deal of time being a temporary employee. Being a temp suited me since I have always been able to learn fairly quickly, and because I like being helpful. And since I was a temp, there was only so much filing I would have to do before getting (or asking for) a new assignment. Eventually, I became one of those people who knew at least a little bit about a lot of different things. I was a generalist, in the old terminology.
So it greatly amused me when I found out that one of the methods I could study in social work was “advanced generalist.” An advanced generalist social worker can work in multiple systems and at multiple levels, from direct services to policy. Advanced generalists are considered part of the mezzo or middle level of social workers (with strictly clinical social workers at the micro level, and those working on policy or high admin levels considered more macro level workers). As such they get training both in clinical work and in administrative work, learning how to diagnose individual clients as well as assess communities and organizations. 
It matches my know-it-all spirit to be an advanced generalist. I have worked in various jobs in various fields, including journalism, public relations, marketing, administrative work, English and math tutoring, teaching, office management, case manager, social worker, and now, therapist. And I have learned a ton of different things both formally and informally (including that time I took a class called “acting for the nonprofessional” and that other time I learned how to waltz). In fact, lacking any other language to describe my particular brand of know-it-all-ness (I know at least a little bit about a really large number of subjects), I often refer to myself as an advanced generalist outside of the field of social work.
So I was very pleased to discover that my particular brand of know-it-all-ness is not something unique to me, and in fact has a (relatively) brand new name: multipotentialite. According to Wikipedia, In 1972, R.H. Frederickson described a multipotentialed person as people who: 

“When provided with appropriate environments, can select and develop a number of competencies to a high level.”

Emilie Wapnick coined the term multipotentialite to help unite folks who fall under this general definition into a single community. Essentially, it’s a fancy term for generalist, which Wapnick talks about in a TED Talk about why not everyone has “one true calling.” Which would explain my multiple jobs, two distinct careers, and constant need to learn new things. 
I have never been the best at anything, but I have managed to pull off “pretty darn good” in a lot of areas. 
The only time I get use use all my know-it-all-ness — without penalty — is when I engage in writing, particularly creative writing. I suspect every author I know is in some way a multipotentialite, and certainly every one has done a ton of research on a variety of subjects (including various ways to kill people or cover up having killed someone). In a way, I think every creative writer is — or is forced to become — an advanced generalist. 
Which puts a whole new spin on the old adage: “write what you know.” If you don’t know it, learn it, and then write about it.
***
J.M. Phillippe is the author of the novel Perfect Likeness, Aurora One and the short stories, The Sight and Plane Signals. She has lived in the deserts of California, the suburbs of Seattle, and the mad rush of New York City. She works as a clinical social worker in Brooklyn, New York and spends her free time binge-watching quality TV, drinking cider with amazing friends, and learning the art of radical self-acceptance, one day at a time.

A Typo Honesty

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by Bethany Maines 

Recently, I was going over the edits from a beta reader on my forthcoming mystery novel – Against the Undertow (sequel to An Unseen Current). I was excited to read over the notes because the reader had been pretty enthusiastic verbally about the book and I was looking forward to easy edits (for once).  Beta readers usually give critiques on story elements, spot plot holes, and generally let an author know if something is working or not. They can do line edits and spot typos, but frequently that’s a separate gig because the mental focus for each job is quite different. Because of that, I usually tell my beta readers to treat typos like terrorists on the train in New York – if you see something, say something – but don’t go looking for them. Which is why I laughed when I got to this note:

I didn’t take note of typos except for one I thought I’d mention: on p. 76 you meant perennial and instead wrote perineal. 

That is indeed a typo worth mentioning and I promptly laughed and shared it with about eight people. But it got me to thinking about some of my other slips of the fingers. Here’s a couple that I thought worth noting.

He knew he would get some carp for it. Yes, because fish are often given as a sign of disapproval.

Stalking feet. Because he has those feet that just will not stop violating restraining orders.


I’m going as troll. Many problems here. Including missing the word “for” and a misplaced space around the S. But if you want to go for a stroll as a troll, apparently I will let you. Gotta look out for those trolls.

Desserted is not, repeat not, the same as deserted. I wish it was. I wish I could be desserted ALL the time. But cake is not a healthy breakfast choice.

As I continue to write, I’m sure I will make many more typos. I hope that at least a few are as good these ones. What about you? Have you spotted any awesome typos lately?

Bethany
Maines is the author of the Carrie Mae Mystery Series, Tales From the City of Destiny, San Juan Islands Mysteries, Shark Santoyo Crime Series, and numerous
short stories. When she’s not traveling to exotic lands, or kicking some
serious butt with her fourth degree black belt in karate, she can be found
chasing her daughter or glued to the computer working on her next novel. You
can also view the Carrie Mae YouTube
video or catch up with her on Twitter and Facebook.

Writers Need to Stretch

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by J.M. Phillippe

I’ve been hitting the keyboard hard lately, and even though I have adjusted  my set up with cushions and things like that, there is still no escaping the fact that extended time writing is hard on the body.

Healthy body movement is one of the things I struggle with most. I have a tendency to treat my body like a last minute project — I suddenly feel a pain or ache and then break out ALL the moves I should have been doing all along, as though one marathon session of stretching will undo months’ worth of damage.

So, this is as much about helping me take accountability as it is to help anyone else with their own stretching goals. My goal is not to do ALL the stretches, but to start by picking five I will attempt to integrate into my daily life.

Fortunately, there are a ton of articles and videos about the best kinds of stretches for people who spend too much time sitting in front of computers. For writers, of particular note are things to help  maintain hand health and back health, since both take a beating with lots of writing.

This article talks about carpal tunnel signs, symptoms, and prevention: https://thebodymechanic.com/active-release-technique-blog/carpal-tunnel-syndrome/

And this article has great stretches to do in a (sturdy) office chair, with gifs on how each one should look: https://www.healthline.com/health/deskercise#head-and-shoulders

To be a good writer is to be a whole person, and I have to regularly remind myself that means taking care of my body as much as my imagination.

Here’s to stretching for writer health!

***

J.M. Phillippe is the author of Perfect Likeness and the short story The Sight. She has lived in the deserts of California, the suburbs of Seattle, and the mad rush of New York City. She works as a clinical social worker in Brooklyn, New York and spends her free time binge-watching quality TV, drinking cider with amazing friends, and learning the art of radical self-love, one day at a time

Promo Blues

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by Bethany Maines

Yesterday, AB Plum talked about the woes of promoting. She’s not alone in finding that the grind of “getting yourself out there” is not fun. Most authors find that to be the hardest part of the job. We’re the kind of people who invent people to talk to. Talking to real people is just so, so, so much harder. Real people rarely say what we tell them to say for one thing.  She also mentioned that she’s working on her marketing plan.

I see your hands coming up.  “What is a marketing plan?” you ask.  Excellent question.

A marketing plan is a comprehensive document or blueprint that outlines a business advertising and marketing efforts for the coming year. It describes business activities involved in accomplishing specific marketing objectives within a set time frame.

So for an author a marketing objective would be something like get more people to sign up for a mailing list, or have more people review your book.  (Side note / Public service Announcement: if you love an author, review their books. It’s the nicest thing you can do!) To accomplish those goals, you have to take steps like advertise, blog, and/or hound your friends. A marketing plan collates these steps, ads assigned dates, and at least takes a stab at figuring out how much they’ll cost so that a budget can be created.
I don’t know how AB feels about marketing plans, but my thoughts are two-fold.  My first thought, upon completion of a plan, is incredibly smug.  I’m soooo organized.  Who wouldn’t want to be as organized as me.  My second thought is usually about two seconds later.  How did I miss that deadline?  Why is this going down in flames?  What do you mean the cost of that ad went up?  Ahhhhhhhh!!!!
All of which is to say that behind every successful book there is an author who is using a wet blanket to try and put out the dumpster fire of her marketing plan.  

When Stars Take Flight takes the story of Thumbelina into space and reimagines the fairy tale for a new age—the future. 



Kidnapped by the To’Andans, tortured by the Moliter, and rescued by Sparrow Pandion—a spy who hides a secret pain—Alliance Ambassador Lina Tum-Bel is up against a galaxy full of trouble as she attempts to rebuild the Interstellar Alliance. Her training says that she can’t trust her handsome rescuer, but maybe together, she and Sparrow can learn to fly.

Bethany
Maines is the author of the Carrie Mae Mystery Series, Tales From the City of Destiny, San Juan Islands Mysteries, Shark Santoyo Crime Series, and numerous
short stories. When she’s not traveling to exotic lands, or kicking some
serious butt with her fourth degree black belt in karate, she can be found
chasing her daughter or glued to the computer working on her next novel. You
can also view the Carrie Mae YouTube
video or catch up with her on Twitter and Facebook.

Regression to the Mean

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by J.M. Phillippe

Two days before Christmas, I had to put my beloved cat Oscar down.

The holidays have been hard for me for a very long time. Grief is like a shadow that is always with you, but changes size and shape depending on what light is around. On the brightest moments of the brightest days, the shadow can shrink down so small you can’t even tell it’s there. Other times, it stretches out so far, it’s the only thing you can see.

The shadows that bother me the most are the ones that come after dark; cast by the light of streetlamps and headlights, they pile up two or three at a time, and are rarely still. There is no true dark where I live in Brooklyn, just as there is no actual silence, just various levels of noise you learn to live with. As such, my nights are filled with shadows.

Christmas lights throw their own particular shadows. The lights are my favorite part of the holiday, and I relish in the opportunity to throw them up on windows, and keep my (fake) tree up as long as possible to help ease the passing of dark-too-long days. I am struggling now with wanting to keep them up even longer, because there is already so much change in my small apartment with my cat gone. I am haunted by the shape of his absence: the lack of warmth against my legs when I sleep, the missing noise of him jumping up or down from things, the many places and things he is not laying on or in. His loss thickens the others that have come before: my grandparents, my brother, and my mother, not to mention other beloved pets. Every time I look for him and he’s not there, I think of the phone calls I can’t make, the people I can no longer hug, and the memories that are fixed and fading.

The passing of a new year is of course something worth celebrating, but it is also something that triggers my grief. Every new turn of the calendar adds to the time after someone I love passed. Every time I count down how long it’s been, I am newly shocked and thrown back into those early days of denial. No, really? It can’t have been that long already… And yet, it is.

Recently I heard someone talk about regression to the mean, a concept in statistics that states that if a variable is extreme on the first measurement, it will be closer to the average on the second (and vice versa). How I understand it from a clinical standpoint is that all things in life — the very big moments either good or bad — eventually return to a sort of baseline. The baseline itself may change over time, but the mean, the average, the day-to-day — we all come back to it eventually.

What I tell my clients is that if you want to see your overall progress toward something, you can’t look at a single data point — a single good day or bad day. You have to look at the trend over time to see if it’s moving in the right direction.

I am not sure what direction I want my life to move in, other than a vague urge to want to have a sense of progress. The loss of a pet is inevitable, if you live long enough, and I knew what I was getting into when I adopted my cat. In fact, I was more aware of the potential of his loss than pretty much any other loss in my life, and that in itself is a gift he gave me. Knowing our days together were naturally numbered, helped me better understand the nature of life and loss.

We love, anyway. And eventually I think I will likely seek out that particular kind of love again, when I’m ready.

In the meantime, what I want most from 2018 is a regression to the mean. It will come — the grief will be less acute, the days will stay lighter longer, and the shadows will feel less omnipresent. I’ll adjust to a new normal, and, as heartbreaking as it sounds, not having him in my life will feel as normal as having him in life did for over a decade.

My one and only New Year’s Resolution is to give myself time. Time to grieve, time to heal, time to write, time to breathe, time to sleep, time to create, time to just be. Next year will come (if I am lucky), and I won’t have to do anything except let the days go by as they are wont to do.

In the meantime, I may keep my tree up until at least the end of January. Some things I’m just not ready to let go of yet.

***

J.M. Phillippe is the author of Perfect Likeness and the short story The Sight. She has lived in the deserts of California, the suburbs of Seattle, and the mad rush of New York City. She works as a clinical social worker in Brooklyn, New York and spends her free time binge-watching quality TV, drinking cider with amazing friends, and learning the art of radical self-love, one day at a time.

Series and Standalones

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Series or Standalone? 
By Cathy Perkins

Hitting
today’s Frustration Meter – getting to the end of what you thought was a really
great standalone novel and stumbling onto the words “END OF BOOK
ONE.”  

(Yes, First World Problem.)


Worse yet – ugh – a serial novel.

Or the flip side – you reach the end of a story, and the ending is so
perfect… 


…or
you’re like a food addict and someone just took away your cake. 

“How am I
supposed to live without these characters? What
happens next? How could the author be so cruel?“



Which begs the questions: Series or Standalone?



Probably the single biggest advantage to a series is if you like the characters, you can get more of their
story. After a while it becomes comfortable, like hanging out with friends.  I know
these people! I like them – what’s happening?
Over
the course of the series, the characters can change, hopefully improving for
the better, over a more realistic, longer period. As a reader, it’s easier to commit
time and money if the book in a series. If you like the first one, you figure
you’ll like the next one in the series, rather than chancing another random book, even
another book by the same author.
The down side is, if each book in the series doesn’t have a
complete and satisfying story arc of its own, you may feel you’re left hanging
while waiting for the next book. Books aren’t like TV shows. You
don’t get the next episode a week later. Also, depending
on the overall story arc of the series, there may be significant threads left
unresolved. This can bother a reader who has to wait for the next book.
Writing a series means every installment has
to be as good as or better than the last. No rehashing of a theme. No cookie
cutter plots. No formulas. Readers deserve to feel their appetite for the adventure was satisfied, and they can’t wait for the next in the series.
Another challenge is
backstory. Can the reader pick up a book in the middle of the series and get
enough backstory for it to make sense? Or do they have to start with book one?
How much backstory does the author include in subsequent books without boring
the dedicated series fan or confusing the mid-series pick-up reader?
Finally, what if a series goes too long?
What if the protagonist keeps falling into the same old danger time after time?
This can result in the B word: boring. You don’t want to go there.
The advantage of writing a standalone is
trying new ideas or themes without the confines of your established setting and
characters. Your readers can discover a new side of your talent. A standalone
for a series author is like an experimental science lab. Just don’t blow up the
place and go so far over the line that your fans don’t recognize you.
What do you think? 
Do you prefer reading
or writing a series or standalones?

Cathy Perkins
After
publishing three standalone novels, I’m easing into the series idea. DOUBLE
DOWN (presale available here) features several of the characters from So About the Money (JC speaks! He
finally gets a point of view!) with events right after “book one”
ends. 
I’m working away on Book Two, so hopefully readers will jump on board
with this new story and series.

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