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  1. I appreciate you including, Make each book stand alone. I can’t till you how many times I’ve picked up a book and realized I’d have to find the three before it to know what was going on. I don’t usually bother.
    I’m thinking about starting my first series and I’ll be sure to note your advice. Thanks, Zara.

    1. I have the same problem. I know some readers don’t mind, but many times you just can’t find all the books in a series or you are given a book midway into the series.

  2. My SF Romance series was completely accidental. I had no idea it would be a trilogy when I pitched the first story to The Wild Rose Press, although I did have a half finished ‘sequel’. Each book was a complete story in itself and the second book had several of the characters from the first book and was set on one of the planets mentioned in the first book, but was a ‘standalone’and I don’t feel the reader needs to have read the first book to follow it, and reviewers have confirmed this. After a while, an important ‘secondary’ character from the first book insisted on having his own story, and so my original two books became a trilogy. Book III relates more to book 1 than book II does, but again, I feel it can be read as a ‘stand alone’. In hindsight I wish I’d known it was going to become a trilogy, because the three covers could have reflected the fact that it was a series (I did request a small ‘supernova star’ graphic to be incorporated into each cover design, but I’m not sure if most readers would connect them as they’re not that obvious.)

    I am currently reading a series where every book ends on a cliffhanger and I feel obliged to purchase the next in the series. I find this rather annoying and wouldn’t bother if I wasn’t so invested in the characters who are really well written and compelling, but I still feel it’s a bit of a cheat.

  3. Your post sums up my last six months (and probably the coming six months as well)! I just finished book 2 of a series and am working on book 3. You mentioned every pitfall I came across. I use Evernote, mainly because my dayjob uses OneNote and I didn’t want any confusion. Both are very helpful and I know some authors swear by Scrivener (though I found myself swearing at it instead.) I made a story bible and I spent a lot of time trying to keep track of time, tone, and details. It’s your #5 that still stymies me. While each book has an arc and a conclusion to the particular quest the protagonist is on, the story does continue and so each book ends with some issues unresolved. Those first chapters are really, really, really hard to write without getting buried in backstory. I’m interested to see how you did it! As a reader, I don’t mind cliffhangers as long as the next book is handy–and isn’t that what we authors want? Thanks for the validation your post gave me. It felt difficult and it’s good to know I’m not just a wimp 🙂

    1. There’s a lot of information out there about writing a series, but I think most authors fall into them like I did and have to explore and try out different things to make it work. It is hard to do well that’s for sure.

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