Series, Cereal, and Serials

When writing books, there comes a time in an author’s life where they start to consider extending a book they finished. Whether they enjoyed writing the characters, got caught up in the story and feel there’s more to tell, or they want to explore other characters. A series offers you the opportunity to continue.

Maybe before you ever started, you pictured an epic length fantasy series of eight books and have them all planned out in your head. Either way, series of books are popular with fans and once enthralled with a story, they rarely want it to end.

Look at books like the Harry Potter series, Hunger Games, Lord of the Rings, and others. Maybe you love a good mail-order bride series that follows the path of sisters, each sister getting her own unique tale.

And while we’ve all heard of a series, there’s often confusion between the words - series and serials. Are they the same thing? And where does cereal fit into all of this? Breakfast of course! 

A serial is like your favorite television show. It sometimes finishes on a cliffhanger at the end of one episode, and you need to tune in the following week to see what happens next. 

It’s all part of one larger story but continues down a singular path. Usually, but not always, a serial follows one character or group of characters through the entire serial.

Have you ever seen a soap opera? This is a perfect example of a serial. It continues day to day with the story slowly unraveling over the course of multiple episodes. A story may go on for days, weeks, or even months.

A series, however, is more like a group of stories that belong together. Think of the James Bond films or Mission: Impossible. There’s a sense of closure at the end of the story. The main character may go on to have another adventure in a second film or book, but it’s a complete package with an ending that resolves the main question presented in the beginning. 

When writing a series, there are two paths. If you planned ahead, you may already know what book two or three is going to be about. What if you haven’t gotten that far? Maybe you’re finishing book one and you’re only now realizing that you want this to be a series, and not a standalone title. There are creative ways to connect a series. Tying them together with a unifying thread is an important aspect. And because there’s always somebody in the crowd, yes, you can have a series of non-connected books that are also a series, but even they tend to be tied together via a theme. 

Here are a few ways to connect a series:

You’ll often see groups of brothers or sisters and friends when reading a romance series. But you’ll also find themes such as: doctors, firefighters, billionaires, and cowboys. Get creative and think of new ways to connect your books. You’re only limited by your imagination.

To weave a common thread through your books, introduce new characters before their book comes up. So, if John has a younger brother, Sam, and he’s going to be book two of your series, Sam will be part of book one. We need to get to know about him and care. Otherwise, we’ll have no reason to want to read Sam’s book when it’s released.

With a simple pattern like stitching cloth, you bring characters in and out of stories. Maybe in the beginning, a group of friends is introduced. Each friend might get their own book. If they’re on a space opera quest, maybe each character will have a unique adventure, but in the early books they aren’t considered main characters. They’re interesting side-characters that we’re getting to know more about. 

Also, it’s important that the main person or couple remains the focus of the book. Don’t let your side characters take over. It’s easy to do, but remember, they’ll get their own book later. 

With a series, you’ll want to leave a few threads open. Don’t answer all the smaller questions. Let me say that again. Don’t answer all the smaller questions. 

Here’s what you’ll want to remember…

It’s important to offer a sense of closure at the end of each book. Answer the big main question posed in the beginning of the book, so people enjoy a complete story, and not a novel that was chopped up into different books to make money. Each story needs its own beginning, middle, and end. If you’ve left things too open-ended, you’re looking at a serial, not a series. A story needs resolution and a satisfying ending for the best reader experience.

People have strong feelings about cliffhangers. Some make a lot of noise about how much they hate cliffhangers, and yet they still go on to buy the next book because they’re hooked. Others love them. Here’s the thing, if you’re going to end your book on a cliffhanger, it’s only fair to let your readers know the story is a serial, not a series. They should have the option to decide if they don’t want to be tied into a serial. It’s not fair to throw that on them without any warning. 

In fact, while some may claim it’s fabulous for sales, others will tell you it hurt their fanbase. Let the reader decide if they want to invest in a longer series or serial, so they’re aware there’s a time and money investment.

Avid readers gobble up books, but there are some who simply wanted to pick up a book that looked like a good story and give it a read. If it ends unresolved, they feel betrayed. You’ve lost a potential fan because you left something open-ended. Open-ended is not bad. Not in the least, it’s simply making sure your reader has fair warning that there won’t be closure if they invest hours into reading this, and it may take another year to find out what happens next. 

Think about those cliffhangers on your favorite TV series. The dreaded season finale. You have to wait all summer to see what happens next. Some love that sensation, others dread it. Let it be the reader’s choice. 

Another thing to consider when writing a series is if you choose to give each character their own book, will you be telling the same story from different points of view? Or will the timeline continue? There are consistencies you’ll want to keep in mind when you choose either scenario.

If you’re telling the same story from multiple points of view over the series, and your one character is wearing blue pants and carrying an orange laser during a fight scene, don’t suddenly have his laser be green in the next book - unless it’s a story about a laser that changes color like a psychedelic disco ball on a dance floor.

Smooth transitions are also important. When showing the same scene from varying points of view, it’s jarring to have something completely different take place. You’ll sometimes see a duology of books this way, say a romance novel that’s told from the man’s point of view in one book, then the woman’s in another. Though, the trend is more both points of view being explored in one book. Okay, so we looked at stories that follow the same timeframe, now let’s consider a few things you’ll want to remember if your timeline continues in a linear fashion throughout the series. Don’t even get me started on time traveler books! Okay, so say you have a traditional series where the story continues with another main character. In this case, you’re going to want to think through what type of character arcs you’ll be using. 

Know when each character should be woven into each book. Look at whether you’ll bring the character through a positive change, neutral change, or negative change in the arc. Will a character that shows up in book 3 or 4 have been woven into earlier books so you can see how they’ve changed over the course of the story? 

Remember, whether you’re writing one book or a twenty-book series, the one thing that needs to happen is change. You get to decide what kind of change, but readers are invested in seeing a character transition and overcome challenges. 

As for a neutral change, that could be a series like a sleuth whose personal life doesn’t change dramatically, and the story revolves more around solving a crime. There’s comfort to some having the character be the same in each book.

With all of this in mind, remember that cohesion is the name of the game when it comes to a series or serial.