Tips & Tricks for Tracking Series Details

I love writing connected stories. Not that I always plan them that way, but once I get attached to a set of characters, I’m reluctant to let them go. Besides, certain supporting characters often beg to have their stories told. Even unplanned walk-ons develop their own personalities, so much so that they keep . . . walking back on!

Consistency within and between books can become a challenge. Who exactly is this character related to? How did I describe him or her the first time? Where did I say this business or that house was located? What were their pets’ names?


So, with the passage of time and at least four series to practice on, I’ve developed a few devices to help me keep track of the important details. Here are four that I consistently rely on:

A character name chart. I write in Scrivener, so I’ve created a table-based template in which I enter each significant character’s name alphabetically twice—by first name, last name; then by last name, first name—if necessary, adding a word or two describing roles and/or relationships. As I start the next book in the series, I copy the chart into that Scrivener project and add names as new characters appear. Before moving to Scrivener, I used an Excel spreadsheet for this purpose, or you can create a similar table in Word. Here’s a segment from my Hill Country name chart. (You should be able to click on any of the images to see them in a larger window.)

A map of the community. If you’re handy with the drawing tools in Word or another program, you can create a map on your computer. I prefer having an editable computer drawing that I can link to my book files, but if you’re more comfortable using pencil and paper, that’s fine, too. The example below shows Juniper Bluff, Texas, the setting of Her Hill Country Cowboy and the next book in the series, Hill Country Reunion (coming February 2018). As various businesses crop up in each story, I decide where they’ll be located and add them to the map.

A running list of random characters and details. If a character is just a walk-on and not central to the story, I don’t clutter up my character name chart with that  information. Instead, I use a separate text file in my Scrivener characters folder, grouping names according to their role: various businesses and their owners or employees, names of pets, etc. In my Hill Country series, for example, the Serenity Hills Guest Ranch horses are listed along with photos found online to match the horses’ descriptions.

A story calendar. I use an Excel spreadsheet to create my story calendars, referring to TimeandDate.com for any holidays that fall within the story timeframe. For a historical series, obviously, my calendar will be set up according to the exact timeframe in which my story takes place. For contemporary novels, I rarely refer to actual dates, but my calendar is usually based on the year in which (I hope) my story will be published. The TimeandDate.com website is also a great source if you need to know phases of the moon (such as when your romantic couple is gazing up at the evening sky, or they’re running through a dark forest at night to escape the bad guys).

As my story unfolds, I jot brief notes in the calendar squares about what’s happening on any given day. This keeps me honest when I need to use transitions such as “two weeks later” or “the following Thursday.” For each consecutive book in the series, I typically just add on to the original calendar so that it’s easy to refer back if mention is made of something that happened in the past. Or if the plot calls for an event yet to come, it gets noted on the calendar so I can plan and pace the events leading up to it. By the way, an accurate story calendar is handy to have as a backup when the copyeditor questions your book’s timeline.

Here’s a screenshot of a portion of my calendar from Her Hill Country Cowboy, with details blurred out to prevent any spoilers!

If you’d like to create your own character name chart or story calendar, those templates are included along with other writing helps as part of my Novel Planning Excel Workbook, available for download at my website. Be sure to follow the instructions for preserving the original templates for future use.

How about you? Writers, any other tips you’d recommend for keeping track of story details, especially for a series? Readers, what are some of your favorite organizational tools and tricks? Join the conversation today and let me know if you’d like to be entered in the drawing for WINNER’S CHOICE of any of my books in print, including my September release, Her Hill Country Cowboy.

About Myra: Award-winning author Myra Johnson writes emotionally gripping stories about love, life, and faith. Myra is a two-time finalist for the prestigious ACFW Carol Awards, winner of Christian Retailing’s Best for historical fiction, and winner in the Inspirational category of the National Excellence in Romance Fiction Awards. Originally from Texas but now residing in the beautiful Carolinas, Myra and her husband love the climate and scenery, but they miss Texas bluebonnets in the spring and may never get used to the pulled pork Carolinians call “barbecue”! The Johnsons share their home with two very pampered doggies who don’t always understand the meaning of “Mom’s trying to write.” They have also inherited the “cat with a ’tude” their daughter and family had to leave behind when they recently moved overseas.

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Celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month with a Book (or two or three)

with guest Kristen Ethridge

Good morning, Seekerville! I’m not usually a morning person, but I’ve taken vacation this week to do something crazy—be a full-time writer! I’m so excited to have a whole week to do nothing but hang out with imaginary people. So, let’s get this party started! Who’s got the coffee?

One of the most fun things about being a writer—at least for me—is getting to create a community. I’ve chosen to set all my books in the fictional beach town of Port Provident, Texas. And while I love “meeting” new characters and getting to know them and tell their stories, I love writing a series because it means I get to go back and visit old friends from previous books.

In my first book, Saving Gracie, I got to tell the story of Gracie Garcia, an English as a Second Language teacher who falls in love with Jake Peoples, the developer that she first met when he handed her an eviction notice. In my second book, Second Chance Sweethearts, the story centers around Gloria Garcia Rodriguez---Gracie’s nurse-midwife sister—and her high school sweetheart, Rigo Vasquez. Gracie and Jake make a few appearances in the book, and now have a baby girl, Gabriella. One of the most fun scenes for me to write was when Jake gets to give Gloria dating advice after all the grief that Gloria gave him in the first book.

In August, I released The Doctor’s Unexpected Family. This time, my readers got to learn the backstory on City Councilwoman Angela Ruiz, who appeared briefly in both Saving Gracie and Second Chance Sweethearts. In this story, a medical emergency after a hurricane brings her to depend on Dr. Pete Shipley, a skilled doctor…who just happens to have been Gloria’s boss at the local birth center.

At the beginning of October, I’m releasing Shelter from the Storm—thestory of Becca Collins and Dr. Ross Reeder, two animal lovers who can’t stand each other. They’re thrown together because of Hurricane Hope, which is the key theme of this current Port Provident-based mini-series. In Shelter from the Storm, you’ll find out if Becca and Ross can quit arguing long enough to find common ground and save the furriest residents of Port Provident from the effects of the storm. Plus, you’ll get to see Rigo Vasquez, Angela Ruiz and more.

Visiting Port Provident is like attending a family reunion—but without all the potluck dishes. (Unless you count the fresh seafood at Porter’s or the homemade Mexican food at Huarache’s, the restaurant owned by Gracie and Gloria’s family!) And that’s just the way I planned it. I wanted to create a diverse community that reflected the one I used to live in. I wanted to feature different characters from diverse backgrounds, because I’m a big believer that we need diverse books. To me, Port Provident is a town whose strength comes from the people, community, and churches you’ll find there—in short, it’s probably a lot like where you live. (Well, just with a beach that’s only blocks away from wherever you are.) In fact, I say that the stories of Port Provident are “Inspirational Romance in a Beachside Town You’ll Want to Call Home.”

And I’m especially proud of the fact that recently, The Doctor’s Unexpected Family hit #1 on Amazon’s Hispanic-American literature chart. It means that there’s a place on bookshelves for diverse characters of faith. And I couldn’t be more excited that this milestone happened during Hispanic Heritage Month, which runs through October 15. In fact, on October 2, I’m joining other Christian authors in a Facebook party to celebrate our books featuring diverse characters. I’d love to invite you to join me. RSVP here!

What about you? Do you enjoy reading characters from all walks of life? Are you like me—do you enjoy books in a series so you can go back and visit “old friends” as you read new stories? What are some of your favorite series to read? 

I’m in vacation mode, so I’m going a little crazy today. I’m going to give away a Kindle

copy of The Doctor’s Unexpected Family and a pre-order copy of Shelter from the Storm (you’ll get it when it releases in early October—but just in case you win a different book, be sure and go to my Amazon page and click the yellow “follow” button so you’ll be notified of upcoming releases in the Port Provident series—there are two more scheduled through the end of this year!) 

Plus, I’m also going to throw in FIVE copies of Storm Surge, my non-fiction book that released last month. It’s my memoir of the life lessons I learned going through Hurricane Ike and the Bible verses and stories that had special meaning to me at that time—and if you’re going through storms in your own life, I hope that they’ll inspire you to ride the waves and rise above. My time of rebuilding during Hurricane Ike inspired the Port Provident: Hurricane Hope series, so it’s also a glimpse for readers into the real-life story behind the stories. Comment below for your chance to win!

The writing bug bit Kristen Ethridge around the time she first held a pencil. A 2012 Romance Writers of America Golden Heart Award Finalist, Kristen was discovered by Harlequin through their 2012 So You Think You Can Write contest.

Kristen is the award-nominated author of the Port Provident series with Harlequin’s Love Inspired line and Laurel Lock Publishing. Her August 2015 release, The Doctor’s Unexpected Family, reached No. 1 on the Amazon Hispanic-American literature chart. Her favorite stories are filled with love, laughter, and happily ever after--and her favorite happily ever after is the story of God's love. Although she has fun creating characters, Kristen's favorite people are her family. She lives in Texas with her husband, children and a self-important poodle. Keep up with Kristen by joining her newsletter list and her author pages on Amazon and Facebook. You can also visit her online at www.kristenethridge.com. 

Writing a series? Keep it organized!

with guest Leslie Ann Sartor.

Have you ever thought about writing a series? Then, I beg you, start your "bible" now.

Don't wait like me, until I finished the first book and realized by the not-so-gentle nudging of a great friend, our own Audra Harders, that I had a series on my hands.

Worse, I have TWO series I'm working on and will start a cozy mystery series in 2016. Take pity on me now, please, or pray. It's going to be a crazy ride.

But now I know I'll start my cozy bible from the get go, the other two I have to build in the midst of writing the current novel which feels a bit daunting, but is crucial.

So just what is a series "bible"?

It's the document that is going to keep you from tearing out your hair.  

It's not only going to remind you of your character's eye and hair color, the dimple in his LEFT cheek and the tattoo on her RIGHT wrist. It's what we call in the film biz, continuity. It's making sure that not only do you have the house on the same side of the block, but you have the street name correct and the color of the car consistent. Nothing ruins a film faster for me or makes me close a book, perhaps never to open it again, by inattention to details.

BUT, there are more than physical aspects that need to be kept consistent -- deeper, more complex issues. I promise you these details, and others you come up with, will help build your story faster and keep correct the traits readers loved in the first place.

So let's dig in a little deeper. Here are some ideas to make notes about:

·         Endearments and how they're said. Darling or darlin'.

·         How does your character get mad? What is their hot button? (One of Reid Hunter's is anyone questioning his loyalty--he doesn't get mad, he retreats, the heck with them. But deep inside he's hurt.)

·         Do they drive fast? Irritatingly slow? (Brice Young—slow which frustrates Jennifer Malone who has a fast car and likes to drive it that way.)

·         What are their beliefs and what forces your character to reveal them?

·         What is the name of the boat or whatever—cottage, car, dog, cat, etc.? (This also makes sure you spell it the same throughout the books.)

·         Create a map of the area so X store is always next to Y store. And the house across the street is a red gingerbready style, not a Craftsmen bungalow.

·         Note landmarks that are used or could be used.

·         What are the characters' lineages? Don't want to blow that one. Keep a family tree going.

·         Save pictures that intrigued you about the story. Don't try and find them again. The internet is fickle. And if you cut them from a magazine, scan them in or take a photo.

·         Research sites. I have a ton, all in my files. And if something is important, I copy and paste the info. Some of those sites have moved much to my dismay.

Have I lost you yet?

I'm hoping your next question is…where do I put all this information? That is exactly your question? I have a few answers.

This part is actually really fun, it's like creating a detailed scrapbook.

I have a friend who literally makes scrapbooks with everything in them. All her notes, pictures, snippets of dialogue from experts talking…everything. I've seen them and I'm a bit—okay, a lot—envious. They're not those fancy 12x12 scrapbooks -- she uses composition books or notebooks, something that will hold a lot of stuff.

Some folks use Evernote to take "clippings" of their research. I like that idea. You can paste them anywhere.

Another great idea, and one I once used for all my research so it was in one place, is OneNote in the Microsoft Suite of programs. It's a one stop folder. Everything in one place.

What I'm using now is Scrivener. I'm creating a new binder just for this information. Because a lot of it is already in Scrivener, I can copy the folder and move it to the new binder, then add as a re-read my books and find what I need.

Friends don't let this happen to friends. That's why I'm writing this post!

What's most important is that you do what works for you. If you're super detailed and not messy, you'll find a method for you. If you're crafty you might use the notebook method. (It's tactile as well). But whichever method you use, it has to be simple to get to the information, or I doubt you'll use it much.

What do you think should be included?

And what method do you think you'd use?

I'm offering two Kindle copies of my latest book ForeverYours This New Year's Night to a couple of lucky commenters. (Please note this is a sweet romance, not an inspy)

Jennifer Malone Can't Believe What's Happening To Her

How dare he? Granted she's far from home, dining alone on Christmas Eve. But that doesn't give Major Brice Young—the cocky man who'd out-experted her on a big cyber forensics case months ago—the right to invite himself to her table and then do what he did.

Brice Young Can't Believe He Did What He Just Did

Stupid move. Brice needs Jennifer Malone to be the beta tester of his new cyber defense program and he bet he'd just ruined his chances. Why on earth did he come here at all, let alone do what he just did? Would Jen still show up at tomorrow's meeting and agree to work with him on testing his new system?

Can Two Prior Adversaries Work Together?

Getting Jen to test his new system is Brice's priority until he discovers she is so much more than the icy cyber geek she portrays to the world. Jen fights to keep her distance, despite Brice's undeniable charm. There is no way she ever mixes business with pleasure, especially with a recently divorced man…or can magic happen on this New Year's Night?

Leslie Ann Sartor (aka L.A.Sartor) began telling stories around the age of 4 when her mother, at Leslie’s insistence, wrote them down and Leslie illustrated them.  As an adult she writes suspense and action adventure novels with a dash of romance, and screenplays—she's had a contracted adaptation!  She lives in Colorado with her husband whom she met on a blind date.  Leslie loves to travel and thinks life is an adventure and we should embrace the journey.  She has a blog and a mailing list.


AND, there's more...


Along with Leslie's generous gifts, there will be a couple more.

We'll be giving away winner's choice of one of these holiday books (e-version)!

Check the WE on Saturday to see if it's YOU!!

Welcome guests Lisa Richardson and Jennifer AlLee

Sequels

There are numerous ways to manage sequels. The preferred method is often heavily genre specific. For example, if you write mysteries, the sequels are often the protagonists ongoing adventures. Whereas with romances, the whole point is how the hero and heroine fall in love. Readers can grow impatient waiting for that to occur over several stories, so sequels are often the stories of one or more minor characters from book one.

 

Click to Buy on Amazon

But beyond genre specifics there are other things to take into account when writing a sequel. A lesson Jen and I learned the hard way.

We sold a series idea to Whitaker House which became the Charm and Deceit series. Book one went well, book two was easy peasy to write. Lots of adventure, huge stakes. But then we were faced with book three. The story we had pitched with our proposal sounded good. In it we are solving a mystery raised in book one. It ties the whole series together nicely. But when it came to actually writing it, there was a problem.

Jennifer AlLee

 

I believe I mentioned the huge stakes in book two? Yeah, Vanishing Act is set during the Civil War and concerns Tad Lincoln’s kidnapping. The stability of the Union teeters in the balance. Huzzah! Adventure, dash, and daring do ensue.

But then we hit book three like we’d run aground against a sandbar. You see in books one and two we had created certain reader expectations for the series. Now we were faced with the stakes being the resolution of a ten-year-old murder mystery. We were afraid it would be anticlimactic and the last thing I want to do is disappoint readers.

Lisa Karon Richardson

 

We managed to find a way to increase the stakes, but in the interests of sparing you a similar harrowing experience, my advice is to think beyond the individual arcs of the stories to creating an overall arc for the series while you’re still in the planning stage. 

Consistency is key as well. Make sure there is a similar tone or feeling. This is particularly important if you are featuring the same characters again and again. But even if you aren’t, your readers now have expectations about what experience the series will give them and again, we don’t want to disappoint readers.

Have you written a series? What tips and tricks can you share with us to make the process as pain free as possible?

Leave a comment to get your name in the drawing for two sets of the first two books in our Charm and Deceit series. Book #1 is Diamond in the Rough. Book #2 is Vanishing Act.

Vanishing Act
Juliet Button doesn't even believe in ghosts, but she believes in supporting her makeshift family of misfits. Having spent years as assistant to her uncle, an illusionist, she now has all of the skills and know–how she needs to make an audience believe the impossible. So, she begins a career as a medium by the name of Miss Avila. She wants nothing to do with a detective with the power to destroy the life she's built, but when President Lincoln's youngest son is kidnapped, and the first lady comes to her for help, she can't refuse, even if it means facing Pinkerton agent Carter Forbes, who knows far too much about her already—and possibly falling in love.
http://www.lisakaronrichardson.com/
http://jenniferalleesite.blogspot.com/

Road Trippin' Your Way into the Hearts of Readers!

Goooooood Morning, Seeeeekerville!!!!

Ruthy here, and I'm just gonna say there's not much I like better than a ROAD TRIP with my peeps!!!

And I'm not talkin' marshmallow chicks here, we chatted up those Peeps last week,

I'm goin' with the lovely daughters, husband and friends that I drag onto these missions to help me create the "land base" for series writing... (waving to Deb Marvin who hooked up with us last December!!)

Story setting is huge to me, but you don't have a lot of time or space to "set" a book in category romances, so setting a series of books allows me the fun of developing a town/village/lake/ranch/neighborhood that works for a bunch of stories.

"Kirkwood Lake" is a fictional body of water loosely based on Chautauqua Lake in Western New York, but when I went looking for the mountain/hill/lake combination I wanted for this new series, it didn't exist. I stopped into Rushford Lake, NY, and it was beautiful, but small for my vision.... Then Cuba Lake, a man-made lake in the far corner of Allegany County... Nope. Needed bigger, I was seeing a bigger lake with several villages dotting the shores.

When we started to circle Chautauqua Lake, I knew I had the right body of water! SO GORGEOUS!!!!

I cruised the stores and villages surrounding the lake.... and if you look at this pic, you'll see that we're actually just west of the Enchanted Mountain Region of New York.

I wanted mountains. I wanted this lake. I write fiction.

NO BRAINER, LOL!

I set up my villages on "Kirkwood Lake" and snugged the lake a little to the east of Chautauqua Lake, probably risking mayhem by putting it smack dab in the middle of an Indian Reservation. But I can get away with it because it's fiction... set amid reality.

View of Olean, NY tucked into Enchanted Mountains region of northern Appalachia. How stinkin' gorgeous is this? "Brigadoon"-pretty, right?

Rolling hills, gorgeous lake, riparian interests, farmers' rights, family discord, medical malpractice, crumbling marriages, happily ever afters, sick children, babies, lost babies, storms, a heroic horse that makes me smile every time I think of him, a sweet minister, pretty churches, holiday charm, winter's quiet, lack of faith, amazing faith, grace, forgiveness, humor, food, weddings, pretty dresses, cute jeans, guys in uniform....

Aha.

Gotcha right there, didn't I? Because how stinkin' cute are cops against a setting like this?

Or this?

This is VIDLER'S 5 & 10 in East Aurora, New York, a fun, vintage, classic nod to yesteryear!
THEY SELL NOSTALGIA!!!
WELL.

:)

SO DO I!!!!

So far we're three books into this series, three delightful stories where hero and heroine ALWAYS COME FIRST.... but multiple books let me take the reader into cafes.... church pews.... gazebos.... apple farms.... dairy farms with a glass-bottle dairy attached!!!... and we can see the good and bad of small-town living... Because everybody dies famous in a small town!

This book is available in two weeks in stores and at Amazon and CBD.com
But you can get it HERE RIGHT NOW!!!!

Setting is a mosaic, and I've always loved that art-form. It's never enough to have one farm set on a hill, but a farm with a store attached, set on a hill overlooking a gorgeous and upscale lake with lake frontage that the town WANTS BADLY TO ACCESS FOR DEVELOPMENT.... while two heirs are fighting with the other three heirs, trying to force them to sell the farm so they can take their cut and RUN...

Now my setting has become part of the plot.

I took a weekend drive and turned it into the basics of what is so far a five-book series... but we're already talking more books set in Kirkwood, more stories about the multi-cultural Campbell family and who doesn't love a cafe called "Tina Marie's"...

 With a proprietor who had a thing.... back in the day....

for the Special Forces Campbell brother who has no intention of ever coming back to town to stay... but life throws us curves when we least expect it.

And who wouldn't love a pair of Italian seamstresses who come to town in time to help make costumes for the town's year-long bicentennial celebration??? And maybe win a heart along the way?

Writing successful series in category length is developing the timing for saying the most with the least, and believe me, having a strong editor on hand helps make that happen.

Coffee's on (Helen might have an even fresher pot going, so be sure to check her out!)  We're chillaxin' with comfort food this morning, because it's been snowing (STILL!!!) in the west and I've heard we might see a little more in upstate before we wave winter bye-bye...

How about some stuffed French Toast with warm NYS maple syrup?

Sounds delightful! Let me know in the comments if you'd like your name put in the cat dish for the 15 page critique.... or the autographed copy of The Lawman's Second Chance or... both!


Love Inspired author Ruth Logan Herne is a native of upstate New York, she's been married for more years than most pre-schoolers can count, she opts to be a natural blonde and loves God, her family, chocolate, coffee, kids and dogs. You can find her waving her American flag with gusto at ruthloganherne.com, here on Seekerville hanging with people she loves, shamelessly exploiting puppies, kittens and small children for monetary gain at www.ruthysplace.com or cooking food with a great bunch of fellow writers at The Yankee Belle Cafe!

Embracing the Reader, Enticing the Editor, Let's Sell Those "Series"!

REMINDER!!!!  SEEKERVILLE WELCOMES GUEST BLOGGER AND LOVE INSPIRED EDITOR ELIZABETH MAZER TOMORROW!!!! AMAZING GIVEAWAYS.... COOL CONTESTS... NO CONFERENCE COSTS, LOL!!!!  DO NOT FORGET TO STOP BY EARLY AND OFTEN!!! SEEKERS THRIVE ON YOUR SUCCESS STORIES!

Good morning, Seekerville! Ruthy here, ready to work! Okay, we're here to do Part "B" of the "series post", the post I wrote twice for September... as if boring you to tears once wasn't bad enough, ooops. SORRY!!!!  :)

And I had to delete all the fun stuff I had in here about pretending to MISS the conference-goers.... and we did, right??? We missed them while eating RED VELVET CAKE with CREAM CHEESE FROSTING, recipe HERE!!!

And... here is an amazingly great TRUE STORY that happened to  me in the past few weeks... Hit the link, travel to Ruthy's Place and then come back... You might need tissues. I'm just sayin'...

Back to series. When I knew the time was right for me to study this craft and try writing, I grabbed every Nora Roberts and Linda Howard book I could find from the library. Why them? Because they were the best-sellers, the people pleasers, the sought-afters. Learn from the best when at all possible...

'Member "Good Will Hunting"? Will's line about "...yeah but you dropped 150 grand on an education you coulda got for a buck-fifty in late charges at the public library."

I had no money so that library became my educational mecca!  And I realized I LOVED series.... Nora's "Stanislaskis"???? Loved 'em!!!!  The MacGregors, the whole stinkin' clan??? Over the top enamored!  Linda's MacKenzie series????  Who didn't fall in love with every one of those heroes?????

Jan Karon's "Mitford" series with Father Tim? Oh my stars, I love Father Tim and Cynthia. The antics of the town. The pacing, the laughter, the tears. Sara Donati's Into the Wilderness series, the Bonner family? Oh take me back a few centuries... Please!!!  :) And remember, Christian fiction hadn't started burgeoning as yet, and our library had nothing like that, so I went to the best-selling romance authors and fed my writer's brain.

And what about suspense series? Marta Perry has made an art form of developing successful suspense series. And Mary Connealy's romantic/comedy/suspense books are the rage all over the country because those series create a niche of family, setting, friends, neighbors. She captures that intrinsic "something" that makes a series sing.

But how does a pantser write a series? How would a plotter plan a series? Those are the first things you should ask yourself. Plotter? Pantser? Because your methods will vary and what works for one won't work for the other. (and for the life of me I haven't figured out what fun there is in writing for those plotter folks, but they say... sigh... they're having fun with all their trimmin's and trappin's, and glue boards or cork boards or notebook/notepad/ipad/ibook thingamajiggies.)

Series can be linked by many things and we chatted about some of this in September HERE...  And we talked about the over-reaching SERIES ARC that allows each book to form its own arc within.  Picture a bridge as the series arc.....



And the "pass-throughs" (supports) are the individual books.

Each support could stand on it's own. They're built strong and balanced and tough. But the bridge can't span the water with one support.... And that's how a series is. Stand-alone books co-existing in a solid framework.

Here are a few of those "links" that tie a series together.

1. Setting  (all books take place in a region or town or city or neighborhood) In this case the setting can actually become strong enough to become a "character" in the books. Karon's "Mitford" series is an excellent example of that. I used this framework for my Men of Allegany County series, interconnecting the men and their romances through a geographic region. A larger setting like that allows more room for expansion because counties are BIG. Setting usually allows the author more leeway with less chance of "sound alike" books, a bane to any author's existence.

2. Plot  (all books linked by similar plot lines/genre)  The Cat Who... series by Lilian Braun are genre linked books. Mystery series follow this formula and mystery readers LOVE THEM.  Some thrillers (think of how Dan Brown bought the book on Writing Thrillers for Morons or some such thing, and then WROTE HIS BOOKS based on that outline. There is a reason successful authors employ similar modes, because it resonates with a readership. Remember, throughout everything, a publisher wants your heart, he/she longs for you to bleed red on your manuscript, but mostly???  They want/need sales. Without sales, we go nowhere, and sales/selling/being paid is not a dirty word. It's part of the balance.

3.  Siblings (Julie Lessman's series are a perfect example here, where Julie has taken each unique sibling and created a story line for them) Dee Henderson did that with her "O'Malley" series, too. Connealy has employed that in the Sophie's Daughters series, and also in her current hot-selling Kincaid Brides group of books from Bethany House. It's a family saga type book broken into increments and very reader-friendly.

4.  Number  (Three sisters, three friends, Four brothers, etc. Many series are set on a number like that. Usually in a friend/sibling series, three is the suggested number, maybe four. There are exceptions to that. Sagas are prone to developing more books about each individual character)

5.  Crime/Genre/Suspense  J. D. Robb's "DEATH" series is indicative of this. Classic work using the same main characters through multiple books but delivering individualized crime stories as presented to these characters. These series can go on for a long time. Mysteries, crime, suspense are often seen with this twist. Think television series like "Castle", "NCIS", "Jag", etc.

6.  Time progression (these series may start in the 1800's with early settlers going west and then develop generationally. Mary Connealy has touched on this with her  Lassoed in Texas series  and Montana Marriages series which morphed into Sophie's Daughters series, three books that tied the previous series together in the next generation. Skillfully done this is a great tactic to bind the reader to the books and the author.


So that's our re-cap.... and now we're into Part "B":

1. Plan the series
2. Write the opening book
3. Plant seeds of upcoming books
4. Leave folks longing for more books, more closure.

We talked about double arcs, an overhanging series arc.... And individual book arcs.

I actually have to PLAN now. Or my bosses will laugh me out of the room when I ask for money, kind of like that Oliver kid, wanting more food, right???  "Please, sir? Might I have some more???"

As if, kid.

So once I figured that out, I played with pre-developing a series. My 2013/2014 "Kirkwood Lake" series is set between Chautauqua and Cattaraugus and Allegany counties in southwestern NY, the Enchanted Mountains region, along the Northern PA border.

BIG REGION. HUGE.

How much do you LOVE the sign tree????? It leads down the narrow road to the lakefront, a true riparian thing that you might also see atop a mountain... Translate: Access limited!!!

And how pretty is this view of the opposite shore? This is Rushford Lake, New York, in Allegany County.

That gives me space to grow and develop the stories. I knew I wanted varied law enforcement agencies involved to reflect reality. Current economic woes have towns and villages giving up all kinds of duplicate services... police and fire are among those. So what happens when a town drops its police service? The sheriffs and state police step in to pick up the slack.

Now we have automatic conflict. People are overworked. Job security in the bigger forces is heightened, but so are expectations. And what happens when law enforcement gets spread too thin?

Crime increases.

I noticed a HUGE DRUG BUST in this region that linked the Buffalo Police Department, the NYS police and local sheriffs to bring down a big drug ring. And they did it, too!

But it took a lot of quiet work, cooperation, and involvement to get the job done because there are lots of places to hide in the mountains and back roads of these rural, rolling counties.

Bad cops. The papers are full of them, reports of law enforcement abusing their badges in numerous ways. While that's the minority, it's real, so adding that in helps the layering process. Bad cop = BAD.

Good cop = HERO or HEROINE

Simple, right??? (big grin)

So we've got big geographic area, work-related stress for those who lost their jobs and those who have more expected of them....

And life, of course. Whose life doesn't smack them upside the head now and again???

Now we needed a town. "Kirkwood Lake" is our quaint town bordering the lake of the same name, and having the town on the shoreline of a fairly large lake makes it a gathering spot and a seasonal place. For June, July and August, Kirkwood Lake will be different than in the other nine months, because the summer folk go home.

BIG DIFFERENCE, MORE CONFLICT... money, space, empty places, vandalism....

And the small city of Clearwater lies just south of the lake... A setting similar to Jamestown, NY at the lower edge of Chautauqua Lake, which gives the stories another dose of latitude and realism.

So we've set up for ongoing stress surrounding these heroes and heroines in law enforcement...

Now we add LIFE:

Oy. Life. Smackdowns.

He stripped his father's dream away, and now must pay the price... Her dream was her father's nightmare, and now everyone is pushing her to give it up, sell out and she might, because hanging on might just cost her the hero. Which does she want more? Her centennial family farm or the hero's love?

He and his little boy had been abandoned already...and lame excuses hold scant appeal.  She abandoned her pretty babies to avoid going back to prison... to get them back, she might have to do just that.  

She'd lost her love, her life when her cop husband became a hero... He lost his heart when his wife left with another man's child, a boy he loved as his own. When she comes to town, pregnant and alone, he knows he can't face that again. Ever. No matter how much she needs him.

Once a prisoner, he makes a difference now, physically and emotionally. A cop, she does it right,  proving illicit activities don't run in the family. But his present plants her past into the line of fire, and she just can't forgive him for that.


I already have a glimmer of the fifth book.... A book that ties our two lost children who turn up in "The Lawman's Second Chance" (due out May, 2013)... and gives these lost babies a chance at the normal life they've been denied. That's a seed planter, it helps instill in the reader a longing to find out what happens. I work hard to invest the reader in the people, the town, the children, the romance, and yes... the DOGS!!!

This is Derringer, he's the retired military hero's Red Coon Hound in "His Mistletoe Family" available HERE!!!!

ISN'T HE STINKIN' GORGEOUS?????

And here he is on the cover of this delightful Christmas tale, with our two orphaned boys, Tyler and Todd. I am continually blessed by the work of the art team at Harlequin. I want to jump into this picture and take care of these boys, these precious gifts of God! And they're just what our wounded hero needs to give him a new lease on life.  Oh.... that God!!!!  :)

I strove to give this new series mobility and space. It's set across a three-county mountainous region. I picked a riparian setting for the town (bordering a beautiful lake) because that gives me room for story development geographically and seasonally. And riparian land owners are sometimes WEIRD... If you don't believe me, try walking along a quiet, lake-dwelling road as a stranger... and see what happens.

I've developed SMOKIN' HOT HEROES!!!!  and the women they need to help them complete God's circle for their lives.

I've made fun of a few people in the process.  :)

But just a few!

Here's a pic of the fun basket you're vying for today if your name is picked:

This delightful basket holds Cuba Sharp Cheddar from Cuba, NY, Webb's Candy bars from Mayville, New York, a couple of RUTHY BOOKS!!!! and a delightful surprise book by a Carol-award finalist who shall go un-named at present... Lindt truffles... A COOL Seekerville jar opener, the famous Seekerville Pink Pen to sign your contracts with, a copy of the original "Simply Books" which has our first shout-out article about Seekerville from the nice folks at Harlequin, harvest colored M&M's (my favorite to have at Thanksgiving!!!) and anything else I don't scrape out of the cat dish!

Stop in. Let's talk story/series development and feel free to share your favorite series titles with us because studying... reading.... writing.... well they're the best way this author knows of getting it right.

Remembering always that the LIBRARY IS A FREE REFERENCE SITE FOR A REASON!!! Oh, how I love Ben Franklin!!!

:)

Coffee's on!

Don't forget to check out those presents!

Building a Selling Series Proposal

Ruthy here, holding down the fort with a bunch o' youse in the village and cafe while staying home from the awesome ACFW conference this year. Is this bad? Good? Totally inconsequential to life on the planet as we know it?

It is what it is, LOL! So I make it good, because that's my choice!

But listen to this, because I am this dense:  I wrote this post TWICE... I had time last weekend and so sat down, gathered my thoughts, jumped in and wrote the beginning of this post... Got an hour in and then needed to do something else... Probably feed chickens or some such... So I save it...

RIGHT ABOVE THE SAME POST ON THE SAME TOPIC THAT I WROTE TWO WEEKS AGO.

Clearly my head is unaccustomed to being ahead of the game. So I divided the spoils. This is PART ONE... So be prepared to either be bored or entertained in October (our happpppy birrrrrthday month, YAY!!!) when I give you part two about writing series books.... A topic I love, love, love. AND.... I'm giving away a ten-page critique and/or Ruthy books today... I've got two copies of Waiting Out the Storm to inscribe to some wonderful person... and if you're a writer I'm giving away a ten-page critique to someone foolish enough (or hearty enough!) to have their name thrown in the cat dish...  Let me know in your comments, 'kay????

Every time I have to miss FUN I push myself to work my way through it. That's after I cry, rant, rave, stomp my feet and act adolescent, boo-hoo, whaaa! whaaa!

Sandra, Myra, Janet, Keli Gwyn (love her!!!), me and Missy Tippens at RWA... I console myself with REMEMBERING past conferences!!!  While I stay home writing new books.
Have I mentioned how much I love writing? Creating? Are ya' gettin' sick o' hearin' it???  ;)

And while they're all off playin', let's you and me get some work done, polishing. Primping. Pimping. Fine-tuning.

I don't use technical terms while teaching. I'd have to gag, you'd end up more stupid than when you started, and no one would refer to this post, ever, because I'd put you to sleep, so let's start with your story idea, whatever it is. And then we want to consider ways to make it a series of books, because SERIES SELL.

Mule Hollow... Dry Creek... Men of Allegany County.... Ladies in Waiting... Military Investigations... Sophie's Daughters... Daughters of Boston... Ladies of Summerhill... Redemption River...

Here's my original story for the North Country series (Harlequin Love Inspired, March, July and September, 2010) Note that while this first story didn't get published, the other three did... so consider this one a practice round for the published series:

Anne Kellwyn has a secret. It’s cost her everything to keep it, including her marriage. Now she may have to pay an even higher price to reveal the truth, but is she too late?

Chief of Police Cade Macklin takes his position seriously. A lead-by-example Christian, he’s challenged when his ex-wife appears with another man’s child after eight years of silence. Anger and pride challenge his Andy Griffith lifestyle, driving him out of his comfort zone. Can he reconcile the past in order to ease Anne’s future?

Here's the single tagline:  Returning home to care for her dying mother, an abuse survivor faces the wrath of the husband she abandoned and the teacher who stole her innocence.

But as I wrote that initial (and beautiful) book years ago, I wanted to branch out. Tell more stories about the small town of Grasse Bend, NY in the North Country/St. Lawrence County. I mean what small town do you know that only has ONE STORY?????

None. Of course. Welcome to Small-town, USA. So then you come to step two: In the North Country series I related the books by attaching them in some way to the criminal teacher...(follow me here, I don't mean to confuse you, he doesn't exist in the published books because the original book wasn't bought, BUT... he's still there, he's just different, he's a con-man who Ponzi-schemed sweet, trusting folks out of their life savings for his own gain. So I used him to build from, I simply changed him. Which is what you need to be open to... change is part of writing. Part of being an author. Now back to our regularly scheduled program. Anybody got chips????  I could use some of those black pepper and salt kettle chips right now. Oh, so stinkin' good!)

Waiting Out the Storm became the first story then.

 It is the story of the Ponzi scheme conniver's half sister, a woman scorned by her redneck brothers for being mixed blood. They were jerks, they disliked her mother (their stepmother) and they disliked Sarah. When her mother succumbed to cancer, Sarah became their mental and psychological abuse target. Their emotional abuse left internal scars and self-doubt, making Sarah Slocum one of my all-time favorite heroines, because while she was victimized, she's NOT A VICTIM. And she wears her Christianity like a Native American deerskin, smooth. Seamless. A sheep farmer, Sarah steps in and helps her sister-in-law and nieces and nephew even though her father and half-brother try to make her life miserable. And the kids hate farming. And they're not all that sure about Sarah... And sheep smell. But the puppies are cute. So are the lambs. Except people EAT THE LAMBS... Oy! Oy! Oy!

Sarah sets the stage for bringing peace back to the town of Grasse Bend by mending old wrongs as she helps guide the children, deal with the hunka-hunka burnin' love veterinarian building his house across the street... A guy who can't abide her family for what they've done to so many... and support Rita, her alcoholic sister-in-law's quest for recovery.

The next book is Rita's story, "Made to Order Family".

This book takes the wronged wife who totally crashed and burned and shows her growth through Alcoholics Anonymous, her quest to become more independent and a gut-wrenching military hero who's a long-time member of AA himself. Brooks Harrington is a hero you fall in love with. Tough. Quiet. Soul-searching. Tortured inside. But outside he's a voice of reason, a quiet man who walks tall. Very Andy Griffith.

And then we finished that series with Winter's End, the classic Carol Award finaling love story of the veterinarian's friend Marc and a hospice nurse who can't bear the North Country cold because of too many reminders...

How could we link your books?  The amazing number "3" is a commonality in series writing. Three sisters, all different, each one looking for her own Mr. Right and maybe some peace of mind to go with it? Three brothers, vying for control of a firm left to them by an autocratic father, all striving to find their own way? Three brothers, each one from a different mother? Three friends, coming home for a reunion and deciding to stay for personal reasons?

Or a series can be based on weather. Lives, interrupted and changed by a line of deadly tornadoes. A neighborhood, obliterated by a hurricane. A town, deluged with rain, flooded and moldy. Or a storm surge that sweeps ashore, wreaking havoc in its wake. How about an ice storm, deadly in force and usually limited in diameter? What happens when one town is ruined and the adjacent town escapes danger?

You can do your series based on profession. A doctor's practice, or a hospital. A university setting, linking people by proximity if not relationship. Cops, keeping the peace, helping one another, protecting a town or county. A county highway crew, men and women who work the roads, taking care of infrastructure to keep us from falling into rivers.

I love series that have an overhanging arc, like a double rainbow in the Eastern sky at dusk. What an amazing and scientific Gift from God that rainbow is. Each book has its own distinctive arc beneath the banner arc of the series...

A series arc should be like that. In the North Country, the town was caught off guard by trusting things that were too good to be true. If something seems to be too good to be true, it usually is, right? So that was a huge lesson to this little town. They should have known better. And as they realize that, the curve of the series comes to a close in Winter's End.

In Men of Allegany County I used the tough economic times to develop the series line for 7 books. A town, downtrodden, fallen on tough times, starts a resurgence in "Reunited Hearts' when a military hero comes home to help the local electronics company gain a foothold in military contracts. Of course the total studmuffin Trent Michaels falls in love as he does it, because why wouldn't he????  ;)

And we keep that curve of the towns slowly rebounding as we go through the books... In each story the stores are doing a little better, a little stronger, the churches are being painted. Trimmed. New roofs. And we finish that one with His Mistletoe Family (due out in a few weeks, YAY!!!!) a beautiful story that shows an old furniture factory and showroom being transformed into a gorgeous, eclectic antique and craft cooperative, just in time for Christmas. The series arc was resurgence for the towns, the people. Renewed faith and hope.

:)

In Part B we'll discuss how to either:

1. Plan the series
2. Write the opening book
3. Plant seeds of upcoming books
4. Leave folks longing for more books, more closure.

Feel free to share your story idea and tell me if you'd like us to discuss how to make it a series. We can chat about series arcs and internal motivation... In the end those arcs are what make writing a series so much fun for me... They feed the Mr. Fix It inside!

Coffee's on! Grab a cup and let's get to work while the lot of them are partying in Dallas...

And they'll be SO IMPRESSED by our vast knowledge and camaraderie that they'll WISH they stayed home. Or at least paid for Internet at the airport so they could keep up with us, right???  ;)

And hey... maybe next year, in Indianapolis... Or RWA in Atlanta.

Keeping a Huge Cast Straight with Guest Debra Clopton

Hi! Debra Clopton here, so excited about being in Seekerville!


 My latest book, Her Homecoming Cowboy an August release from Love Inspired is on shelves now. Bull rider Colt Holden is my most tortured hero ever. And he needs a reason to smile. Click here for an interview with Colt.

 Since it is the 21st book in my ongoing Mule Hollow series Tina invited me to talk a little about “my people” and how in world I keep them all straight? Keep them straight--ha! There is no keeping these fun, God-loving folks straight—they do whatever they want to do! Oh, wait, Tina meant there are so many of them how do I keep them straight as in keep up with them? Ha, that’s just as tough because after 21 books there’s a bunch of folks wandering around Mule Hollow. It can make this ole gal crazy! But, thank goodness I have my ways and I’ll tell how I do it?

But first, she also asked me if I set out to create a huge series when I wrote that first book The Trouble with Lacy Brown back in 2003?

The answer to the second question is NO! For starters, I have to thank my wonderful readers who grabbed hold of Mule Hollow from the beginning and held on! Their loyalty gave me the opportunity to write this many. Big {{HUGS}} if any of you are reading this!!!

Okay onward: I didn’t have a clue Mule Hollow would go past 3 books. But I hoped for a 5 book series. Also, I didn’t know if I had it in me to stick with the same characters past 5 books without me getting bored with the characters—or them having nothing left to say to me. As you can see “my people” are long winded—they don’t know how to stop talking! Fact is they are planning their next escapades before I end the current books!

So what did I know when I started:

• I had a plan and knew I wanted to set it up for success.

•  I wanted to create a place a community with in my books that would make people smile, enjoy themselves with good friends and hopefully desire a closer relationship with God when they closed the book. 

• Writing the first book, The Trouble With Lacy Brown I wanted Lacy Brown to be a larger than life character who loved the Lord with all her heart. I wanted readers to love her, because I did plan that she would be in every Mule Hollow book. Her vision would drive the books and her appearance would be essential to connecting them.

To make the community I needed the right characters. They would be my nucleus characters who would appear in each book.

• Lacy Brown 

• The Mule Hollow Matchmaking Posse were born; Norma Sue, Esther Mae and Adela the 3 older ladies who had a vision to save their town by exploiting the one commodity they had: lonesome cowboys. 

• Add to Sam’s Dinner and Sam the owner, as Lacy would say he is as small and wrinkled as a raisin. 

• Then there are my two hard-of-hearing old dudes, Applegate Thornton and Stanley Orr who play checkers every day at the diner and get into all kinds of stuff.

I had a blast creating these folks—or they had a blast taking over my mind might be a better way of putting it. Add that up and its 7 characters plus my hero and heroine who must show up in every book.

Then there are secondary nucleus characters who show up a lot:

• Samantha, my matchmaking donkey who had a starring role in book 2 And Baby Makes Five. Samantha has to make an appearance every so often to keep readers happy since she is a reader favorite. Then Sheri, Lacy’s best friend and sidekick, there is Pete from Pete’s Feed and Seed who doesn’t have to be in every book but he’s a big part of the community. And the ladies from No Place Like Home, the local women’s shelter. 

• Then there is the problem of letting heroes and heroines from past books come back and say hi to the readers. 

So you see “my people” have grown bigger than a 5 generation family reunion!

How do you keep a large and growing cast straight? Who gets in the book and who doesn’t without bogging the stories down with tons of character backstory? This is what I do. 


First: Your nucleus characters get in because they make the community. They are essential to the stories because the readers know them as friends and want to catch up with what they are up to as much as they want to read about the new romance. But, remember it is your Hero’s and Heroine’s story and you must focus on their romance and use your nucleus characters to enhance their love story. 


Second: You have to choose between the rest of the group. They don’t all get into current books—(if I hadn’t figured this out Mule Hollow would not have worked. Can you imagine if I had all 20 of my previous couples from the other books showing up in Her Homecoming Cowboy!) There wouldn’t have been any new plot because of wading through backstories. My plots would drag—and I don’t like anything to drag or get boring! I’m in the entertaining business first and foremost cuz if readers get bored they don’t make it to the end and get the message.

So what do you do when you have all these other characters wanting to make an appearance?


I incorporate them into the story in small ways. For instance my hero from Her Baby Dreams is Dan Dawson. He’s a cattle hauler. (a tall dark and handsome cattle hauler) So is Jess Holden my hero from Her Lone Star Cowboy (tall dark and handsome too). Let’s say in my current book my hero needs cattle hauled across Texas, they call Dan or Jess. We’ll use Dan for now. When Dan drives up with the cattle and hops from his truck grinning and being the happy-go-lucky cowboy that he is, I don’t have to give an elaborate backstory of him. I let the reader experience him by actions or conversation with the current hero. 

Maybe the hero asks about his wife, the baby—but that’s it, no paragraph recap of Dan’s love story. The readers who have read Dan’s story just got to say hello to him in this small cameo that he has made. But the reader who is coming into the series at say, book 10, and didn’t read book 4 (Her Baby Dreams- Dan’s starring role), this reader is just seeing a nice cowboy hauling some cattle for the character of the current book. Likewise, if heroine needs a dress she goes to Ashby’s Treasures, the local dress store and there’s Ashby. The diehard readers get to say hi while a new reader meets this sweet helpful store owner.

NOW THERE ARE EXCEPTIONS, sometimes when a previous characters background is essential to the story I do tell it. But there has to be a reason why I take the readers into this backstory. As with my current book the 3rd book of the Mule Hollow Homecoming trilogy. These brothers share a past that affects each of the stories and so their backgrounds are essential to the stories. Same with the Men of Mule Hollow series those 4 books start with the setup in Her Lone Star Cinderella and reoccurs throughout the other 3 books.

And there you go! That is how I keep up with all the craziness. Doing it this way has worked for me and Mule Hollow. It allows me to have new fresh plots that aren’t bogged down and I try to make it so readers never know who they are going to get to see (say hi to) when they pick a book up. It works well, giving me a host of characters to enhance the new stories. Mule Hollow folks have become like family to me and I think to readers too.

Now what? I’ve just completed the first book in my new series The Sunrise Ranch series. Once again there is a cast of characters who I’ve had a blast creating and can’t wait for readers to get to know. Her Unforgettable Cowboy will be out March of 2013. Set on a 10,000 acre working cattle ranch owned by the Randolph McDermott and his 3 sons. It is also a boy’s ranch, home to 16 abandoned or neglected boys ages 8 to 18. Set near the fictional, small town of Dew Drop with its own cast of characters.  This series starts with a fairly big cast—so here I go again! I don’t know how many books will be in the series but there are lots of cowboys who’ll be lookin’ for love. If I can just keep them all straight! I hope to see you all there.




Please visit my website http://www.debraclopton.com and join my monthly contest—which signs you up for my newsletter. Lots of new things coming. Plus a 1800’s novella from Thomas Nelson Publishing in the Bride for All Seasons anthology coming summer of 2013 



More about Debra:  

 Debra Clopton sold her first book The Trouble with Lacy Brown in 2003, which was a Golden Heart finalist and was published in 2005. She is an award winning, multi-published novelist—her most recent award a finalist in the 2012 Gayle Wilson Award for Excellence for Her Rodeo Cowboy, book one of the Men of Mule Hollow series.

 A three-time Carol Award finalist, Debra lives in the country near the small Texas town of Madisonville with her husband, Chuck Parks, and her two teenage stepsons. Her two adult sons, her lovely daughter-in-law and beautiful granddaughter have recently moved across country—it’s been a bit of a shock for her to adjust to not having them close. 

Though she has numerous awards her greatest awards are her family and she feels blessed to have a career that enables her to visit them often—have computer, will travel! Along with her writing Debra helps her husband teach the youth at their local Cowboy Church. Debra loves to read, travel and spend time with her family. She is the author of the acclaimed Mule Hollow series through Love Inspired, the place readers tell her they wish was real. She is currently working on her 24th book—a novella for Thomas Nelson. 

 

Today our most generous guest  is giving away THREE COPIES of Her Homecoming Cowboy!

Here's a sneak peek.



After losing his mother, Annie Ridgeway's sweet six-year-old nephew thinks he's an orphan. Turns out the father he never knew is bull rider Colt Holden—the boy's hero. Before bringing them together as father and son, Annie has to make sure Colt is as good a man as he is a cowboy. When she arrives in Mule Hollow, she finds the handsome, honorable man guarding his burdened heart against caring for anyone or anything. Will a little boy's devotion be the fighting chance they all need?



Winner announced in the Weekend Edition! So be sure to say hi, and let's chat about continuing series,characters, cowboys and how you keep it all straight.