Writing Series: The Path to The End
Guest Post by Patti Larsen
I love writing series. LOVE. I’m able to pen good flash
fiction, short stories even. But my passion is for the long tale-telling, the
expansive and epic adventure characters lead you on at times. I think it comes
from my younger reading days, raised on science fiction and fantasy by my
Dungeon Master father.
When I started journalism in college, I learned about the
importance of a lead, or knowing and being able to distill an idea down into a
single sentence. The repetition of this skill, learned over many news stories,
helped me understand how important it was to see where I was going before I
began to write.
That year was the first time I outlined a novel. A full
trilogy, in fact. I’ve not returned to them, that fantasy tale about horses and
nomads and banished princes, but the seed of the idea of outlining was sown.
From there I dove into another series, also fantasy, nine
books alternating character points of view. I was on to something, I could
tell. But at that time, sadly, I listened to the critics who told me I
couldn’t, I wasn’t good enough. I gave up writing and forgot completely what
I’d learned about telling stories from front to back.
Script writing came next, years later. I loved turning ideas
into films, following the three act structure from exciting start to climactic
finish, from page to screen. TV show pilots and independent flicks taught me to
tear a story apart before I told it, to break it down into its most important
pieces and to always, always know exactly what it was about just in case I had
thirty seconds in an elevator to make my pitch.
When I found YA and finally realized I was meant to be
telling stories for young adults, I returned not only to the joy of writing
books, but to the idea of knowing where the timeline went before I wrote a
word. Everything from my past experiences fell together into one simple,
totally logical format.
I’m now an outlining fanatic and most often will completely
structure a series before I write a word of prose. Not only am I able to tell
great individual stories, but linking together all the hints and foreshadows
and hidden moments of pure pleasure for my eager readers comes from having a
firm grasp on what I’m doing right from word one.
Currently I’m working on the remaining twelve (you read that
right) books (four at a time) in an extraordinary twenty volume jaunt about a teen witch who wants to be like normal kids. That’s
the other part I love so much about series—I’m family, now. I know the
characters as well as my own sisters and parents. The stories come easily, the
connections as clear as the ah-ha moments I have every time I sit down to think
about Syd and what’s coming next.
So, let
me ask you a question: if you’re a reader, does it bug you when a
novelist misses something in book three you remembered (and loved) from book
one? And if you’re a writer, do you know how your series ends?
About the Author: Patti Larsen is an award-winning middle grade and young adult author
with a passion for the paranormal. Her YA thriller series,
The Hunted,
is available now. Book one of that series, RUN, is a recent recipient of the
2012 PEI Book Awards for Fiction. Seven books of her very popular Hayle Coven
Novels, beginning with
Family Magic, are also out now. Her YA steampunk
series,
Blood and Gold, can be found on Amazon, along with her YA
paranormal novel,
Best Friends Forever, and The Diamond City Trilogy.
Her middle grade novel,
The Ghost Boy of MacKenzie House (Acorn Press),
is available now. She is a full time writer and a part time teacher of her
Get
Your Book Done program. Patti lives on the East Coast of Canada with her
very patient husband and four massive cats.
Find out more at PattiLarsen.com, on Twitter, and Facebook.
This is part of a sort of regular feature that I try to post each Friday about various topics related to writing and publishing. If you would like to do a guest post, please contact me.
Most recent: 10 Ways YA Novels Leave You Totally Unprepared to be an Actual Adult by Donna Gambale. Click here to see previous posts.
Pitch (Farsighted #3)
