Hi everyone,
I wanted to ask if I NEEDED to plot out a whole series or trilogy before I actually put fingers to keyboard? I'm inspired by Cassandra Clare and have learnt that she plans all her novels before she starts. However its not just her that does this (Holly Black, Lani Taylor, Suzanne Collins, Veronica Roth etc..) And here I am only fully understanding the plot for the first novel? am I still safe by doing this?
I have a small idea on what's happening in my 3rd book and have my second book half planed out (both have major plot points already picked out) as for the first book it's already done so I just go on from there. I myself don't plan the whole of the story in one go, because I know I'll end up changing things, like small plot points and characters (dropping them or giving them name/gender changes). So do what works best for you.
Hi Theodore.
I agree with the points above in general - if you spend too much time worrying about the series, your first book will suffer and you may become dispirited. But Ellen hits the nail squarely on the thumb here - planning can only help you with your book and your series.
I have a series in mind, and the problem with just writing the first book then seeing wcharacters you could find useful in subsequent books; or you may put someone in a position or situation that really doesn't work later on.
For a SFF series, you first need to nail down your world(s) and it's best to have an idea of what is going to happen in the future so that you can lay pointers in the earlier books. Readers/fans love that srt of thing. I give you George R R Martin as an example. Although he loves to play mass murder with his characters, he leaves so many pointers that there is a whole web world of what fans anticipate in the next book(s).
Well, good luck. And keep on doing.
PabloJ.
I'm doing a series so I'll tell you what happened to me.
Book 3 is the WIP. I never intended this to happen, so the first story was a one-off and originally planned that way. It was only as I got to the end I thought further episodes might follow which meant I'd not done any forward planning. Even when I was writing No 2 I thought that might be it because the characters' stories could easily have ended at that point.
Once I decided to carry on I did plan further books in a bit more detail, so I have a fairly detailed outline for 4 and more basically for 5 and 6. Plus I think I know how the whole will end, though that's potentially a good few more tales in the future.
I don't think you can plan every detail of a future book because characters tend to do the unexpected mid-plot while you're writing them, and I also think every book needs to stand on it's own as an individual story otherwise you're not really being fair to the reader. That said, it never hurts to jot down future ideas as they come to you, which is basically what I did.
Best of luck :)