Wednesday's Writer's Tip - To Be A Series #MFRWauthor

For books to be considered a series, there must be a connection. The stories may all be read-alone books but to make them a series, there must be a connection. There needs to be a person, place or thing that connects all of them. When reading this, I think of Andre Norton's Witch World series. Within this world, there are a number of what I'd call sub-series. What gives them a common bond is the world giving the background for the story.

So let's look at other bonds that connect stories. There may be a character who is present in each of the books. This character could be taken from early life to adulthood. What needs to be shown is the character in this case must grow and change in the books. The recurring character could be someone like a particular crime fighter who enters each book to solve a crime. My own Mrs. Miller books have the heroine being there to solve a murder in each of the stories.

In the recurring character series, there can be other characters who come into some of the books and not so much in either. One of more of the characters may take on the change and growth that the focus character doesn't. In my mystery series Lars goes from a barely mentioned character to Katherine's husband.

Another kind of series involves a loosely bound group of characters. Perhaps they work for the same agency, live in the same town or have some other connection that brings them together. The characters in these stories take turns in having their adventures. I once started a series where this was the basis but I ran out of steam and so far there are only three stories in the series. Will I finish this series. Not sure about that. My mind seems to run to trilogies for the most of the time.

There are two other kinds of series that I'll cover next week.