Writing and messing up the plot

My mom suggested the same idea of slimming it down. I was thinking each book will be self contained in their efforts to find each sword. So, the first book they find a sword. Then based off of a clue, the second book is about finding the second sword and so on. One of them, I'll mix it up and the antagonist gets it first, and the protagonists must get it in the next one.

I've come up with most of the plot for the first book and the second.

My problem is that I tend to not stay on one project. My mind kind of wanders between my different ideas for books. It gets accentuated by getting stuck on plot holes.
 
Make sure you do some sort of summary in the sequels then. If someone just happens upon say book 3, they'll be completely lost. I've always enjoyed series, as long as they're done right. I hope you take on the challenge though.
 
Your vision is what is important. If you know your world and where it eventually goes you will get there in the end. Yes plot holes will appear, and yes you will fix them. But as long as each volume is complete and consistent in and of itself, then the pitfalls between volumes will be less noticeable I think and you can correct for that in each successive volume. Just look at the highlander movie series - the inconsistencies are massive between movies, but each story is complete and successful on its own, and no attempt is made to apologise for the plot holes. (Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong!)
 
Definitely don't be worried too much about the size and amount of the books to begin with. If you end up with enough material to make it this way, then fair enough, however writing one amazing book with 5 distinct "parts" within it, would get across your element of having significant sections between each sword being found, yet would relieve a lot of the burden that planning for an ambitious series can give.
I say this because I myself envisioned a trilogy for my first set of books, yet as several posters have said here, there is no point extending parts to boredom or adding extravagantly long descriptions to things if it upsets the pace of the story.

My point being, write however you feel best, whether you plan a beginning and an end, with the 5 swords in the midst (I'm guessing there's a reason they need the swords and that at the end of the whole story there will be some kind of conclusion), or just go blind until the book finds its own end.
If you end up with a modest amount of material, bind it as one book with 5 parts inside. If you end up with an insane amount, separate them into individual books.
 
Ixtila said:
Just look at the highlander movie series - the inconsistencies are massive between movies, but each story is complete and successful on its own, and no attempt is made to apologise for the plot holes. (Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong!)
Click to expand...

Absolutely correct. The series did a much better job of keeping storylines and events in order and making sense. The movies might as well be stand alone separate movies for all the storyline sense they make. That's actually an excellent point as it relates to multi-book series. It is a challenge to keep the story flowing in a logical string. It's a challenge worth accepting in my opinion.
 
darkfox said:
Absolutely correct. The series did a much better job of keeping storylines and events in order and making sense. The movies might as well be stand alone separate movies for all the storyline sense they make. That's actually an excellent point as it relates to multi-book series. It is a challenge to keep the story flowing in a logical string. It's a challenge worth accepting in my opinion.
Click to expand...

Then came the TV series, which is beyond apology ... :(
 
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