Plot for Individual Books in a Series

[The Storyteller]

Hey everyone! So I am pretty new here, but looking at a lot of the discussions going on I thought I could get some of my 101 quandaries and problems out here and see if I couldn't get some advice!


I have a lot of story ideas brewing in my head, one that has taken up most of my writing time for the past 5 years and several others that crop up from time to time.


Something I've realized I struggle with a lot in my writing is that I always see the plot over the course of a series vs individual books. I have a general idea of what I want to happen over the course of several books, but not what individual plots I want per book. So I'm wondering if anyone has any advice how to create single book plots within the over-arching series' plot?


The idea I have been toying with currently is Contemporary Fantasy, with the protagonist discovering she belongs to the world of magic and going to a school with others of her kind (wow, that sounds horribly cliché just writing it! Would you believe me if I said there's a lot more to it than that and it's better than it sounds?). I have some ideas of what the major conflict could be over the series, but not really any clue what plots I specifically want in the individual stories. I want it to be a lot just about her growing up/finding her way in the world, so a lot of the focus will go to things like making friends, discovering 'self', learning life lessons and morals, and just facing general milestones and troubles in growing up. In order to do this, I can't launch too quickly into the larger plot without switching all the focus to that conflict.

So how do you write individual books that each feel like they have a point without sidetracking too much from the growing up feel or making the series' central plot happen too fast? I envisioned the first books only have teases to the real conflict, building it up slowly until the second half of the series it would naturally shift to the main focus. But what do I do in the meantime? I don't really like the idea of having 'teenage drama' be the plot in the early books, but on the other hand, but you can't have a novel that has no plot and is only one 'chapter' or section of a larger story.

Any ideas how to create smaller plots within the over-arching plot in a way that makes each book feel complete but still leaves room for typical growing up scenarios and lessons, and builds up gradually to the final conflict? Suggestions and advice are welcome!

 

[Dozmonic]

If you're planning a series from the outset you probably want a general idea of how many books there will be and what the theme of each will cover. They're the milestones you'll work towards. Then you take the first of them. Taking Harry Potter as an example, if only for the magic school aspect that's in common...

The overaching series plot is that Voldemort tried and failed to kill Harry. He is returning to try and finish the job. That tells you very little about the first book. In fact it takes half the series for him to return, but he's always trying. So the first thing of the overall plot is to establish Harry, establish some history and establish Voldemort to some degree.

However, Voldemort isn't the primary focus of the first book. For that the philosopher's stone was chosen because of its links to immortality. The first story is a quest to find the philosopher's stone. But that isn't set out from the absolute beginning. It starts as a mystery, presaged by Hagrid taking Harry to the bank with him. Throw in a mysterious and nasty villain - Snape - and you have the makings of a story.

I'm assuming you've read the book or at least seen the film, so you know that despite it being a quest story, there's a lot of other stuff going on. The world needs to be developed, you need to establish rules, bring in characters. You don't develop everyone off the main plot, so you give small distractions which turn into other ideas to play with.

So, working backwards from this. You've got a story of a kid going to school, weird stuff going on at a bank, mysteries happening at school, suspicious as well as friendly characters. It turns out that this mystery is just part of a larger piece that goes well beyond the scope of the book and with that you've narrowed down to the basics while keeping in the milestones of the overall series.

Hope that helps somewhat. Break your overall plot into stages and focus on those stages. Each of those stages need various stages, focus on those and job's a good'un.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

I'd suggest that you start writing it and see if story arcs for the individual books start to appear. If they do, then you will know where each book needs to go (and what it needs to do). Then you focus on that. Stories not only grow in the telling, they can develop, too.

Write multiple drafts; you don't have to get it right the first time. Even if you feel that a first draft went careening off in the wrong direction, you may find that you have the kernel of an idea somewhere in there that will work. The trick is in recognizing that you did go off in the wrong direction and to not continue on from there because you feel you have to.

Then, of course, you have to spot the opportunity that you missed the first time, and figure out how you can develop that.

It's only as you approach the later books that you will feel that you are locked in, in some ways, in terms of what you have to do and how you are able to do it, to resolve everything.

For now, experiment, have fun, consider alternative paths for each volume.

 

[tinkerdan]

I would agree with those who say that the best thing to do is get your feet wet and start writing.

You may want to start by working with the main character's voice , whether it's first person or close third POV and establishing what the main character is all about.

You might want to take a quick look at this web site.
Speculative Fiction Author

Particularly the sections on Point of View and conflict and character development, but don't stop there because the whole page is chock full of good advice.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

I think having an overriding theme for the series helps - and that can be quite broad. Protagonist wants to reach home for example (and all the reasons for it).

The rest can then be broken into stages of the journey:

(Simplistic, this)

1. Finding the key to get home (one theme/arc but related to the series arc)
2. The journey to home with juicy bits eg the antagonist finds a hidden secret that interferes with the goal
3. Reaching home and the conclusion

So, once you id what the whole goal is you can break it into stages and books. Like, who is Ice and Fire? And then what happens in the seven stages to it... (Which is, I think, all the formula is to be very sure I know the ultimate goal of A Game of Thrones. I shall sell to the highest bidder.)

 

[The Storyteller]

Thanks for the advice! I am trying to break up the overarching plot into steps that would make sense and could be made into a decent plot for the single books, but that is easier said then done.

As for getting into the writing and not worrying about it, I have written a few chapters. I'm not too experienced yet, but so far my 'plunge in and worry about it all later' methods have not worked very well, so I've been trying to change tactics and plan things out a little bit before I get too gung-ho! (Especially seeing as I am actually supposed to be working on the WIP I've been working on for the past five years... I've been getting a little distracted, partially because of exciting new ideas and partially because the other one is feeling overwhelming at the moment!)

And thanks Tinkerdan for the link! I read pretty much that whole page (except for some of the really basic stuff) and found it very helpful.


I really appreciate the comments and any future ones; sometimes I find it stifling not to have any one to talk about all the stories bubbling up inside of me, or to ask opinions or look for advice. It is so nice to have a community of writers to turn to! Glad I found this site.