Plan appropriate titles for the series. Ones that are related to the Genre and ones that belong to each hero or heroine who will get a story. It sound simple enough but planning in detail ahead of time will save some aggravation.
Decide how many books and then write a two sentence blurb for each. This will help you keep a distinct story and character arc for each story in mind as you begin.
I am a panster and I write scenes out of order but when planning a series you gotta keep up with happenings in each books. Because by book 4 you won't remember which brother had green eyes.
Some authors map out by a Calender when each story will happen. Maybe a paragraph about the general idea of the series would help. But the general idea on any story is that it could stand alone even though a part of a series.
Plot big happenings for each story. You need major cool conflict to keep readers on edge and wanting that next story. Create the setting that continues to pull the various characters together throughout the series. There may been to be a central conflict in the series that readers know is happening all along.
As with writing any story. You want that central conflict but be careful of too much in backstop dumping in any book for the series.
Each story needs its own arc as does each character. I keep mentioning in some of the helper posts to put those characters through heck.... up the antenna on everything as you write. Toss in ever awful thing that could happen to toss the hero or heroine into a tailspin they may never get out of. Readers will be hooked!
Here is a map of how you can pull together a series idea:
Do this for each book in the series:
1) Introduce the story: what is the story about? What is the call to action for the hero/heroine? What has happened that will send your hero into the point of no return? Thinks about story and character goals, motivations and conflicts.
2) Toss in the Mystery of your novel. What is the new reality for the character hero/heroine? Who are the characters you will introduce to move the story forward? And what major event will be introduced to cause challenges? What happens to set the main character into a tailspin of unknowns in trying to reach his/her goal.
3) Let the Action begin. Begin building up what the characters must go through in order to reach their new goals. You need to add one or more high action events to peak reader interest. Things need to get crazy and then simmer there for a bit. Seeming to be resolved but wait....nope.
4) Let further conflict hit with a bang. But now more than ever what is your hero/heroine gonna have to do to complete their goal? More major events need to happen now. This is where you can toss in major twists and where the main character may just lose it all.
5) Then comes the conclusion. Make sure to tie up all story lines. Don't leave readers hanging. The hero needs to find resolution that didn't come easily. Bring a powerful ending and a what's next for the hero. You hero should not be the same person at the end of the story that they are now.
This is all sort of simple but those 5 steps csn be answered for your series of books. It might make it easier to keep up with each idea in your series Bible or notebook about your writing.
