Showing posts with label romance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label romance. Show all posts

Friday, July 01, 2022

Karen S. Wiesner: SURPRISES IN THE COURSE OF LEARNING TO WRITE A SCIENCE FICTION SERIES (10 of 15)


Of Arcs and Standalones, Part 4:

Establishing Story Arcs Early in the Writing Process


This is the tenth of fifteen posts dealing with surprising things I learned in the course of writing a science fiction series.

Last week, we started laying the groundwork for the series arc with a technique and examples. This is something that it's always preferable to start as early in the writing process as you can--ideally, long before you actually begin writing the first draft. This week, we'll talk about establishing individual story arcs early.

Just prior to the summer of 2018, when I started advance research on my sci-fi series, I'd already written copious notes about the individual stories that were far from organized. So I had no trouble at that point identifying the individual story arcs I needed to focus on throughout each book (with the series arc connecting to and ungirding all the story subplots). This can be done as simply as bullet points on a sheet of paper, as I've done below.

Immutable, Book 1:

·                     Introduce the main Human protagonists onboard the ambassadorial Aero spaceship, establishing mankind's pertinent (to this series) history, present situations, and conflicts or potential conflicts.

·                     Introduce the alien race (which I called "cultures") and the conflict with the Sinshe-Shojani antagonists (settled in a secret location with habitations and massive starships as well as utilizing the planet Neth-beo).

·                     Introduce the friendly culture allies including the Vreah (from the planet Vree), the Strigoni (from the planet Strigon), and the Quing (from the planet Qu) with pertinent history, present situations, and conflicts or potential conflicts.

·                     Make minor allusions to the forthcoming potential allies or antagonists including the Gurgh (from the planet Gurgh), the Hiiwa-Shojani (trapped in a nuclear winter on their home planet of Shojan by the warring Sinshe-Shojani), the Osing of the planet Sing, the Usragos of Usrag, and the Drario of Drar.

·                     Establish the major series arc conflict of having "squatted" in Human habitations above the planet Shojan, along with the minor series arc conflicts with the organic lifeform "eating" planets and all the cultures sharing similar DNA.

·                     POV characters in this book are Halon of the Sinshe-Shojani in the prologue, Raze and Tori, Humans aboard the Aero, Vespera of the Vreah, Arie of the Hiiwa-Shojani, and Makaira of the Gurgh in the epilogue who would become major players in the next book.

With this information, I could create individual story blurbs for each of the books in the series.

Remember that, in order to prevent huge paragraphs that wouldn't fit onto even the largest back cover, these blurbs have to focus exclusively on the main POV characters and conflicts. You may need to leave some of the less important (or less intriguing ones) out of your blurbs. You may also need to generalize situations if the books are extremely complicated.

From the story arc breakdowns for each book in my series above, you could see that in all four stories there were a lot of characters, conflicts and situations which all have their own plots and subplots. Say I wrote a single sentence for each story thread in the first book for the story blurb. The blurb would have been overwhelmingly complicated and long. Blurbs have to be intriguing and focused. Very few readers will give you the time of day if you're not concise and punchy. Additionally, story blurbs have two purposes:

1) As back cover teasers, which can be longer as long as they fit on the actual back cover of a paperback.

2) As promotional blurbs which have to be very short and very compelling.

If you want to learn more about writing blurbs, pick up my manual Writing Blurbs That Sizzle--And Sell!.

Blurbing the story arcs of the individual installments of the series can be done using the same method we did for the series arc, filling in the blanks of this worksheet and then fleshing out the results until the story emerges in a way that's both concise and compelling:

Who _____________________________ (Series Main Character{s})

What _____________________________ (Conflict or Crisis)

Why _____________________________ (Worst Case Resolution Scenario)

In the case of the first book in my sci-fi series, this is what I started with:

Who The crew of the Aero (with Astoria Bertoletti and Raze Salen being the major players) (Series Main Character{s})

What Receive a distress call from one of their oldest space habitations which has been brutally attacked, inhabitants kidnapped or outright killed. (Conflict or Crisis)

Why In searching for clues to what brought about this tragedy, they discover that mankind's desperation when first seeking out alternate spaces in the galaxy led to them invading a hostile alien race's territory. (Worst Case Resolution Scenario)

The back cover blurb I came up with after having the basics established on the worksheet:

Immutable, Book 1

Spacefaring liveship, the Aero, is on a routine mission to the far-flung regions of the galaxy when they receive a distress call from one of their oldest space habitations. The structure has been brutally attacked, inhabitants kidnapped or outright killed. The crew aboard the Aero including Astoria Bertoletti, librarian and planet cataloger, and Raze Salen, mankind's emissary, search for clues to explain the unprecedented tragedy. After several more, similar distress calls, the savage pieces of the mystery begin to emerge--and point to the culpability of humanity's short-sightedness and desperation when they first began seeking out alternate spaces in the galaxy to call home. In the midst of the imminent threat of war Raze and Tori present the immutable evidence of wrongdoing both intentional and inadvertent to mankind's Parliament as well as to their strongest and weakest allies who may have no choice but to desert them in yet another hour of dire need.

Next week, we'll talk about why science fiction stories just might (surprise, surprise!) break an author's ability to provide standalone series stories.

Happy writing!


Based on Writing the Overarching Series (or How I Sent a Clumsy Girl into Outer Space): 3D Fiction Fundamentals Collection by Karen S. Wiesner (release date TBA)

https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/writing-reference-titles.html

http://www.writers-exchange.com/3d-fiction-fundamentals-series/

Karen Wiesner is an award-winning, multi-genre author of over 140 titles and 16 series, including the romantic science fiction series, ARROW OF TIME CHRONICLES

https://www.writers-exchange.com/arrow-of-time-chronicles/

https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/arrow-of-time-chronicles.html

http://www.facebook.com/KarenWiesnerAuthor

Friday, June 24, 2022

Karen S. Wiesner: SURPRISES IN THE COURSE OF LEARNING TO WRITE A SCIENCE FICTION SERIES (9 of 15)


Of Arcs and Standalones, Part 3:

Establishing a Series Arc Early in the Writing Process 


This is the ninth of fifteen posts dealing with surprising things I learned in the course of writing a science fiction series.

In the initial part of this 6-part article, we started defining story arcs followed by series arcs. This time we're going to start laying the groundwork for the series arc before we do the same for story arcs with a technique and examples. This is something that it's always preferable to start as early in the writing process as you can--ideally, long before you actually begin writing the first draft. The series arc is the umbrella all your story arcs will fit under, so it makes sense to do that first.

The easiest way to discover your overall series arc is to know what connects all the books.. In this way, you can make sure the series arc runs its proper course through each book in the series until it's resolution in the last book. Establishing the basics for each book in the series can give you countless insights for far-reaching possibilities as you prepare to write each new installment.

The first step is to blurb the series. The series blurb should tell readers how all the books in that series are connected. Most series blurbs range from one to four sentences. Science fiction, fantasy, and historical books in a series may well require longer series blurbs. That's because the series blurb has to make sense of whole worlds, cultures, events, and conflicts, which, in many cases may seem vastly different from those a modern reader is accustomed to. If readers don't understand the premise of your series in the series blurb, they may not bother reading the first book.

When I come up with a series, I almost always have what some writers would consider a freakishly good idea about what will happen in each of the installments. Just prior to the summer of 2018, when I started advance research on my sci-fi series, I had more than enough details at that point to be able to blurb my series arcs filling in the blanks of this worksheet:

Who _____________________________ (Series Main Character{s})

What _____________________________ (Conflict or Crisis)

Why _____________________________ (Worst Case Resolution Scenario)

In the previous post, I talked about the three series arcs in my Arrow of Time Chronicles, one of the major and two of them minor. All three of these series arcs were introduced in the first installment in the series, touched on in different degrees over the course of the middle two books, but only resolved in the final story in the series. Nevertheless, although I knew they'd all be important within the individual stories, I felt like adding the third series arc to the series blurb overcomplicated it so I left it out. Here's the form filled out for Arrow of Time Chronicles:

Who Mankind (Series Main Character{s})

What When mankind realized Earth would soon become uninhabitable, Humans formed a cooperative central nexus in order to save themselves from certain extinction. Together, they built and transferred their population to massive space habitations in orbit of their planet and as many as possible revolving around the other planetary bodies in the Sol System. Only fifty-eight years into their desperate struggle for survival, a hostile enemy with Napoleonic ambitions emerges as a yet another threat to not only mankind's survival. (Major Conflict or Crisis)

A cataclysmic organic menace is beginning to be recognized, ensuring the total annihilation of every living thing in the universe if, together, they can't find a way to stop it. (Minor Conflict or Crisis)

Why The peace mankind has begun to forge with allies from other planets around the galaxy is jeopardized as questionable agendas and hidden motives are unveiled. (Major Worst Case Resolution Scenario) 

Why The organic menace threatens the total annihilation of every living thing in the universe if, together, mankind and its allies can't find a way to stop it. (Minor Worst Case Resolution Scenario)

Below, you'll see the Arrow of Times Chronicles series blurb I eventually modified and refined the worksheet components to come up.

Arrow of Time Chronicles

by Karen Wiesner

A timeless universal truth: No simple solutions, no easy answers, and nothing is ever free…

When mankind realized Earth would soon become uninhabitable, Humans formed a cooperative central nexus in order to save themselves from certain extinction. Together, they built and transferred their population to massive space habitations in orbit of their planet and as many as possible revolving around the other planetary bodies in the Sol System. They also constructed spacefaring "liveships" in hopes of traveling through the galaxy in search of new homes. Unbelievably after almost a hundred years, their communications sent out into the farthest reaches of the universe to discover other intelligent life secures an audience. Their first allies arrived in mankind's solar system in 2073 and shared their knowledge, technology and resources to not only power their liveships for swift navigation through space corridors that fold space and time but also provided the scientific advancements necessary to eventually heal their dying planet.

    Though mankind has a brand-new shaky start, strong potential alliances, and hope for tomorrow, only fifty-eight years into their desperate struggle for survival, a hostile enemy with Napoleonic ambitions emerges as a yet another threat to not only mankind's survival, but also that of their associates who have faced the aliens in times past. Abruptly, the peace the allies have begun to forge is jeopardized as questionable agendas and hidden motives are unveiled. In the wake of these very real, immediate threats a cataclysmic organic menace is only beginning to be recognized, ensuring the total annihilation of every living thing in the universe if, together, they can't find a way to stop it.

Next week, we'll talk about how to establish your story arcs early in the writing process and use this same technique in an example.

Happy writing!


Based on Writing the Overarching Series (or How I Sent a Clumsy Girl into Outer Space): 3D Fiction Fundamentals Collection by Karen S. Wiesner (release date TBA)

https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/writing-reference-titles.html

http://www.writers-exchange.com/3d-fiction-fundamentals-series/

Karen Wiesner is an award-winning, multi-genre author of over 140 titles and 16 series, including the romantic science fiction series, ARROW OF TIME CHRONICLES

https://www.writers-exchange.com/arrow-of-time-chronicles/

https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/arrow-of-time-chronicles.html

http://www.facebook.com/KarenWiesnerAuthor

Friday, June 17, 2022

Karen S. Wiesner: SURPRISES IN THE COURSE OF LEARNING TO WRITE A SCIENCE FICTION SERIES (8 of 15)

Of Arcs and Standalones, Part 2: Series Arcs


This is the eighth of fifteen posts dealing with surprising things I learned in the course of writing a science fiction series.

Last week, we established that every story must have a story arc and we got a basic understanding of what that entails. Now let’s talk about the series arc.

Most series will have an overall series arc (sometimes there are more than one series arcs) along with the individual story arcs specific to a single installment of the series. A series arc is a plot thread that’s introduced in the first book in the series, is alluded to in some way in every single subsequent book, but is only fully resolved in the final book in the series. The series arc is usually separate from the individual story arcs, but both are crucial and must fit together seamlessly. The individual story arcs, as we established last in last week's post, are short-term. They’re introduced, developed, and concluded in each individual book. The series arcs are long-term. As an example, in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, the story arc is the chamber of secrets plotline. The overall series arc, in the most simplified terms, is good (Harry) overcomes evil (Voldemort)—and that’s true for every book in that series. The series arc runs beneath the individual story arcs in each book, expanding and intensifying through each book. In that way, each story installment has a piece of the series arc to tell.

In my Arrow of Time Chronicles, I actually had a few series arcs. The major one dealt with the warring faction of aliens that intended to conquer every other culture. A minor series arc was an organic phantom energy that's "eating" its way across the universe. A second minor series arc was that all the cultures in the galaxy, despite their outward physical differences and coming from different planets widely scattered across the galaxy, have similar DNA. All three of these series arcs were introduced in the first installment in the series, touched on in different degrees over the course of the middle two books, but only resolved in the final story in the series. 

There are two types of series that all series can be classified under. Let's lay down the foundation for them. Once we've established the types, we'll talk more in-depth about Overarching Series and the distinguishing qualities of this unique breed of series and its connection to speculative fiction.

Standalone Series

The most common kind of series that can include series in any genre imaginable is the Standalone. In this type of series, every story within the series can stand alone (hence the name). In other words, readers can read each one separately, potentially even out of order, and still derive satisfaction that way without too much confusion. The individual installments of the series include story arcs that conclude within that particular story, providing the reader gratification necessary at the end of each book.

Standalone Series Subgroup: The Open-ended Series

There is an exception to every rule, and I would be remiss in not mentioning this one. There is a type of series set up and developed almost exactly like writing a standalone story and therefore it's simply a subgroup of the Standalone Series.

An Open-ended Series doesn't need a series arc because no clear end is in sight, and therefore there's less need for a tightly-delineated series arc that must resolve in the final book. In an open-ended series (such as some sleuth mysteries with a single recurring character--i.e., Hercule Poirot and the like), each book in the series is a standalone title. There’s little need to come up with a series arc since the author isn’t planning to have a long-term plot thread running through the entire series that will conclude in the final story. Though the Hercule Poirot Series eventually did end, a series arc didn’t run through each of the stories. Even Poirot’s final case was a standalone (though this case connected to details of the very first mystery he solved). In an Open-ended Series with a potentially infinite number of books, any resolution the author has promised readers at the start of one installment in a series will stem from story arcs at the end of that individual book, not at the end of the series. Those resolutions are the ones that fans are looking for and must be given in order to feel satisfied.

Note that developing a Standalone Series is the focus my previous writing manual on the topic of crafting a series. Originally that book was published by Writer's Digest Books and titled Writing the Fiction Series. It will be reissued soon as part of my writing manual collection under the title Writing the Standalone Series

OVERARCHING SERIES

This leads us to the second type of series: An Overarching Series, which will be the focus of my upcoming craft manual to be titled Writing the Overarching Series {or How I Sent a Clumsy Girl to Outer Space}. An Overarching Series is a specialized type of series that requires complex and multifaceted character- and world-building as well as necessitating series arc sequel hook endings in all but the final installment. Overarching Series dominate speculative fiction more so than any other category of fiction, though it is possible for one to be in other genres as well.

In the Overarching type of series, none of the books can truly be standalones because the series arc that's introduced in the first book in the series will run through every installment in that series, expanding and intensifying as it goes, only concluding in the final volume of the series. In other words, it's unlikely that the individual titles in the series can be fully understood without the others in that series. This is true even of the first installment of a series because that one won't and can't be complete on its own without subsequent installments.

In addition to the requirement of being read as a set, an Overarching Series needs to be read in the proper, chronological sequence in order to make sense and to become as opulent and robust, as any series needs to be or otherwise what's the point? While this doesn't preclude the possibility that someone could enjoy the stories separately, it's almost a foregone conclusion that they'll miss a lot in doing so and ultimately might end up confused and even disgruntled.

There's a very good reason why Overarching Series can be complicated to write and read: Reader satisfaction is only partially achieved in each book in this kind of series. The story arcs that are specific to individual titles in an Overarching Series will resolve within their particular book, providing the necessary satisfaction when completing the story, while the series arc almost always produces a less upsetting form of cliffhanger ending called series arc sequel hooks in all volumes other than the final book of that kind of series, where it's finally resolved.

While authors do need to find a natural, logical place to leave the series arc from one volume to the next so the "to be continued" aspect won't infuriate readers so much as build anticipation for what's to come, keep in mind that each volume needs to be assigned its own piece of the series arc to tell in an Overarching Series.

Next week, we'll talk about how to establish your series arcs early in the writing process, including a technique for developing yours.

Happy writing!


Based on
Writing the Overarching Series (or How I Sent a Clumsy Girl into Outer Space: 3D Fiction Fundamentals Collection 
by Karen S. Wiesner (release date TBA)

https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/writing-reference-titles.html

http://www.writers-exchange.com/3d-fiction-fundamentals-series/

Karen Wiesner is an award-winning, multi-genre author of over 140 titles and 16 series, including the romantic science fiction series, ARROW OF TIME CHRONICLES

https://www.writers-exchange.com/arrow-of-time-chronicles/

https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/arrow-of-time-chronicles.html

http://www.facebook.com/KarenWiesnerAuthor

Friday, June 10, 2022

Karen S. Wiesner: SURPRISES IN THE COURSE OF LEARNING TO WRITE A SCIENCE FICTION SERIES (7 of 15)


Of Arcs and Standalones, Part 1: Story Arcs


This is the seventh of fifteen posts dealing with surprising things I learned in the course of writing a science fiction series.

Starting this week, we'll begin a 6-part sequence that goes more in-depth about series and story arcs, how to develop them early in the process, and why standalone stories are all but impossible to achieve in an Overarching Series.

Last week, we touched on story and series arcs in the science fiction genre. These are concepts that most authors could probably give basic definitions for, but I can't be the only writer who (before I did heavy research into both for my book Writing the Fiction Series which will be reissued under the title Writing the Standalone Series soon) was a little bit confused about them for the longest time. Before I wrote that writing manual, these two arcs had been presented to me in multiple ways, and none of the explanations quite “fit” my own perceptions in terms of story building. To really get into a discussion about why these are so important in the science fiction genre, we need to establish what both of these concepts are over my next two blog posts.

Story Arcs

In its simplest form, the story arc is an extended or continued storyline. That’s fairly easy to grasp, right? But when it comes to what this definition actually entails and how it serves its purpose in the course of a novel…well, that’s where things get murkier. In a story, an arc is supposed to move the character or situation from one place to another. Essentially, we’re talking about change here--the quest, the causality of narrative, domino-effect transformations. In a story, this follows a pattern that can be described as ordinary life in balance: The character is brought to a low point and the structures he or she has depended on are removed. Therefore the character is motivated and/or forced to find new strength or situations without these structures, and he faces his demons and triumphs. Resolution ensues, restoring balance.

Now, as I said, this story arc has been talked about a lot in writing circles, and it can come in several different patterns and have more or fewer steps to come full-circle. While all have value, I prefer a much more simplified pattern, which is based on the bare essentials that I feel allows the writer a lot of freedom to tell his story in any way that seems right to him.

Story Arc Pattern

1. Introduction

2. Change

3. Conflicts

4. Choices

5. Crisis

6. Climax

7. Resolutions

Essentially, life as well as fiction is balanced with states of emotion over time. In fiction, the emotion is generally more extreme. It has to be, because what is fiction except a portrayal of life that skips over all the dull aspects? You can think of this within the following equation, which your story will move through from beginning to end. Where you see the arrows, insert the words “leads to”.

Introduction --> Change --> Conflicts --> Choices --> Crisis --> Climax  --> Resolutions

These steps visually simplify the mechanics of the arc that should run through every story. Below, I'll sum up each step.

Story Arc Step 1: Introduction

The introduction into a character’s ordinary life, in which he may or may not be content with things as they are, gets the ball rolling.

Story Arc Step 2: Change

Change is a form of conflict and it should be internal as well as external.

Story Arc Step 3: Conflicts

Conflict is what motivates and forces the character to act. Character and conflicts develop in accordance with the character’s choices and goals and motivations.

Story Arc Step 4: Choices

Goals are those things the character wants, needs, or desires above all else. Motivation is what gives him drive and purpose to achieve those goals. These evolve throughout the story as the character modifies his actions in response to conflict.

Story Arc Step 5: Crisis

At the crisis point, the character is faced with obstacles that seem too numerous, too monumental, too impossible to overcome but he must find the strength and motivation to continue.

Story Arc Step 6: Climax

Following the crisis, the climax comes. The character must act if he has any hope of triumphing and bringing about resolution.

Story Arc Step 7: Resolution

The character wins, resolution ensues, and balance is restored although the character has gone through a radical life alteration that may or may not lead to a happily ever after ending.

A story arc is introduced, developed, and concluded within that particular story. There may be many major (plot) and minor (subplot) story arcs in each story depending on its particular length and complexity. Story arcs add complexity, substance, and three-dimensionality to all aspects of the story. Story arcs must mesh and bond in a way that makes all threads inseparable, in a symbiotic relationship. Many times, a plot or subplot helps the author control the pacing of the story, placing realistic, necessary obstacles in the hero’s path and preventing the climax from coming too soon. Additionally, story arcs must advance the story--expanding, enlarging, and intensifying as the tale unfolds.

In a series story, a story arc is short-term because it may be neatly tied-up in a single book within the series. That might sound strange, but this will make more sense when you realize that the series arc is the long-term thread running its course through every book until the series concludes. In a few weeks, I'll show a technique and examples for developing story arcs.

Next week, we'll talk about series arcs.

Happy writing!


Based on Writing the Overarching Series (or How I Sent a Clumsy Girl into Outer Space): 3D Fiction Fundamentals Collection by Karen S. Wiesner (release date TBA)

https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/writing-reference-titles.html

http://www.writers-exchange.com/3d-fiction-fundamentals-series/

Karen Wiesner is an award-winning, multi-genre author of over 140 titles and 16 series, including the romantic science fiction series, ARROW OF TIME CHRONICLES

https://www.writers-exchange.com/arrow-of-time-chronicles/

https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/arrow-of-time-chronicles.html

http://www.facebook.com/KarenWiesnerAuthor

Friday, June 03, 2022

Karen S. Wiesner: SURPRISES IN THE COURSE OF LEARNING TO WRITE A SCIENCE FICTION SERIES (6 of 15)

Surprise #4: Of Deliberately Limiting Story Potential Development


This is the sixth of fifteen posts dealing with surprising things I learned in the course of writing a science fiction series.

The fourth thing that most astonished me about writing in the science fiction genre is that writing a series with this enormous scope forbade me from getting to know my characters, settings, and relationships in the depth I usually do in each book. Almost exclusively, my books have no more than two to five point-of-view (POV) characters so I can really get to know each main character down to intimate-diary-details in the process of writing them. Settings and relationships are directly related to those main POV characters so expanding those was never a hardship that felt like it was getting out of control. Even in my mystery series stories, where I do have a larger cast of characters than most of the other genres I write in, I've never felt inhibited about development the way I was with my sci-fi series.

There are two major reasons for this need I felt to deliberately limit the story potential development in this particular series:

1) Information Overload: When Too Much is Too Much

Arrow of Time Chronicles had more or less 30 POV characters throughout the four installments, with about seven different characters "telling" their specific portion of the story in each installment. Additionally, I also had to create numerous homeworlds and cultural lore for all the alien races (which I called "cultures") in the galaxy featured in the series. If you missed it, check out my previous blog posts about the overwhelming research required for this series and how I went about building all those necessary aspects.

Now, don't get me wrong here, my research and developmental methods created fully fleshed characters, settings, and relationships. The construction of all three of these in this series was a lot of fun to imagine and expand upon. There was simply no way to use everything I came up with without overloading the books to the point of spawning side stories left and right (kind of like the A Song of Fire and Ice Series does--albeit pretty effectively in that case).

2) Overarching Series Focus: Serving the Needs of the Series Arc

Early in this article series, I talked in-depth about what an Overarching Series is. In this type of series, none of the books can truly be standalones because the series arc that's introduced in the first book in the series will run through every installment in that series, expanding and intensifying as it goes, only concluding in the final volume of the series. Another defining characteristic of the Overarching Series is that the primary focus has to be serving the needs of the series arc, though the individual stories are each allowed a certain amount of flourish when it came to character, world, and relationship development. It's best to use the individual story arcs so the amount of development isn't overwhelming in each volume.

With Arrow of Time Chronicles, I had to focus on the series arc first and foremost, narrowing character, setting, and relationship development for specific story arcs in each installment because I knew so much of the "extras" I came up with weren't critical in this particular series. Doing anything else would have ruined the series arc I was building over the course of four novels.

Not all authors follow this advice, and I bet you can name quite a few of those authors off the top of your head. Most books these days include many POV characters…many, many. The trend of including so many characters in a single book isn't one I can get on board with. The biggest reason for that is because every main character, every plot, every setting, and every relationship has to be three-dimensional and fully-fleshed out in that story. How can any of these things achieve that requirement when the only way to effectively cover the three dimensions (past, present, and future) of character, setting, and relationship development--and that for each main POV character--is to write a 200,000-word novel or a series of 200,000-word novels? If you want to know more about 3D writing, the reissue of my writing guide, Three-Dimensional Fiction Writing, will be available soon.

I was about halfway through outlining Book 3 of Arrow of Time Chronicles when I realized there was no way I could resolve everything the way it needed to be if I used that particular book to try to tie everything up. Ultimately, there was no stopping myself from adding a fourth book to the series, not without feeling like I was truncating the series for the sole reason of keeping the word count manageable. While I think there are reasons why an author might decide not to develop a potential subplot in a series, if it's organic and the series is less complete and satisfying without it, there's no way to turn away from getting down to business.

As authors, deliberately limiting the potential for a story to expand so far beyond what a series arc can handle might just be our obligation as the overseers. In most stories written these days, the main characters and their settings, conflicts, and relationships aren't three-dimensional because there simply isn't room to make them so, unless you're George R.R. Martin, for instance, who does a thorough job of this. The question is, will we ever see the epic conclusion? I, for one, continue to hope so.

As an author, though, ask yourself when approaching an Overarching Series: If you don't limit your development or rein yourself in at all, will you be able to complete what you started? Might it be better to focus on the series arc as much as possible to allow manageable installments? Additionally, instead of putting everything in one series, why not leave yourself the possibility of writing smaller miniseries within the overall series to focus on other aspects of the characters, settings, and relationships?

I do realize that some authors don't feel like they have a lot of choice about all this, just like I didn't when deciding whether to add a fourth book to my series. Mainly, authors just go where the story seems to be leading them. In my case, I felt like there was a chance I couldn't make all the series characters, plots, settings, and relationships fully fleshed out if I let myself run wild on tangents but also knew when I had to make an exception and let development expand organically. Only marginally was I concerned that I wanted each book in the series to be around 100,000 words (no more than that, if I could help it), but I really was interested in finishing the series in a doable amount of time. In fact, I did it in about 2 years for all four books. They were published in 2020, one after the after in a fairly short span of time, which I think an Overarching Series with cliffhanger installments absolutely requires to keep fans invested.

Next week, we'll begin a multi-part sequence that goes more in-depth about series and story arcs, how to develop them early in the process, and why standalone stories are all but impossible to achieve in an Overarching Series.

Happy writing!


B
ased on Writing the Overarching Series (or How I Sent a Clumsy Girl into Outer Space): 3D Fiction Fundamentals Collection by Karen S. Wiesner (release date TBA)

https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/writing-reference-titles.html

http://www.writers-exchange.com/3d-fiction-fundamentals-series/

Karen Wiesner is an award-winning, multi-genre author of over 140 titles and 16 series, including the romantic science fiction series, ARROW OF TIME CHRONICLES

https://www.writers-exchange.com/arrow-of-time-chronicles/

https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/arrow-of-time-chronicles.html

http://www.facebook.com/KarenWiesnerAuthor

Friday, May 27, 2022

Karen S. Wiesner: SURPRISES IN THE COURSE OF LEARNING TO WRITE A SCIENCE FICTION SERIES (5 of 15)


Of Research and Developmental Tool Requirements, Part 2:

Surprise #3: Developmental Tool Underwhelm


This is the fifth of fifteen posts dealing with surprising things I learned in the course of writing a science fiction series.

In the previous part, I talked about the overwhelming of amount of advance and in-the-process-of-outlining-each-book research I needed to do to write my science fiction series. Here in Part 2, we'll talk about the lack of available developmental tools I required for my project.

Figuring out how to begin the buildout of my unique galaxy and all who populated the various settings in Arrow of Time Chronicles was one of the biggest shocks I got in the process of trying to learn how to write in this genre. Despite the sheer number of books I bought and websites I scoured in my desperate search for the promised assistance, finding developmental tools to prompt areas I needed to focus on expanding were so scarce as to be nearly nonexistent. I could hardly believe how much trouble I had finding anything I could use. If you're a writer, you may feel the need to send me links and suggestions about just this, but I have a strong feeling anything suggested to me was actually something I located while I was working on my sci-fi series and none of it provided what I was really needed. I have three ideas about why that was the case:

            1) My series was simply too complicated that generalized help was useless or alternately, the specific help wasn't generalized enough to be what I needed,

            2) the resources I needed are so well-hidden it's a crime,

            or

            3) the development tools I needed simply don't exist!

Frustrated, I turned to videogame and Dungeons & Dragons guides. Of all the materials I bought or found on the internet, those items had the most helpful development tools. I took what I needed and could use from all these references, though quite honestly even those didn't have everything I needed and they simply weren't specific and/or generalized enough. 

Because I had no other choice, I came up with my own worksheets and tools for my world- and character-building for this series. These worksheets were a crucial help to me in fleshing out this series, and I feel they're just specific enough to be generalized (and vice versa). Basically, anyone could use them and modify them to what they need them for. My upcoming book Writing the Overarching Series (or How I Sent a Clumsy Girl into Outer Space) will include all of them. I had a binder with profiles for every single culture, planet, and main character with these worksheets expanded upon for easy reference. I also found pictures on the internet to help me visualize everything and thereby allow descriptions to form in the detail needed for writing the story and individual scenes.

In the back matter of every book in the series, I included simplified versions of the worksheets I filled out, which I included for all the cultures. Using that template, I was able to brief provide a snapshot of each of the alien races for readers who a) needed some refresher from one book to the next, b) required immediate explanations while reading, and/or 3) were simply fans of devouring back matter (as I am). We'll talk more about back matter in an upcoming article.

Next time, we'll talk about deliberately limiting story potential development in writing science fiction. And, yes, you read that right--deliberately limiting.

Happy writing!


Based on Writing the Overarching Series (or How I Sent a Clumsy Girl into Outer Space): 3D Fiction Fundamentals Collection by Karen S. Wiesner (release date TBA)

https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/writing-reference-titles.html

http://www.writers-exchange.com/3d-fiction-fundamentals-series/

Karen Wiesner is an award-winning, multi-genre author of over 140 titles and 16 series, including the romantic science fiction series, ARROW OF TIME CHRONICLES

https://www.writers-exchange.com/arrow-of-time-chronicles/

https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/arrow-of-time-chronicles.html

http://www.facebook.com/KarenWiesnerAuthor