Conceptualizing a Series: an Overview

I am of the opinion that many young writers, especially those interested in speculative fiction, dream of writing a series. So many aspiring authors I know talk about their grand idea that will span many books, often lacking any real conception of how much work writing a series is.

Yes, writing a series is a great deal of work… but it is a joy as well. Conceptualizing a series is a massive undertaking. So many things go into writing and planning a standalone book. A series?

A series takes all the work required for a standalone and triples it for every book in the series. It’s complicated! It’s complicated enough many series writers have story bibles to help them create their sweeping masterpieces.

I’ll go into my process of creating a story bible later. Today, I’m going to break down the basics for conceptualizing a series. Every big topic I discuss in this post will be expanded upon later.

I would need a literal novel’s worth of words to fully explain everything in one post. So, I will do my best to keep it simple.

Wish me luck. I’m going to need it.

Why does the character need a story?

When I conceptualize a series, the first thing that tends to pop into my head is an idea about a character needing to accomplish something. Sometimes, I have a fire-breathing unicorn that needs to conquer the local police chief. (See: Playing with Fire by R.J. Blain.) Sometimes, I want a librarian saving the world. (See: Booked for Murder by R.J. Blain.) Sometimes, I want to write about chef who loves horses and falls for a princess. (See: Storm Called by Susan Copperfield.)

For the sake of this discussion, I’ll focus on Playing with Fire.

My motivation behind writing Playing with Fire was to entertain a friend who had been struggling a lot at the time. I opened the chapter with the fire-breathing unicorn having an encounter with the local police chief. Everything went downhill from there.

For the record, I wrote the entire first chapter with no information beyond my job to write something silly and fun, a fire-breathing unicorn, and a local police chief said unicorn needed to conquer.

I began doing the series conceptualizations by the second chapter, capturing the essence of the series with the intent on expanding it as I went.

It was rather chaotic, and that’s all right.

Other times, my conceptualization begins with a situation. In Outfoxed by R.J. Blain, I wanted to write about nasty tornadoes surrounding and eating away at Tulsa. (Sorry, Tulsa… I have no idea why I picked you for demolition, but you got quite the beating in this series…)

Before I wrote down a single word, I created everything. I had a list of characters, their motivations, their role in the series, where they’d been born, what magic they had, how they fit into the socio-economic structure of the world, how the world itself worked, why it was no longer like our world, and a lot of other things.

I had something like fifty plus pages of notes on this book before I wrote the first word.

While Playing with Fire is a fan favorite, I’m going to focus on Outfoxed for the rest of this post, as it has a thorough conceptualization and serves as a better learning experience.

The Critical Components of a Story

Before you can even begin conceptualizing a story in earnest, it’s important to understand what the building blocks of a story are. It’s not just plot and characters. Stories involve a whole world your characters exist in. You, as the author, need to understand how that world works and where your characters fit into it.

This, in turn, helps shape your plot. (A plot cannot exist without characters, characters cannot exist without a society or world they live within.)

Here is my general list of the things I focus on when conceptualizing a complicated (fantasy/urban fantasy/paranormal) story.

• The World
• The Local Economy
• The Local Belief System
• Characters and Character Motivations
• Terrain / Geography
• The Magic System
• The Conflict
• The Resolution

The World

Our characters need somewhere to stand for the story to take place. Or float, should you decide to use the water or space. In any case, without an environment for your character to live in, the story will be very short. And while some stories, such as “Rocks fall, everybody dies” can be quite fascinating, if you want to write a novel series, you’re going to need a whole lot of world for them to stand on. Or reside within if the world has a pooched surface but a livable subterranean environment.

I’d say anything goes, but in reality, selling a world to readers is a lot of work.

The Local Economy

The economy plays a large role in a story, especially a longer one. How are the bills paid? If there are no bills, why are there no bills? What keeps the cogs of progress and surviving going? What do people eat? How do they earn their bread? Understanding the local economy can help you better develop and create your characters.

The Local Belief System

Religion plays a role in the lives of many. If you aren’t writing “Earth”, you will need to have a rough idea of the religious beliefs of the locals. You can find a lot of good plot opportunities and conflict digging into the local beliefs of your characters.

Put at least a little thought into this, even if you’re writing a book generally free of religion. Not everyone believes the same thing, and this sort of conflict can enhance a story… if used at the right place and the right time.

Characters and Character Motivations

This is where you’ll likely spend the majority of your time, especially if you’re writing a character-driven tale. The more characters you have, the more complicated it gets. Don’t be afraid to have throw-away characters. The world is full of people we only cross paths once. Yes, tracking them can be a bit obnoxious, but sometimes, you just need a nice person who gives the main character the time of day to turn an emotional train wreck around. (And little things can make big differences.)

Terrain / Geography

This can play a major role in the economy and belief systems. For example in one of my books, I have a city dragons built with magically erected shield mountains to protect it from tornados. It is named Cauldron City, because the shield mountains ultimately turned the city into a big stew pot of magical critters. (See: Dead Weight by G.P. Robbins.) In urban fantasy, the city is often as important as the characters, so this is really important to consider when conceptualizing your story!

The Magic System

If you’re writing a fantasy or speculative fiction piece, magic is likely a crucial role in how your story plays out. When I’m building the magic system, I pay close attention to the economy and belief system at the same time; often, economy and beliefs are formulated based on the circumstances of past characters. Magic has a tendency of creating big changes in society.

When building your magic system, figure out how the magic disrupts or enhances local economies and belief systems. (This will also serve the purpose of giving your world a more robust feel when it’s being read.)

The Conflict

Why does your character NEED a story? The conflict is the why. Answer this question. Give your character a reason to do something other than go home, curl up with a warm blanket, drink some hot choccy, and read a good book.

The Resolution

Knowing where you’re going with a story is very helpful, especially when writing a series. I like to have a solid idea of what the end game goal of the book is. How does the conflict resolve? That’s what the resolution is all about.

When I have all of these pieces in place, I’m generally ready to begin writing a series in earnest.

And yes, I absolutely do change things as I go. I just make certain to make a note of what I changed and why, so that way, I can go back and edit in those changes. But once a book has been published, if I discover a better way to do something, and it can’t fit in with what I’ve already written… I’m sore out of luck. Too bad, so sad.

Let’s just say I’ve mastered the art of story evolution to help account for those issues.

As a challenge for yourself, try to conceptualize a novel (not a series) using the front and back of a single sheet of paper. Can you capture the essence of your story in such a small space?

I do these exercises fairly often. Do I write them all? No, of course not. But doing the conceptualizations hones my skills and allows me to come up with more complex stories more easily.

Oh, and don’t be afraid to leave your wheelhouse. That’s what pen names are for.

Happy writing, folks!