Three Tips on Starting a Series, Part II

A Home Run Friendship is a middle
grade novel about a boy, Juan, from Mexico,
 who moves in next door to Bo, the main
character. With lots of humor, the book
explores how Bo, his friends, and Juan
learn to accept each other and
in the end become good friends.
Coming soon!

By Linda Wilson  Website: bit.ly/44Dx1t9  

Writer Beware: "Series are tricky. Writing series is not for the faint of heart." So says Janet Lane Walters, award-winning author of writing book series in multiple genres and more; as quoted in, Writing the Fiction Series: The Complete Guide for Novels and Novellas, by Karen S. Wiesner. If you are looking for good, solid advice on writing a series, I highly recommend Wiesner's book, which offers a thorough approach with many examples and worksheets that can save time and effort. 

I am living testimony to this fact. My dream has been to expand the one undertaking that has taken heart and soul to write, MY BOOK, into a series. The dream took shape when I realized I didn't want to part with my characters. Little did I know what the creation of a series would mean. Thank goodness so many authors are willing to share their ideas on writing a series, including how to begin, how to avoid common pitfalls, and how to stay on target, whether you're writing a trilogy or see no end in sight.

Today's post summarizes three topics that will help propel you out of the gate, described in Wiesner's book: Book Groupings, Types of Series and Series Blurbs. 

Book Groupings are as Familiar as Fiction Itself

• Series: Any continuous or interconnected set of stories. The two main types are the books best read sequentially, such as Harry Potter books; and those books read in any order, such as Nancy Drew books. 

• Trilogy: Continues one long-term story arc or each story stands alone with a loose connection.

• Serial: Serial, episode or periodical stories come from a single work and are read in installments, such as Charles Dickens' The Pickwick Papers, first published in 1836; considered to have established the serial format. A current example is Stephen King's story, The Plant (2000). 

• Miniseries: A planned number of stories told within an existing series. A personal favorite of mine on television, such as the six-part Roots and John Adams; Wiesner gives as her example in writing, The Darling Birds, by Johnny Dale.

• Other types of groupings include: Prequel, Sequel, Interquel, Spin-off, and Tetralogy (four-book series that can be developed the same as a Trilogy). 

What Type is your Series? 

The four main types of series Wiesner pins down, summarized here, has helped me turn a fuzzy idea of what I'm attempting to write into a clear vision. She points out that authors often create a combination of these types, a good idea if you want your series to stand out.

• Central Group of Characters: Popular in romance novels, women's fiction, paranormal, sci fi and fantasy. Example: Redwall Series by Brian Jacques. 

Your main group of characters have a loose or specific connection that ties them together, and one or two of the characters become the mc as the series progresses.

• Recurring character: Popular in mystery/suspense stories, fantasy, sci fi and paranormal genres. Wiesner's example: Twilight Saga by Stephanie Meyer. 

Your star character appears in each book, often with her trusty sidekick. The stories can be told from one or the other point of view.

I considered doing this in my current series project but was advised by an editor that by switching points of view, some of the reader's emotional investment in my main character could be lost. I decided for this first series, to stick with the two main characters who are introduced in Book 1, with one of them the predominant main character. Wiesner advises that in this type of series there's a large cast of characters with varied importance from story to story.

• Premise/Plot Series: Popular in action/adventure, suspense and thriller, inspirational, paranormal, horror, sci fi and fantasy. Example: Unbidden Magic Series by Marilee Brothers.

The connection in this type of series is the plot or premise that is the underlying theme.

• Setting Series: Your setting works in your series' books across the board.

The stories are tied by the setting. Characters can change, but the setting stays the same.

Series Blurbs on Steroids

One of the most difficult tasks of fiction writing, as we know, is encapsulating our novel into a short, concise sentence. 

Weisner suggests blurbing your entire series in the early stages of the work, keeping it to one to four sentences; as short as possible and tweaking it as you go along. Your series blurb should:

• Be an overview of the entire series.

• Tell how the books in the series are connected.

• Inspire readers to want to read not just one book but the entire series.

• Let the genre shine through.

• Give the blurb the same tone as the story.

• Consider adding interest by making the blurb a question or an exclamation.

• Should give you a plan on how your series will end.

Nailing down these preliminary tasks, authors say, will save you much time and effort as you write your series. But the initial planning is not yet complete. This trilogy of posts will conclude next month with various worksheet suggestions, that if started early, can serve as reminders of details that might be forgotten and not easily found once your series gets rolling.

Check out last month's post: Is Series Writing for You, Part 1

Next month: Series Writers: Chart the Details, Part III

Source: https://www.amazon.com/Writing-Fiction-Complete-Novels-Novellas/dp/1599636905/ref=sr_1_1

The most fun is sharing my books with
children every chance I get.

Linda's latest release is Secret in the Mist, the second book in the Abi Wunder trilogy, illustrated by Danika Corrall, cover art and formatting by 100 Covers, published December 2025. Recently, Mist was given a 5-Star Review from Reader Views. Two other new releases are Botas Altas, the Spanish version of Tall Boots, illustrated by 1000 Storybooks, translated by Graciela Moreno and Adriana Botero; and Cuna en la Naturaleza, illustrated by 1000 Storybooks, the Spanish version of Cradle in the Wild, translated by Adriana Botero, both award winners. Linda's newest books will be released sometime this year: The Pur-r-rfect Costume, a bilingual picture book in English and Spanish, illustrated and formatted by 1000 Storybooks, translated by Adriana Botero; and A Home Run Friendship, a middle grade book, cover art and formatting by 100 Covers, Spanish words translated by Adriana Botero.

What Flow Really Means for Writers

 by Suzanne Lieurance

Flow, for writers, is often misunderstood.

It gets confused with effortlessness — with the romantic idea that real writers sit down and the words pour out of them like music, unbidden and unstoppable. That version of flow is a myth. Or rather, it describes only the peak of the experience, not the full reality of cultivating it.

Real flow for writers is something more interesting and more available than that. It is a state of deep engagement in which the usual friction — the self-doubt, the distraction, the agonizing over every word — falls temporarily away.

Flow is not about the absence of effort. It’s about the quality of engagement. The writer is still making choices, still revising, still pushing toward something better. But the work feels intrinsically rewarding. Time stretches and compresses. The session ends and you look up, surprised.

Different Kinds of Flow

There are different kinds of flow available to writers. There is generative flow: the state you enter when drafting, when the material is alive and moving. There is revision flow: the absorbing work of making something better, sentence by sentence, until the piece becomes what it wanted to be. And there is research flow: the exploratory reading and thinking that feeds the work, when a writer disappears into a subject and emerges hours later energized and full of material.

Each kind requires slightly different conditions. Generative flow often needs silence and low stakes — the freedom to write badly in the first draft. Revision flow thrives with a clear objective. Research flow needs curiosity more than discipline.

Understanding which kind of flow you’re seeking is one of the first steps toward cultivating it. A writer who sits down to draft but finds herself editing every sentence is working against the flow available to her.

Flow also requires a match between the challenge of the work and your current skill level. Writing that is too easy produces boredom. Writing that is too difficult produces anxiety. Flow lives in the middle: where the work is genuinely challenging but not impossible.

Find Out What Flow Means for You

If you want to understand what flow means for you, start by asking: when have you lost track of time while writing? What were you working on? What conditions made that session possible? 

The answers are the beginning of a practice.

And now, for more articles and resources about flow, read more about our Writing in Flow Challenge at writebythesea.

Suzanne Lieurance is the author of over 40 published books and a transformational Law of Attraction coach for writers who are ready to stop waiting to feel like the real thing. At Write by the Sea, she guides writers through the identity shift that changes everything — not just the writing, but the whole life built around it. 

Subscribe to The Morning Nudge to get a FREE, short email every weekday morning with writing tips and other resources for writers. You'll also get a free e-book, You Are Already a Writer - Now It's Time to Start Living Like One.

Make A Lasting First Impression

 

By Terry Whalin (@terrywhalin)

In the rush to show a literary agent or editor your idea, many writers forget a simple yet important truth: You only get one chance to make a good first impression. As an editor and former literary agent, I’ve read thousands of written proposals and pitches. For over 35 years, I’ve taught at writer’s conferences and had short 15 minute sessions with writers who show their ideas. When an editor asks for your proposal or manuscript, are you sending it? If you follow through with an excellent submission, you will be among the few who do so. It may be surprising to you, but many people do not submit their requested materials.  No wonder they don’t get published because they do not get into the process,

Let’s begin with some good news. I’ve been with some of the top publishers and literary agencies in New York City. Without exception, every single agent and editor is actively reading and speaking with writers. They are searching for the next bestseller. Whether you write a novel or nonfiction, every writer needs a book proposal or pitch. Why? Imagine receiving over 100 pitches a day (not uncommon for a well-connected literary agent). The title and first few sentences are critical to catch their enthusiasm. 

There are a number of keys to making a great proposal. 

1. Create a memorable book title. Many writers are worried that someone else will take their title. Instead you need to try it out on others and test it and make sure it pulls in your reader.

2. Read and re-read your opening paragraphs. Have a trusted writer friend read it and give feedback. If an oral pitch, then practice it. You’d be surprised at the difference it will make.

3. Write to a well-defined target audience. No book is for everyone.

4. Detail your competition. Every book competes in the marketplace—no matter what you believe about the uniqueness of your idea. You need to include four or five specific competitive titles to your book.

5. Present a realistic marketing plan of what you will do to partner with the publisher to sell books into the market. Your plans need to be practical and clearly defined.

Your writing and story is unique and I know you have something unique and  special to give to the marketplace. As an editor, I’ve met authors who have created a negative first impression. At a large writers conference, I was in an indepth conversation with an author. Suddenly another author interrupted and thrust his poorly designed, self-published children’s book into my hands, then turned and left to find another editor or literary agent. I do not remember what I did with that book or author but I never spoke with him again. His first impression made a lasting negative impact. What type of first impression will you make today?

Here’s three resources to learn more detail: 

1. Book Proposals That Sell, 21 Secrets To Speed Your Success which I wrote as a frustrated acquisitions editor and has 150 Five Star Amazon reviews. You can also download a free copy of the full book at this website: https://bookproposals.ws. 

2. Get my free Ebook, Some Book Proposal Insights and teleseminar at: www.AskAboutProposals.com 

3. Consider taking my online Write A Book Proposal course where I have step-by-step teaching how to make your best impression.

If you use these resources, then you will make the right type of lasting first impression. As I said at the beginning of this article, we only have one opportunity for a good first impression. Which one will you make? Let me know in your comments.

Tweetable:

As writers, we have one chance to make a good first impression. This bestselling author gives resources and details for your writing life. #pubtip #thewritinglife (ClickToTweet)

W. Terry Whalin, a writer and acquisitions editor lives in California. Get Terry’s newsletter and a 87-page FREE ebook packed with writing insights. Just follow this link to subscribe. A former magazine editor and former literary agent, Terry is an acquisitions editor at Morgan James Publishing. He has written more than 60 nonfiction books including  Jumpstart Your Publishing Dreams and Billy Graham. Get Terry’s recent book, 10 Publishing Myths for only $10, free shipping and bonuses worth over $200. To help writers catch the attention of editors and agents, Terry wrote his bestselling Book Proposals That $ell, 21 Secrets To Speed Your Success. His website is located at: www.terrywhalin.com. Connect with Terry on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

Your Author Website's Landing Page

 

Contributed by Karen Cioffi, Children's Writer and Self-Publisher

 The internet is teeming with information on everything you can possibly think of. This includes information on your business platform. But with all this information available, there are still many who aren’t aware of the basics, the dos and don’ts of an author online platform.

I recently came across a website on ‘article submissions.’ Finding it on Twitter and being interested, I clicked on the link.

It brought me to a site with articles on unrelated topics. There wasn’t an About page or any information on what the site was about. And there wasn’t a Contact or Services page.

This marketer/business owner was leading people back to his site, apparently to sell something, but the site was completely ineffective. It was one of the most puzzling sites I’ve ever seen.

So, the question is: If someone lands on your website by accident, through a search, or via a social link, is it effective? Is it visitor optimized?

To answer these questions, you first need to know the fundamentals of a business website. And a business website can be an author’s site, a freelance writing site, a home business site, or a small business site. The basics are the same for all websites that sell something, whether it be books, services, or a product.

To guide you in the right direction to creating a visitor-optimized website, let’s go over the very basics.

Online marketing 101 is to create a website that works, a website that converts visitors into clients, customers, or subscribers.

This is the foundation of your online empire, and an effective website needs to immediately answer these four basic questions:

1. Who are you?
2. What are you offering?
3. Why is what you’re offering worthy of the visitor’s time, money, or email address?
4. Is the path to what you’re offering, the path to the YES, simple? (The YES is the potential customer’s positive action, whether it’s opting into your mailing list or buying what you’re offering, or other call-to-action)

Let’s go over each element:

1. Who You Are
Make sure your website has an About Me page. In addition, your landing page should clearly identify who you are. Don’t let the visitor have to hunt you down – don’t let her have to search through your site just to find some information on you.

Tip: Keep the About Me content conversational, like you’re talking to a friend.

2. What You Have to Offer
Your landing page needs to quickly convey what you have to offer. To do this, you can use an image with content or a video. Video is highly effective—it has been proven to increase conversion rates. 

Tip: Keep the ‘key’ information above the fold. This means it must be visible upon landing on the page. The visitor shouldn’t have to scroll down the page to find it.

3. Why What You’re Offering is Worthy of the Visitor’s Time/Money/Email
Let the visitor know the value of what you have to offer. Show how it will benefit her. And, if possible, make it seem exclusive. Figure out a way to make the visitor think he can’t get what you’re offering anywhere else.

Tip: The visitor must perceive the value of your offer as higher than its cost.

4. Is the Path to What You’re Offering (the Path to the YES) Simple?
Marketers use the acronym KISS (Keep it Simple Silly) to emphasize the importance of simplicity. Your website should be easy to navigate, focused and clear, have a simple design, and have an easy path to saying YES.

Tip: To keep it simple, have only one or two steps for opting in or to taking another call to action. 

To further cement the ‘tell it all and tell it quickly’ website strategy, the new timeline is only 3-5 seconds to get the job done. That’s the length of time you have to grab the visitor, let him know who you are, what you have to offer, and how it can benefit him. Longer than that and the visitor will bounce back to his search results.  
    
Ready, set, go!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Karen Cioffi is a working children’s writer and self-publisher. If you need help with ghostwriting, rewriting, editing, coaching, or publishing, visit Writing for Children with Karen Cioffi. 

You can check out Karen’s books HERE.

Connect with Karen on social media. 

 

What To Do When You Can’t Find The Right Word

 When Words Disappear…

 

 

                  And How Some Authors Can Fight What They Can’t Change

 

 

By Carolyn Howard-Johnson, 
author of  the HowToDoItFrugally Series of books for writers

Including the soon to be released Word by Word: A Vocabulary for Success 

 

 

Words disappear all the time. They disappear from dictionaries because the English language is full of words lexicographers have determined we don’t use any more--or don’t use enough to warrant a place in current dictionaries. We have so many because humans value the ability to easily communicate. Furthermore we love them so much we borrow them other language and make up new ones at will when the ones we have don’t do the job at hand well enough or for the joy of being creative. Our needs sometimes change and we discard them or we misuse them often enough we come to dislike them. We forget them when we’re young and from disease as we age.  When they disappear--for whatever reason, we tend to miss them, so we replace them with something else. But there are a few in the world who love them so much they keep records that have grown so there are too many for a single dictionary--or even a whole library large enough to handle them all--or large enough to make a claim that we haven’t missed a few as time passed. We have found the internet a good, but not perfect keeper of words for us.

 

That doesn’t mean authors might not need one of those forgotten, those discarded. 

 When a word can’t be found (or verified) we might just give up.

 

And when that happens our writing suffers because as authors we have special needs that the general population might not.

 

We need these words to put into the mouths of characters. Maybe characters who live in another English-speaking country or dialect-speaking region. Maybe characters were bring to life from another century, another era, another class. When we reach such an impasse, here are a few ways to conquer the problem: 

 

~Ask your wife or even the person sitting next to you at Starbucks trying to get some writing done.

~Using keywords, look books published in past decades on Amazon’s New and used feature.

~I have a couple books of slang that I’ve stashed in my own real-life bookshelves.  Some are out of print, but I’m keeping them safe. 

~Ask people you know who are lots older—or younger—and see what they come up with.

~Makeup a word of your own. A poem called Jabberwocky made such words perfectly legitimate.

~Visit charity shops and buy old paperbacks for a dime. Start with Thesauri but anything including lists of words for specific purposes will do like one published only a few decades ago called The Describer’s Dictionary. 

~Put marginalia in all your book and don’t go giving them to charity or anyone else. 

~Build more bookshelves so you won’t feel obligated to clean house.

~And alphabetize your books in ways that will be meaningful to you decades from now.  Or adopt librarians’ methods of categorizing them.  

 

 

 

MORE ABOUT YOUR #WRITERSONTHEMOVE CONTRIBUTOR

 

 

The triptych that Amazon provides the authors of series
published by their KDP unit. It feels like bonus. 

 

Once a month Carolyn Howard-Johnson shares something writer-related she hopes might save some author from embarrassment (or make the task of writing more fun or creative.) The third edition of The Frugal Editor from Modern History Press includes contact list magic. It is the second multi award-winning book in her multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally Series of books for writers. Find it on Amazon’s new buy-page for series where the e-book is offered with one click in online’s version of a set of books. (The availability—free—of that new page for authors with book series that appear on KDP’s pages is another of her #FrugalBookPromoterTips.) The Frugal Editor has been fully updated including a chapter on how backmatter can be extended to help readers and nudge book sales. And watch for her new book on—you guessed it—word lists! 

 

Some Thoughts Before Embarking on Writing a Series, Part I

Secrets of the Heart is the last
book in my Abi Wunder Ghost/
Mystery trilogy. It is a
work-in-progress.

By Linda Wilson   Website: bit.ly/44Dx1t9   

How big is your book idea? In fiction, it might cover generations as in The Little House series and The Rose Years by Laura Ingalls Wilder and Roger Lea MacBride, reddit (1); or growth of the main character which occurs in Nancy Drew mysteries. Have your pick of nonfiction topics that can blossom from a single topic, such as The Magic School Bus or the Body Works series; My Messy Body, My Noisy Body, etc.

Authors who write series promise readers that the fun doesn't have to end, that there's more excitement to come, more adventure and worlds to explore, more of these lives to be lived. In Writing the Fiction Series: The Complete Guide for Novels and Novellas, by Karen S. Wiesner, Weisner quotes author Thomas Helm: "Author and reader dread the end, which is the test of a good novel. Why not expand into a series?"

For three months, this blog-post trilogy will offer tips from my research and experience while writing and publishing a chapter-book trilogy. I hope the information will be helpful to you if you’re considering embarking on writing a series.

Why Turn a Perfectly Good Stand-Alone Book into a Series?

You might find that you’ve:

• Fallen in love with your characters, especially the main ones, who have so much more life to live that you can't say good-bye.
• Written in a genre that lends itself to series, such as mystery, ghost stories, romance, westerns, historical novels, fantasy and sci fi.
• Read that series sell well and publishers like to buy multiple books because series attract readers.
• Laid the groundwork in the first book.
• Loved reading series from childhood on. If you have, then you enjoy the feelings of familiarity series provoke.
• Enjoyed your setting and want to expand on it so your characters can explore worlds far and wide.    

The Next Step: Tips on Writing a Series to Keep in Mind

• Create a general outline that shows how each novel relates to the others.
• Keep track of the details and connecting threads among the novels in order to maintain continuity.
• Have an overall plot plan as well as a plan for each novel. 
• Be organized and prepared by knowing where your series will end, plotting a timeline to keep track of events.
• Choose a central conflict or premise for your series that "is the main tension or unknown that needs to be solved. In . . . Harry Potter, the central conflict is the protagonist's unfinished business with the villain, Lord Voldemort. In Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy, the central conflict is between the world-dominion-seeking antagonist Sauron and the elves and hobbits who desire peace and freedom from tyranny." http://www.nownovel.com/blog/how-to-write-book-series/
• Plan for the passage of time and how your characters will age.

My Abi Wunder trilogy, ghost/mystery stories for 7-to-10-year olds, passed all of these considerations. Secret in the Stars, illustrated by Tiffany Tutti, and Secret in the Mist, illustrated by Danika Corrall, are now available on Amazon. Secrets of the Heart, illustrated by Danika Corrall, is in the work-in-progress stage. As listed above, the books have connecting threads that run through them, culminating in the last book. This is my challenge now: giving meaning to these threads and giving the book a satisfying ending.

Next month: "Tips on How to Start a Series," Part II

(1) https://www.reddit.com/r/whatsthatbook/comments/u40i3s/childrens_fiction_series_where_each_book_focuses/ 

Moi with my trusty
writing buddies.

Linda's latest release is Secret in the Mist, the second book in the Abi Wunder trilogy, illustrated by Danika Corrall, cover art and formatting by 100 Covers, published December 2025. Two other new releases are the award-winning Botas Altas, the Spanish version of Tall Boots, illustrated by 1000 Storybooks, translated by Graciela Moreno and Adriana Botero; and Cuna en la Naturaleza, illustrated by 1000 Storybooks, the Spanish version of Cradle in the Wild, translated by Adriana Botero. Linda's newest books will be released sometime this year: The Pur-r-rfect Costume, a bilingual picture book in English and Spanish, illustrated by 1000 Storybooks, translated by Adriana Botero; and A Home Run Friendship, a middle grade book, cover art and formatting by 100 Covers.
 

Invisible Serves No One: Why You Need to Share What You Write

 by Suzanne Lieurance

There is a cost to staying invisible as a writer. It is not always obvious, and it rarely announces itself loudly. But it accumulates — in the work that never gets read, the readers who never find you, the opportunities that pass quietly to someone else simply because they showed up and you didn’t.

Why Writers Stay Invisible

Invisible feels safe. That’s the seduction of it. When you keep your work to yourself, you can’t be rejected. You can’t be misunderstood. You can’t be told it isn’t good enough. The work stays perfect in its private space, untouched by the messy reality of other people’s responses.

But invisible also means unread. Unheard. Unfound.

And here is the truth that every writer who has stepped into visibility eventually discovers: the readers who needed your work were out there the whole time. They were looking. They just couldn’t find you.

Why You Shouldn’t Hide Your Work

This is what makes invisibility not just a personal loss but something worth reconsidering on behalf of others. When you hide your work, you are not only withholding it from yourself and your own creative growth. You are withholding it from the person who would have been moved by it, helped by it, changed by it. The reader who would have felt less alone because of it.

Invisible serves no one.

Not you. Not your reader. Not the writing itself, which exists — on some level — to be encountered.

This doesn’t mean you owe the world every draft, every experiment, every half-formed idea. Privacy has its place in the creative process. The early drafts, the tender first attempts, the work that isn’t ready — these deserve protection.

But there comes a point in every piece of work where it is ready. Where it has been shaped and refined and given everything you have to give it. And at that point, keeping it hidden isn’t caution. It’s withholding.

So ask yourself this: Is this work hidden because it needs more time? Or is it hidden because I’m afraid of what happens when someone reads it?

If you’re afraid to share what you’ve written — that’s not a reason to stay invisible. 

That’s the exact moment to step forward.

Try it!

Suzanne Lieurance is the author of over 40 published books and a transformational Law of Attraction coach for writers who are ready to stop waiting to feel like the real thing. At Write by the Sea, she guides writers through the identity shift that changes everything — not just the writing, but the whole life built around it. She is the publisher of Manifesting Monthly magazine and the host of Monday Morning Manifestors.  

Subscribe to The Morning Nudge to get a FREE, short email every weekday morning with writing tips and other resources for writers.