Conference Tips Part 1: Creating an Effective Series

                  As promised, I am sharing with you the golden nuggets of wisdom that I learned from my writing conference. When I started typing them up, though, I realized it would be a really long post. So I’ll be delivering them in parts. Here is Part 1: Creating an Effective Series. Remember: these rules can apply to any genre, and don’t take them as written in stone.

Creating an Effective Series:

#1. Make sure to provide a resolution for your main plot. Leaving too big of a cliff hanger will make your readers mad. The sub plots are the ones you can leave open for the next book.

#2. If you ever plan to publish your series, write the first one as a book that could stand alone if it needs to. There is no guarantee that a publisher would buy the rights to your whole series. Plant seeds for another book, but don’t make it necessary. For all of you visual people:

See how the seeds are hidden below ground? The reader might not be able to see them in your first book, but they're still there.

#3. Create a book bible for tracking all the details of your story. You can probably find a template for this if you google it. It’s important to make sure all of your details are consistent throughout the series so people don’t end up saying this about your novels:

#4. When recapping a previous book at the beginning of a sequel (which is always a good idea) don’t give everything about the last book away. You want readers that are starting in the middle of the series to want to be intrigued enough to go back. Always leave them wanting more.

"Ooh! What's that over there in book one?"

#5. This was a tough one for me to hear because I’m totally guilty of this: don’t save all the good stuff for your next book. This might sound like an obvious tip, but stop and think about it. Have you ever said when describing your series something like ‘Oh, well the bad guy’s identity isn’t revealed until book two.” Or how about, “Wait until you get to book three. That’s when the ultimate showdown happens.” If so, then you’re as guilty of this as I am. We have to give our first book everything we’ve got and not hold anything back. When it comes time to write the second book, we’ll come up with something even more epic to include. A writer’s imagination is endless. Remember: you’re not guaranteed to have your entire series published. Wouldn’t you hate for your readers not to get to read your ultimate fight scene just because you had planned it for a book that will never be published? I know. It burns. That’s how I felt when I first heard this tip. Put on some aloe and get back to writing.

#6. And my favorite series tip: Create ‘yes’ moments. Have you ever watched a show or read a series where something seemingly insignificant from the very beginning suddenly popped up much later in the series and became a vital part? That’s a ‘yes’ moment! It’s when those seeds you planted much earlier, have now popped up and blossomed into a full tree when you weren’t looking. If done correctly, it’s a very neat trick.

Write On Target

“For mine is a generation that circles the globe and searches for something we haven't tried before. So never refuse an invitation, never resist the unfamiliar, never fail to be polite and never outstay the welcome. Just keep your mind open and suck in the experience.”

-                            From “The Beach” by Alex Garland

Hello old friends! I have returned! I was off sucking in my own experience at the Tallahassee Writer’s Conference, Write On Target, with my friend/roommate Patty this past weekend. It was my first writing conference, and, let me tell you, nothing stirs the imagination like being surrounded by a large group of fellow writers. If you enjoy any kind of writing, no matter what level you’re at, I highly recommend attending a conference.

By the end of this busy weekend, I went to about ten different sessions. Sadly, only about half of them were worth attending though. Luckily for you, I sifted through all of the unnecessary stuff and will share the golden nuggets of wisdom that I uncovered in my next post. The things I learned are helpful no matter what genre your story falls under.

To be honest, being around so many other writers took a little bit of getting used to. In the first session, I was listening to an author talk about the fairies in her book. It’s not every day that you hear grown-ups talking about fairies with a straight face on when there are no children in the room.

This author ended up being my favorite speaker at the conference. Her name is Shelli Johannes. Cool first name, huh? ;) Her sessions were well planned out, clearly explained, and provided a lot of helpful examples.  The best part was, she ended up hanging out in a group with me and a few others, so we were able to ask her as many writerly questions as we wanted!  You should definitely go check out her blog because she had a lot of great things to share. She’s written a really successful teen conservation thriller series called The Nature of Grace. I bought the first book and will put up a review as soon as I’ve read it.

From left to right: Shelli, Me, Patty, and Byna

Another favorite speaker of mine was Arliss Ryan. She actually leads ghost tours with her husband near my hometown! With this information, it should come as no surprise to you that she writes historical fiction. I was blown away by her writing when she shared some examples. I always assumed that you had to be British to write high-quality, believable fiction set in England, but she proved me wrong. I want to read some of her stuff as well. Check out her Facebook here, and if you read or have read any of her stuff, let me know what you think!

By the way, if you’re wondering who Byna is from the picture, we met her at the conference as well. She’s written an apocalyptic zombie novel and has a really neat zombie blog. (Do people still use the word ‘neat’?) Anyway, you can check out her blog here.

I also posted some pics on Instagram of some of the random Tallahassee outings we went on. My friend Sarah who came with us is an FSU alumni so she brought us to some of her old haunts. I felt like an old lady when we went to a college bar called Bullwinkle’s, but they played awesome 90s tunes!

So that’s about the gist of my first writing conference. Check back later for those writing tips I’ve promised, and if you’ve ever been to a conference, I’d love to hear about it in the comments!