by Mike Martin, @mike54martin 
In some ways it’s easy to write a series. You already have a frame in which to sketch your story. Usually, that means you have a general location or part of the country and you have a cadre of characters that accompany the main character on his or her journey. There’s a familiarity, a comfort in that. It makes both the writer, and hopefully the readers, want to come right in, sit in that nice, comfy chair and slide into the story.
I always have that feeling when I start a new Sgt. Windflower Mystery. Like I’m home. Then I start writing and all the characters come streaming into my head at once. It’s exhilarating and frightening at the same time as my brain tries to process both the story that is starting to unfold, and all of the voices of the characters who are asking for my attention. Sometimes it feels like the old woman in the shoe. So many characters, I really don’t know what to do. And mostly I just feel stressed and crazy.
That’s when I usually go for a walk. I need the exercise, but more importantly it clears my head so that I can see where all the pieces, and not just the dead bodies fit. The most important thing about a mystery, or any fiction writing, is the story, the plot. The walk helps quiet down the chorus in my head so I can at least keep the story straight. Once that is clear, at least to me, I can allow the character development to continue. But I’m still not running the show. The characters ‘speak’ to me and I try and fit them into the story at the appropriate time and place. It doesn’t always work, but that’s rule number one. The story comes first and the characters have to shut up long enough so that I can set the scene for them to work their magic.
The second rule I have set for myself when writing this series is to take notes about the characters and what roles they may have played in previous parts of the series. As someone who runs and writes from the seat of my pants when it comes to putting the story together, there is no way that I can remember who did what to whom without a cheat sheet. If I don’t, and I have to admit that it has happened, and more than once, some friendly, but firm reader will point out that inconsistency. Luckily for me, I have great beta readers who gladly point out my mistakes, almost always, before they get to print.
Don’t get me wrong, I love the characters in the Sgt. Windflower Mystery series. They allow me to not just write a crime solving mystery story, but to have depth of emotion and feeling that makes it human, and I hope more interesting. I know that my readers feel the same way because they tell me that they get worried about Shelia and Windflower when I let him stray too far from his kind and open heart. Just to be clear again, I don’t steer Windflower, I just help point him in the right direction. More than a few of them have also threatened me with much verbal abuse if I ever decided to kill any of the main characters off.
I tell them it’s a murder mystery and someone has to die. They just shrug and tell me to find someone else to murder. That’s the final rule when it comes to characters versus plot. Your characters can stumble, fall, make mistakes, fall in and out of love, but they can never die. Or else one of your readers will decide to write a book with you as their first victim.
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Mike Martin is the author of the Sgt. Windflower Mystery Series which is set in small communities in Newfoundland on the eastern tip of Canada. The latest book is A Long Ways from Home. It is available now from Amazon, Barnes and Noble and iTunes . Find him on Facebook.
Balancing the main story and character subplots from @mike54martin : Click To Tweet
Hi Elizabeth and Mike – wonderful cover … tells you about the setting for your book. I can quite see the logic in making notes and making sure all the characters tie together … good luck with the series – cheers Hilary
Thank you Hillary.
Mike Martin
I couldn’t juggle all those characters in my head. I have to outline and make character sheets.
I killed a main character once, but fortunately it was in the first book and readers forgave me.
Don’t do it again!! lol
Mike Martin
Thanks for sharing the insights about sustaining a series. I was immediately drawn to the advice to take notes. It’s especially important, I think, as the series goes on and the character list increases. You might forget one or another scene/character. But readers won’t.
Thank you Margot. Good to hear from you/ see you on line
Mike Martin
Many thanks to Elizabeth for hosting me today. But even more importantly for creating and holding a space for us to talk and share about our craft!!
Mike, thanks so much for guest hosting and the kind words!
I used a detailed timeline following all 10 of my main characters to keep track of things. It helped to know what each character was doing at any given moment, even if it was all off screen.
That is a great idea!!
Mike Martin
My characters also speak to me. It’s sometimes really hard to balance their version of the story with the one I have in my head. More often than not, they tend to be right. :-D
It’s good that we can talk about all these crazy things that are going on inside our heads!! Characters are always right..
Mike Martin
As a reader, one of the wonderful thing about a series is watching the main character (and even secondary characters) grow with each installment. As a reader, you become invested in the characters and have hopes for them. It’s fun to see when an author has the same hopes for the character. Wishing you much success, Mike. Sounds like you’ve got a great group of characters and an intriguing series.
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The characters are not just key to the story, they tell the author the story so that we can write it down. Thanks for the kind words.
Mike Martin
Hmmm…. I don’t have enough characters yet for me to have trouble keeping track of them. Perhaps that means I’m not bringing in enough characters.
Thanks for the post, Mike.
They’re there!! Go for a walk and see if they start talking to you.
Thanks
Mike Martin
One of the reasons I love mystery series is getting to know the characters in-depth and revisiting them with each book, so I can understand why your readers have cautioned you against killing off their beloved characters.
I love your book cover. It looks like such a peaceful place to live.
Thank you Ellen. Newfoundland is a beautiful and magical place.
Mike Martin
What bothers me more than people dying in books is when animals die. I was reading a new author and was very much liking the book until she killed off an allegedly belived fanily pet who just saved her life. I felt like she did it solely to free the character up for globe trotting adventures. And it wasn’t like the dog got a good send off either. Made me ditch the book and x that series off my list. So Lady better get a good send off when the time comes! :) One of yhe many things I like about your books is the relationship between the characters and how everyone gets stage time, even the minor recurring ones.
Thank you Denise. Lady is a recurring and much-beloved character. If she goes, we all go.
Mike Martin