by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig
I’m a fan of series…both reading and writing them. As a reader, though, it really bothered me when my favorite series would get stale or if I felt as if the writer was recycling plots and other elements.
I published book twelve in the Myrtle Clover series in January and am planning a 13th release in the same series later this year. This has caused me to be a lot more deliberate with my plotting and with the other ‘layers’ that I include in my stories. The last thing that I want is to disappoint readers.
Thinking it through, I made a list of elements that I either appreciated from other long-running series, or wished that those series would have used to pique my interest. Here’s what I came up with:
Use unique descriptions for staple characters and settings. One thing I noticed in one of my favorite series is that the author seems to cut-and-paste the descriptions of her protagonist and other recurring characters from older books to the new one. In some ways, this can be a fun inside joke (I loved Agatha Christie’s descriptions of Poirot as having ‘an egg-shaped head’, for example), it might be good to come up with fresh ways of describing characters and settings.
Offer up any details that have never been mentioned (and immediately add these details to your story bible). I realized I’d never actually named the street that Myrtle lived on, for example, or talked about her sidekick’s family. Incorporating interesting details can help readers stay interested.
Dig into the protagonist’s backstory. While this is something that would likely be tedious in book one, you have the luxury of a reader’s interest by book 12 or 13. It’s just important that we handle it in a way that we don’t lose their interest. I’m exploring having a friend from a protagonist’s past reappear and cause trouble in a future mystery.
Can characters grow while still remaining consistent? One good thing about being this far into a series is that you really know your characters. It’s possible to have a lot of fun with that by putting your characters in situations that make them uncomfortable…or just new situations, altogether. They could start a new job or a new relationship. The most important thing to consider is … does it feel forced or natural? Does it serve the story and the reader?
Related to the above, but a bit more external: Are there new elements (new characters, new situations, new setting, new setbacks) that can be naturally added to help the characters continue growing and help the readers discover more about them?
Specific to mysteries: Make the mysteries more complex. Have two separate murderers, change the number of victims, increase the clues and red herrings. Add or reduce the number of suspects. Play around with locked room or manor house set-ups.
The point is that we should make sure that the series is still satisfying for our readers (as well as for ourselves). By putting a little extra thought into the process, it’s really not that hard to do.
Do you have a long series? How do you keep it fresh? As a reader, what has kept you reading longer series?
Tips for keeping reader interest in a long-running series: Click To TweetPhoto on VisualHunt.com
Some authors get lazy with series, but sounds like you know what to add to make it fresh. Characters should grow and change over the course of several books. One reason I placed my three books twenty years apart. Growth had to happen in that amount of time.
It’s, frankly, a lot of hard work! I can understand why writers would get lazy. Even making sure not to repeat character names from previous books (non-recurring characters) is tough.
If someone doesn’t change in 20 years, something is wrong, ha!
One of my favorite series is an enormous exception to that rule. Over decades, Rex Stout’s Archie Goodwin and Nero Wolfe, along with Fritz and the rest, don’t change a jot. The world around them changes, but Archie on the last page is unchanged from the Archie we first meet.
Without Stout’s writing, I would probably have agreed unequivocally with everything written here as hard and fast rules. It has surprised me how well Stout pulls it off.
Reading Longmire, Bosch, other modern mysteries, the characters grow and change (Walt Longmire less so, but Bosch, lots) and so I’m fascinated by the quirky exceptions of Nero Wolfe and Archie.
An excellent exception to the rule! But Stout was a genius in the field. I’ll have to go back and re-read those books and see how he manages to make it work so well.
These are such good ideas, Elizabeth. I’m only four books in to my Joel Williams mysteries, but I’m already thinking about the whole issue of character evolution and growth. I think that’s an important part of keeping a series fresh. And besides, we all change and grow as we move along in life. For me, it’s also a matter making sure that, no matter which book a reader picks up, s/he can be drawn into the series.
Good point about writing the books as standalones so that readers can jump in wherever they are and feel drawn in by the story.
There’s a lot of back story that could be added to later books. A long series gives you room to spread it out. My five book series followed a different set of characters each time and moved forward in time, which gave me the chance to show what the other characters were doing as they grew older.
That’s a very satisfying approach for readers, I think. When you have these types of ‘spin-off’ stories, they still get to catch up with the original characters.
You raise some great points–and your whole “series on series” is exceptional. I especially like your solution for a soggy middle–just kill of one of your suspects!
My mystery series is only 5 books so far (3 published, 2 to go) so I’m not running into trouble yet, but I foresee possible danger ahead.
First, how does a writer keep humor fresh, without telling the same running jokes over and over? Janet Evanovitch runs into this problem, it seems to me, and I’m not sure what the answer is.
And second, do the hooks ever get over used? How many cup cake shops, restaurants, book shops, and sewing circles will the readers absorb before looking farther afield?
Thanks for your great books and for your generous contributions to the writer community!
Hi Lakota,
Killing suspects is the perfect solution, ha! I fluff up my suspect count on purpose each book so that I can eliminate one. :)
Humor is a tough one. My approach is to focus on situational humor (sort of the ‘sitcom’ effect). My characters have certain foibles…a good range of them. My sleuth is somewhat self-centered, ignorant of her faults, and can be acerbic to others. My sidekick is long-suffering (but can be quietly snide), germ-phobic, and something of a hypochondriac. I exploit their flaws in the interest of humor. :) I’ll put Miles, the germ-phobic one, in situations he’s horrified to be in. I’ll have Myrtle host a dinner party where she utterly fails at cooking (but convinces her guests that she’s using a new French technique of blackening fish). This type of humor *can* get easier as the series goes on, since we get to know the characters so much better and what makes them tick.
Hooks can get overused, for sure! I have 2 series (one active) with hooks and one without. I’ve heard from readers that they like my Myrtle series (with no hook). Publishers still like a hook, though. After I took my Southern Quilting mysteries back from Penguin RH, I de-emphasized the hook and kept it more in the background. I haven’t heard anyone complain about this yet. Also, I notice I have more male readers for my non-hook series (and for my cuisine hook series…BBQ mysteries).
Thanks for coming by!
In my seven-book series, the hardest part was remembering all the little details I hadn’t added to my story bible, but that made a difference in later books.
I love your tips for keeping things fresh! I’m plotting #10, and they’ll be helpful to spruce things up.
Oh my gosh, the little details will kill you! I had one reader who was binge-reading my series (on Wattpad, I think). She corrected me about a character’s smoking *and* a character’s allergy. These binge-reading readers will be the death of me. :) It’s my job to keep track of this stuff and I’ve gotten very, very detail oriented with it after that fiasco.
Good luck with #10!
ROFL! I both hope for and dread that kind of reader. Nobody has complained yet, thank goodness!
That’s a good thing!
I’ve just finished the 18th book in my main series. I’m still enjoying writing the series, but if the day ever comes when I fall out of love with my characters, I hope I’ll have the sense to end it.
I’m with you. That sounds like a good sign to me.
Hi Elizabeth – shows that even starting out a writer needs to keep a record for each book and story line … so that should they want to start another then the information is at the ready. Cheers Hilary
That would definitely be the best way to go about it. Because we never know how long our series might last!