Plotting a Series

As a writer, it’s entirely possible that at some point you get hit with an idea that is simply too big for one book. That might be because of complex plotlines, multiple points of view, or even because new story ideas keep cropping up that all connect tangentially back to the same thing. You’re looking at a series, and all the fun territory that comes with it.

Series might seem a little more unwieldy than a single standalone novel or even a duo, but they’re manageable. There are dozens of articles out there that will tell you the key to plotting a series is to give it an overarching goal. I’m not here to tell you that.

I’m here to tell you that as a novelist, you probably already have the tools you need to tackle a series.

Don’t laugh just yet. Let’s start at the macro level. In a series, each book is the next installment in a longer, overarching story. Down to the micro level, in a novel, each chapter is the next installment in a longer, overarching story. See the connection?

Series will be a little more detailed than your average chapter, but you can approach them the same way. Each chapter should have a goal and a conflict. So should each book in the series. And like a series, the entire book should have a central conflict.

So, rather than getting stuck on how long that series is and how difficult it seems to plot it, break it down like you would any other chapter.

For me, I like to write out a one-sentence summary of what happens in each chapter. So it might be something like this:

1. Snow White’s father remarries an evil queen and dies on his wedding night.
2. Snow White’s stepmother is furious to find the King’s will leaves Snow White the only heir.
3. Stepmother tries to kill Snow White, who runs away into the woods.
4. The Dwarves find and rescue Snow White but demand her help in exchange.
5. Snow White solves a problem for each of the Dwarves.
6. Stepmother finds out Snow White is still alive and sends a hunter to kill her.
7. The Dwarves and Snow White flee their home.
8. Snow White and the Dwarves gather an army of forest creatures.
9. The army is marched onto the castle of the Stepmother.
10. Snow White becomes queen and begins rebuilding.

You get the idea. Each chapter help builds and resolve the overall conflict. Now let’s take a look at these as if they were books in a series.

1. Snow White’s father remarries an evil queen and dies on his wedding night.

On it’s own, it seems pretty simple, but if we’re assuming that’s the overall conflict, then we know there’s more to it, so it might end up being something more like this:

1. Snow White’s father remarries an evil queen and dies on his wedding night.
   1. Snow White begs her father not to marry his bride.
   2. Stepmother convinces King Snow is merely grieving her mother.
   3. Snow White discovers proof Stepmother will kill King.
   4. Stepmother blocks Snow White from attending the wedding.
   5. The king is poisoned at supper.
   6. King dies and Stepmother warns Snow White the same can happen to her.
   7. Snow White learns she will be queen when she comes of age and decides to simply wait Stepmother out.

The ending for this one resolves it as a tragedy while still leaving it open for the next story. Snow White will be Queen…if she can avoid angering Stepmother long enough. Likewise, the next book furthers the conflict when Stepmother finally discovers that she’s only Queen until Snow White is old enough to take the throne.

Chapters work the same way. Each one has a smaller conflict in it that must be resolved, but that still feeds into the main plot. First chapters, like first books, open up the main conflict, but still handle their own struggles. Final chapters and books resolve all the conflicts and leave the story with a satisfactory ending.

As an exercise: Take your favorite series and write a one-sentence summary of each book. Then break each book into a one-sentence summary of each chapter.