Plot Structures for Books in a Series

We get a lot of writers who try to explain away the holes we point out in their plots by claiming, “This is a book from a series. That character was introduced in Book One.” This is not an excuse for turning out a volume that is full of holes in its own right. Each book must have its own mini-plot that is concluded within its pages. Every character must be introduced properly. Never assume that a reader has read Book One—odds are she or he hasn’t and your current volume will leave him or her confused and frustrated. Even if he or she has read Book One, it may have been years ago and the reader might not remember all the little details right away. Put in reminders that have just enough detail to let someone who might not have read Book One figure out at least the general gist of what went on.

Let’s use a fantasy plot here since sci-fi and fantasy are the ones most commonly split into massive multi-book series.

You start out with a young hero that is working on a farm. One day, an old witch comes up to him and tells him that he must save the world from an evil wizard that wants to plunge everything into chaos. Only your hero can do this because he is the bastard son of a king whose royal blood is needed to work the necessary magic to defeat Black Bart. This is the big plot. In Book One we see him quest for the magic sword he needs to make the magic work. In Book Two, we see the hero overcome many trials to claim his father’s vacant throne so that he is in a position to do battle with Black Bart. In Book Three we see him actually maneuver his now loyal subjects into war with Black Bart’s armies while he takes the magic sword he got in Book One to do battle with the evil wizard himself. Each of the three volumes has a specific complication and resolution that act as stepping stones towards the resolution of the big plot.

This approach to series writing applies to other genres as well. If you are following in the footsteps of someone like Sue Grafton and writing multiple mysteries involving the same detective, you need to introduce your detective and his or her world each time and then provide a good, tight sequence of events to solve the case. You often don’t see a ‘big plot’ between volumes in these cases—each is usually a standalone novel—but you can still have threads that run through the series, for example, having the relationship between long-time characters evolve or have past events come back to haunt a character. Ellis Peter’s Brother Cadfael mysteries have a subplot that involves a son Cadfael never knew about turning up in one novel and then in a later novel he must decide between protecting this son and his peaceful life in Shrewsbury Abbey. Characters and underlying plots in series books don’t need to, and shouldn’t, remain static; if they do, your regular readers will get bored and abandon the series.