My husband asked me this morning how I decide whether to stop writing a story after the first book or continue into a series. This is not the first time he's asked me this question, nor is he the first person to ask me.

Today, I thought it would be fun to take a look at how I decide to end a story at one book or follow up with a sequel (or a series). I especially love this topic because as an indie author publishing under my own imprint rather than publishing traditionally, this is another area where I enjoy total freedom and decision making power. 

When my husband and I were talking this morning - as he was beta reading and I kept interrupting to talk about the sequel I'm outlining - he asked me how I decided to write a sequel for my upcoming release but not for others. He mentioned that the world I built for my 2022 novel Clairvoyance has potential for a series, as does a romantic comedy type novel I have written that may be coming out next year. We had a brief discussion about why I make those decisions, and I thought I'd share my process of how I decide with you all. 

When I'm working on a story, and I'm trying to decide whether or not I want to follow it up with a sequel, there are a number questions I ask or things I think about. I typically start thinking these things fairly on in the draft, so I can start tying things into my first book that will connect to the next.

• First, is there more story here that I feel needs to be explored? If yes, I start making those connections and trying to figure out where I want the story to go. If I don't feel the story needs to be explored, but I could do some cool things with it, I also consider drafting another book within the series.

 

• Second, will the story continue, or will it go in a new direction? This question is one I use to prepare my general outline when I actually start drafting the sequel.
  • If the story goes in a new direction, is it experienced by the same characters? Is it connected enough to live within the bounds of the series?
  • If the story continues, is there enough substance for a whole other book, or do I need to extend the length of (or rewrite) this book?

 

• Third, if I were to follow up with another book, what will that do to the integrity of the story I already created? This is where I came back to when I looked at Clairvoyance and the other book my husband was asking about. Yes, I think I could easily expand the story into multiple books. However, I felt that, rather than adding value to the story I wrote, I felt it would be washed out. So, I decided to keep these books as stand-alone works.

 

• Fourth, do I feel passionate about the sequel? Do I have enough steam to finish the draft and take the book all the way through marketing and release? If not, perhaps this is something I would rather not create. After all, there are many books that do perfectly well in their one little bubble. 

Like what you see here? Scroll down for more entries, and check back next week. Next weekend, we will be taking a look at using travel in your writing! 

Hello, readers and writers! I mentioned in last week's post that we will be taking a look at my process for writing and re-writing dialogue. This has been a topic I've come back to many times, both as a reader and a writer, and it's one of the most common things other writers ask me about when they're feeling stuck in their work. Dialogue can be tough, so let's dig in!

When I write dialogue, it's rarely exactly as I want it to be. For me, the most important thing is actually getting the words down. When I write, I largely base my dialogue on the emotions I'm hoping to convey. I try to lay some preliminary groundwork in what the characters are doing - and what they have a habit of doing - as they talk. Aside from that, much of my dialogue work comes in my rewriting process.

Dialogue needs to have a purpose. Sometimes when I'm re-writing, I find that I've written a lot of fluff dialogue. much of this comes from just trying to get the words out and keep the story flowing. If the dialogue can be adjusted or rewritten so it can drive the story forward (or provide purposeful character development), then I keep it. Otherwise, I'll often cut the lines of dialogue, keeping them in an older draft for reference if there are any pieces I want to salvage for later use. 

When re-writing dialogue, I often ask myself these questions:

• Is the dialogue moving the story forward, or is it simply taking up page space? Is there a better way to portray this information, and do I need it?
• Is this dialogue developing characters or backstory? Dialogue is a great way to provide exposition without expositioning readers to death. However, I always ask myself if the backstory or character development is necessary, and if it is written in a way that readers will, essentially, pick up what I'm putting down. 

If the dialogue is something I have decided it's important enough to keep, I've decided that it has a purpose within the story. Because of this high importance, this is an excellent opportunity to slow things down. Dialogue, once deemed "worthy" to stay in the story, is a perfect chance for writers to show what's going on. When I'm re-writing the dialogue I wish to keep, I ask myself more specific, focused questions.

• Is this a conversation my characters would actually have? Should they be having this conversation?
• Is this something my character would say? Does it reflect what they are thinking/feeling?
• What else is going on here? Because we've deemed this scene worthy of the page space it uses, and we're slowing things down, let's tap into the five senses. 
  • What is my character thinking and feeling? 
  • What are they trying to say? Are the words they are using getting their point across? If not, is this intentional on my part as the author?
  • What is my character's body language? What does their facial expression look like?

Another thing I try to keep in mind is that, while I want my dialogue to realistically portray both my character's emotions and their traits (how they speak and what they would normally say), I also try to remember that people are going to be reading this book for entertainment, so that means I'll need to turn up the heat - amplify whatever emotions occur within the conversation. 

I hope today's post was helpful! For more on writing, editing, and other book-related things, check back next weekend!

Hello readers, writers, teachers, and story enthusiasts! 
I apologize for not posting last week. I sat down to write this post last weekend, but I was so focused on my upcoming release that my head wasn’t totally in it, and I wanted to do better than that. So, here it is! 

Nearly everyone I’ve talked to about writing is well aware of the phrase, “show, don’t tell.” Today, I wanted to break that phrase down a bit as it relates to my writing and teaching experience.

When I was in high school, I started hearing my teachers say “show, don’t tell,” all the time. And sure, in theory, that’s great. But without explaining what that means, or why that concept is important, young writers are left with a bit of a problem. Either they feel stuck and can't figure out how to put the words on the page, or they show way too much, and their draft takes forever to get anywhere. 

Let me give you an example.

Susie is writing a short story for her English class. She writes in part of her story that her character was embarrassed. Her teacher gives feedback telling her to show that her character is embarrassed, not just tell the reader that her character is embarrassed. Often, when we tell students to show instead of telling something in their writing, the piece is often riddled with those kinds of suggestions throughout. 

Without some guidance, Susie will likely either…
A. Freeze up. She doesn’t know how to implement that feedback, or where to start. So, rather than attempting a re-write, Susie decides that her story is “good enough,” and accepts the grade she was given. This is fine, I suppose, but then Susie will miss out on an opportunity for growth - an opportunity to put in her best efforts. 

B. Susie decides that she wants to attempt a rewrite and give her best quality writing another go. She sits down to address all the areas that need to be shown. And this is what it looks like:
Esmarelda takes a deep breath. Feelings of uncertainty flood her. She covers her face, which is now red and hot. Her eyebrows make a crease in the center of her forehead. “I shouldn’t have said that!” She thinks. She uncovers her eyes and they dart around the room, looking out for signs that people are mocking her.

Now, that description in and of itself is not bad. In fact, when I was teaching English, that’s exactly the kind of writing and re-writing I encouraged. I wanted my students to get out of their comfort zones and work on their descriptions. However. The trouble comes when writers get confused and try to show every little thing. This makes their work unnecessarily slow and difficult to read. 

It’s okay to tell some things. It’s okay to say that the walls are green instead of trying to describe the precise color, texture, and lighting. It’s okay to say that it’s dark outside rather than describing the pitch of the darkness, what time it is, and what that darkness looks like on every object. Not everything needs to be written out in such exquisite detail.

Now, personally, I love to read these beautiful descriptions. But there has to be a balance. Here are some questions that I ask myself when I rewrite, and others when I edit their works, to give some more direction:

What is the character thinking?
What are they feeling - physically and emotionally?
What does their body language look like? 
What else is going on?
What do we see right now?
What do we hear?
What of the other five senses can we tap into?
Are other characters doing anything right now? 
Is this important to the story? If the answer is yes to this final question, if it drives the story or motivates the characters, it's likely worth slowing things down to show.

When we have too little showing, we have a story that feels rushed and incomplete, and readers have a difficult time feeling connected to the characters and the setting. When we have too much showing, the story drags, and readers want to skip ahead or put the book down altogether. 

For teachers and editors out there: it is definitely okay to ask your students to "show don’t tell." It’s okay to ask them to expound upon certain things as they hone their writing skills or develop their work. But, I ask that you also take just a moment to explain what kind of showing you would like to happen - let the writer know what you feel is missing. Ask them questions, so they know where to start and what needs to be developed. Not only will you be helping them develop this piece you’ve given feedback for, but you’ll also have taught them some critical thinking skills that will, hopefully, transfer to their future writing endeavors. 

Thanks for joining me again this week! If this post was interesting to you, check back next weekend! I'll be writing about the process I go through for writing and re-writing dialogue.