Writing a Series with Kandi J Wyatt

Dragon’s Winter, by Kandi J Wyatt

Writing a series seemed like a great next installment of my posts on writing. So when I heard that fantasy author Kandi J Wyatt was doing a blog tour for her new release, Dragon’s Winter, I jumped at the chance to have her do a guest post. As you’ll see, Kandi is a prolific writer of multiple series and has many ideas on how to develop these kinds of stories. And be sure to check out Dragon’s Winter below.

Writing a Series

Kandi J Wyatt

Writing a novel is hard, writing a series exponentially so. Yet, whether it’s because I’m a glutton for punishment or what, I’ve written multiple series. The Dragon Courage series now has seven books, Myth Coast Adventures has three and a half (a short story that goes with it), and Tilted Planet: The Monarchs (not yet published) has at least seven in the works.

How do you write a series? Well, let’s go back to a January day in 2010. I sat on my bed trying to write an epilogue for Dragon’s Future. My daughter chatted on the phone outside my door.

“Guess what! My mom’s writing a novel!” Pause. “Mom, Jasmine wants to know if it’s going to be a series.”

I glared at the screen. “Not if I can’t finish this one first!”

Needless to say, the story did get finished, and I went on to make it a series. It even was published, which at the time my daughter talked with Jasmine, wasn’t in the scope of my plans. To say the least, when the second book, Dragon’s Heir, was published, I dedicated it to Jasmine, claiming it was her fault.

So how do you go about writing a series? That really depends on the writer and the series. For the Dragon Courage series, I explored different characters throughout the series. It’s all set in the realm of Dragon Courage, but there’s not really any one character who’s the main one. In Tilted Planet: Monarchs, the first six books tell one complete story from three points of view. The final book will explore the first king of the realm. Although there are multiple ways of writing series, there are some helpful things you can do if a series is in your future.

First, you’ll want to pull out a sheet of paper, a document, or a spreadsheet. This will become your friend. Whichever method you choose, start keeping track of characters, plot points, places, and anything else you may need. Doing this will save you from searching through your written work trying to decide if that character had blond hair and blue eyes or was green-eyed and auburn. Trust me. Go grab your tracking sheet.

Another helpful idea is a spreadsheet for the series. Each column represents one of the books. Each row is a theme or plot element in a book. Trace across the sheet what is happening in each book. Yes, even a discovery writer can benefit from this. I used a basic version when writing the Tilted Planet: Monarchs series.

Leave yourself room to work. With the Dragon Courage series, I expanded the world with the first five books, exploring new areas of the world. With Tilted Planet, I’m planning on having multiple series within the larger world. This means besides the Monarchs, I’ll have multiple other areas of the history of the world to traverse.

Realize that every story has a multitude of possibilities. Even my trilogy—Myth Coast Adventures—has the prospect of exploding into more books because the third novel takes place in another world with many different mythical creatures. A whole new series could develop from that world of Shinwano. With Tilted Planet, it’s a planet with vast history—from before the cataclysm that knocked it from its normal axis, to the dystopia after the catastrophe, to the steampunk era as they’re regaining technology. I’ll be investigating all those story-lines.

Following characters can create series as well. The Dragon Courage series began with Ruskya and Duskya. By the end of Dragon’s Future, I knew I wanted to write Ardyn’s story, but that didn’t come until book 5! Between the first and fifth book, I told Braidyn, Kyn, Carryn and Duskya’s stories before finally coming to Ardyn’s. As you write, ask yourself who are the characters I want to know more about? Then discover their story and write it.

Whether you’re writing a series or a novel, there’s one advice that’s the same—write. Yep, no matter how much, little or large, write a bit every day. If you write 500 words a day for six days a week, you’ll write a 50,000 word novel in just over four months. That means you can have a trilogy in a year! See where this is going? Be consistent and guard your writing time. Dive into the world and explore. Who knows you may have the next Redwall or Percy Jackson hidden away in your head.

Dragon’s Winter Synopsis:

Mere’s continuing her apprenticeship in San Valencia, but when a strange illness affects everyone in the dragon colony including dragons, she’s forced to help a pregnant girl find safety.

Rescuing slaves is all in a day’s work for Jareem, until a new slaver in town takes exception to Jareem’s interference. Now, sick and with a wounded dragon, Jareem must free the slave and find Mere and the pregnant girl before the slaver.

The clock is ticking. The baby’s due any day, and the slaver’s persistent. Mere and Jareem must reach beyond who they believe themselves to be in order to bring the former slaves home in one piece.

Cover Designer: Savannah Jezowski of Dragonpen Designs

http://dragonpenpress.com/dragonpen-designs-4/

99cent pre-order: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08HVWMTRR

Other books in the series:

https://kandijwyatt.com/dragon-courage/

Dragon Courage series

Dragon’s Future: https://www.books2read.com/u/bzpDq9

Dragon’s Heir: https://www.books2read.com/u/47YQE3

Dragon’s Revenge: https://www.books2read.com/u/b5qvGb

Dragon’s Cure: https://www.books2read.com/u/47kxJa

Dragon’s Posterity: https://www.books2read.com/u/4DA8og

Dragon’s Heritage: https://www.books2read.com/u/3neVN6

Bio:

Even as a young girl, Kandi J Wyatt, had a knack for words. She loved to read them, even if it was on a shampoo bottle! By high school Kandi had learned to put words together on paper to create stories for those she loved. Nowadays, she writes for her kids, whether that’s her own five or the hundreds of students she’s been lucky to teach. When Kandi’s not spinning words to create stories, she’s using them to teach students about Spanish, life, and leadership.

Where to find Kandi J Wyatt:

Website: http://kandijwyatt.com/
Facebook: http://facebook.com/kandijwyatt/

Instagram: http://instagram.com/kandijwyatt/

Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/kandijwyatt

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/13817774.Kandi_J_Wyatt

Bookbub: https://bookbub.com/profile/kandi-j-wyatt

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Kandi-J-Wyatt/e/B00ZTC4T10/