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- Rank: Eccentric Mentor
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Hey KeePers! It’s me again, with another topic for us all to discuss to pieces. 😉
So I have begun this trilogy topic because I’ve actually decided to expand The Apostle’s Sister into a trilogy. (For those of you who don’t know, The Apostle’s Sister is my Biblical fiction novel about St. Paul’s sister.) I’ve decided to make it a trilogy rather than just one novel simply because God has blessed me with so much to write about, too much to cram into one giant book! This story has become so huge that it just demands a trilogy.
Therefore I am enlisting the KeePers’ help and advice about planning out trilogies. For those of you who have written trilogies before (or even just a series of however many books), what’s your process? How do you figure out where each book should leave off and where the next should pick up? How do you grow a character arc over a series? Just give me all your trilogy-related advice… yeah. XD
Tagging some people (don’t feel pressure to respond if you’re tagged, though; and if you’re not tagged, please do give me your two cents if you want to!):
@lydia-s @trahia-the-minstrel @jodi-maile @godlyfantasy12 @keilah-h @koshka @kathleenramm @scripter-of-kingdoms @power @jenwriter17 @mkfairygirl @nanisnook @elfwing @elanor @lorelei-writer @beth-darlene @daisy-torres @melancholic-writer @seekerofthetruth @kayleigh-idea @devastate-lasting @anyone@joy-caroline
(*dances for joy* Seriously, just talking about my Biblical fiction trilogy makes me incredibly happy… XD)
So, with my trilogy about Simon Peter, I decided to break up the story based off of the pivotal moments in Peter’s life. Book one ends at the point where Simon proclaims that Jesus is the Son of God. Book two ends on the day of Pentecost. Book three ends where he requests to be crucified upside down. (After the final chapter of each book, there’ll be a Bible verse that kind of brings the story to a close.) Each of these moments is a turning point in his life. As for the character arc, each book is a new phase in Peter’s life. Book one brings him from a fisherman to a disciple (sinner to saved). Book two brings him from a disciple, through his greatest failure, to a Spirit-filled apostle. Book three brings him from apostle to martyr. I suppose in each book I could even delve into a different aspect of his character or approach a different character flaw. I’m approaching this trilogy planning to leave the reader with a sense of completion at the end each book. This will allow me to have a fresh start at the beginning of each book. Of course, there’s also the option to end the book with cliffhangers, but I don’t feel that fits my series too well. 😛
Anyway, I hope some of this was helpful! God bless your journey with this book! <333 Super excited for you!!! XD
Hi @joy-caroline !
My book series is meant to be five books, but I hope that my advice can be helpful. The series as a whole is a huge overarching story, and the problem I set up in the first book (who will become the next king of my kingdom, and who is worthy to be said king) won’t be concluded until the end of the series. But each book has its own question, both plot related and thematic, to answer. For the first book, the thematic question is ‘can you come to see your enemies as people too, and stand up for what is right, no matter what?’ For the second book, ‘what does true love look like, and how can one make the choice to sacrifice everything for another’s good?’
So you see, each book has its own arc and climax and resolution, but each book is also a stepping stone in the overarching journey of the series — for instance, one of my MC’s goes from being a rash, easily-angered boy at the start of the first book to someone who can control his feelings and make good choices by the end of the first book. And in the second book, he goes from that person he is at the end of the 1st book, to someone who further learns that his desire to put his dreams above everything must die, and he must sacrifice his desires for the good of others.
But his series arc takes him from being that rash, easily-angered, selfish boy to a young man who is a hero at the end, a competent and selfless leader, and a good brother and friend, and a true prince in every way — at the start, he didn’t know how to or want to be a prince at all, because he was raised a peasant.
I don’t know if this will help, but I hope this illustrates how I use each book as it’s own entity and also as a crucial part of the series. Another thing I like to do is end each book in a way that’s satisfying, but also has some severe questions raised and things looming ominously for the next book. For example:
SPOLIER ALERT! I’ll try to be as vague as I can😅.
At the end of my first book, it turns out the lost sibling one my MC’s was searching for isn’t who he thought it was … and the person who it truly is, is about to become connected with this MC’s rival in a very alarming way. This revelation tied off one of the 1st’s books plot questions: ‘Who is this MC’s sibling?’ but also raised a whole slew of consequences and questions as to what will happen now that this new information is revealed. On the side of my other MC, he’s totally oblivious to this information, so as the reader, we’re left going, “Uh-oh. How will this play out?”
However, this revelation was made in the resolution, after the climax, which tied off book 1’s thematic and plot questions. (Though obviously I foreshadowed it. If you want to raise interesting questions in the resolution of your book to set up the next one, you can’t just bring it out of nowhere.😅)
Another thing I do is have questions that aren’t answered fully in the first book or even the second. This is where subplots are great. You can let some subplots go unresolved — for instance, I have two characters who are on enemy sides, and are known to have been friends in the past, but we don’t know where their relationship is going to go. Or I have a mystery about the supposedly dead husband of one of my woman characters — but everyone suspects her husband is alive, though nobody knows who it is. There are a lot of rumours, but the truth doesn’t actually get told in the first book.
In summary, I think it’s key for each book to have its own thematic question, climax, and resolution — because you want the reader to be satisfied — but you also want them to long for more, to yearn to find out the answers to the rest of the questions. And of course, you have to bring it all to a complete and satisfying resolution at the end of the last book in your series. A good example of this would be the Viking Quest series, by Lois Walfrid Johnson — it has five books, and she makes each book have its own question, but it’s all part of an overarching story.
Or in terms of a trilogy, look at what Tolkien did with Lord of the Rings. The Fellowship had its own arc with having the Fellowship, and the the Two Towers had its own arc with Osgiliath and Minas Morgûl. Then the Return of the King finished its endgame arc as well as completing the series arc. Another example is Pages and Co., a modern series about a girl called Tilly who can actually go into stories and make friends with the characters there. There are three books in the series currently, and each one contains its own story, but leaves things open for another. I guess that’s another approach, which is somewhat similar to the one I used when writing a fan fiction story a few years ago. Though I’ve always been more of a fan of writing the overarching story type of series.😊
Anyway, hope this was helpful, somehow. Your trilogy sounds epic, and I wish you all the best with it😊! Can’t wait until The Apostle’s Sister comes out. You go, girl!😁
The end of a story, a beautiful picture; a feeling of longing yet hope~
That’s my wish to create.@joy-caroline
Over Paul’s sister? I don’t usually read Biblical fiction (as it influences my memory) but I would read yours!
Well, I’m still writing my series, but I’ll try to answer your questions.
- Pinpoint a central theme to plant throughout the series. Each book should deal with/breath this theme. Next, find at least three (or however many, I’m still speaking in trilogy) separate points inside of your main theme. You can fit more than one in a single book, but you will need at least one for each book.
- If you’re having trouble organizing your ideas, just write them all down on notebook paper, cut them apart, organize them in any order you like, and paper clip them securely together. If you change your mind anytime, you can remove,add, or rearrange. This can also be done on note cards in a much cleaner fasion, or on a computer if you prefer.
- How to tell where to split a story into multiple books? I don’t have much on this, but, if you use a system something like the one mentioned above, you can play around with almost anything.
My older sister gave me a book called Save the Cat! Writes a Novel. It delves into plotting, arcs, and practically every other part of writing. It is not a Christian book, and has profanity, but otherwise I definitely recommend it. I know it has helped me tremendously.
First Grand Historian of Arreth and the Lesser Realms (aka Kitty)
Fork the Gork
First Grand Historian of Arreth and the Lesser Realms (aka Kitty)
Fork the GorkOk, that didn’t work.
Your books sound good! How much do you have written, if I may ask?
First Grand Historian of Arreth and the Lesser Realms (aka Kitty)
Fork the GorkThanks!
Up to the 3rd/2 and a half/beta reader draft of my first book, and the first draft of my second book. The next three books are only in my head at this stage😅
The end of a story, a beautiful picture; a feeling of longing yet hope~
That’s my wish to create.@joy-caroline
That’s so exciting! 😀 I’d definitely recommend figuring out how you want the whole series to end. Ask yourself, at the end of the last book, what do things look like? Where are the characters? What has been resolved? What hasn’t? In regards to plot and character arcs, think of the series as a whole one big character arc, or one big plot structure. And each individual book also has a miniature character arc and plot structure of its own. Since I didn’t explain that very well lol, I’d highly recommend watching this video by Abbie Emmons.
I hope that helps! 🙂
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www.jennaterese.com@joy-caroline oh bother! it ate my response again, now I can’t remember hahah
Anyhow, pretty much; if it works to make it into three, then do it. I made a 6 book series because I wanted to make a story about the lives of the people in my world. I ended book 1 with a cliffhanger that is (hopefully) suspenseful and emotional, and a major moment in the MC’s life, and the life of her people. I wanted to do a book 2 so I could add another POV more smoothly, or take one out, etc, which is sort of why I end all my books when I do XD
So i guess…
if it works naturally, do it. Try it, if you arrange the story into 3 books and it works and you’re somewhat satisfied ( i say that because I know that writers are rarely actually happy with their writing. at least in the beginning) then I’d say that may be the way to go.
but I do not know everything and am by no means an expert lol
I'm 'a homeschooler' because cookie-making writing artistic animal-whisperer isn't a job title
@joy-caroline Cool, you’re doing a trilogy? I…don’t ever remember finishing many of my series. But I’d like to read what everyone else says!
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- Rank: Eccentric Mentor
- Total Posts: 1379
@lydia-s Thanks for the tips! By the way, it is totally SO cool that we’re both working on Biblical fiction trilogies at the same time – and both about apostles! Haha! I wish KP had a particular forum for Biblical fiction writers, like they do for historical, romance, etc. (Hey, maybe we should start that up… 😉 )
@trahia-the-minstrel I love the idea of ending each book without all the loose ends tied up. I think the books in my trilogy will have relatively cliffhanger-y endings. Even the third book ends without the solution to an external conflict, but all the internal conflicts are solved, which is what’s necessary to satisfy the reader.
@koshka Thank you so much!! I’m honored you would read it. 😉 And thanks for the tips! I’ll have to try them, as well as check out the book recommendation. I’ve been looking for good books on the craft. (Also, the links on the forum can be a bit wonky at times, so they don’t always work.)
@jenwriter17 Ooh, thank you SO much for the advice!! I’ll definitely watch the video. Abbie Emmons’ videos are always so helpful and informative, so thanks for the link!
@elfwing Thanks! Some solid advice there, I’ll definitely have to start plotting everything out soon.
@keilah-h Yup! XD I’m sure you’ll finish another one soon!@joy-caroline
Of course! I hope my rambling was helpful. 🙂
That is so cool!!! And it’s so neat they’re Paul and Peter. XD We should totally make our own genre area! I’m sure there’ll be a lot we can talk about/discuss/bounce off/mourn/giggle about together. 😀
- Rank: Eccentric Mentor
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It totally was! XD
I know, right?! I’m really gonna have to see about adding a Biblical fiction page to the forum…
@joy-caroline
That’s so cool that The Apostle’s Sister is going to be a trilogy!!!!!!!!!!!! 😀 I’m wishing you the best of luck as you work on it!!!!!!!!!!!!🍀
I’ve never written a trilogy before (mostly because I’ve never made it past book one, lol), so I probably don’t have any good advice. I have planned a series before, so the best thing I can think of is to have character change and development. Normally, I have like one adventure for the character in book one and a new adventure for the character in book two. New characters are added in sequels and yeah, that’s the best I got. 😅 I’m sorry if I wasn’t of any help.
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