Month: May 2025

How to Plot a Series

How to plot a series

Last week, I gave advice on how NOT to plot a series. This week, I have tips about how to plot a series in which you follow the same main character from the first book to the last, using my cozy mysteries series, Rae Riley Mysteries, as a guide.

One piece of advice in the writing world states that your main character (MC) has to change and grow over the course of a story. There are many, many, many stories out there where the MC is static, but a MC who has learned a lesson and changed somehow by the final pages is what publishers and readers want now.

The problems with growth for a series with the same MC are:

  • The MC has so much trauma happen to him or her that the plot strains credibility.
  • The MC comes across as a dolt because he or she has to learn so much.

Below are my solutions to those two problems.

How to Add Growth and High Stakes to a Series MC

My series kicked off with a short story, “A Rose from the Ashes”. Nineteen-year-old Rae Riley conducts research and devises a scheme to find the person who attacked her mother when she was pregnant with Rae twenty years ago and learn if he’s her father. Now that her mom has died of cancer, she has no family.

  • High stakes: This is Rae’s only shot at finding her father. If she finds the attacker, he may want to finish the job he started twenty years ago.
  • Growth: Will she find acceptance in her father’s family?

That’s pretty high stakes. So what could be at risk in the next story in the series, A Shadow on the Snow? The plot revolves around Rae’s investigation into who is leaving her increasingly threatening notes. She keeps the problem to herself because she’s getting along with her newly-found family and doesn’t want to make trouble. But her amateur sleuthing may cost her the father she loves.

  • High stakes: Rae’s safety, and then Mal’s, is in jeopardy from the stalker.
  • Growth: How can Rae learn that her dad and family accept her, no matter what?

For the second novel, A Storm of Doubts, I still focused on Rae’s growing relationship with Mal since it takes place only a few months after Shadow. When the ex-wife of family friend goes missing, Rae tries to piece together what happened to her while wrestling with insinuations from her con man Uncle Troy that she’s calling the wrong Malinowski “Dad.”

  • High stakes: Rae’s bond with Mal may be shattered by a family secret. So their lives aren’t in danger but their relationship is.
  • Growth: Mal said nothing could change their relationship. Did he mean it?

By the third novel, I couldn’t endanger their relationship again, or else it would appear that Rae and Mal had learned nothing about each other and themselves from the earlier stories. So I’ve shifted my focus to a different relationship that’s critically important to Rae and put that in jeopardy. I also changed who is involved in the high stakes.

I’ve given Rae an extensive family and several friends whose relationships I can threaten. And any relationship provides an opportunity for growth.

I’d like to tell you more, but if you want to be the first to know the scoop on my third novel, sign up for my newsletter in the sidebar. I’ll be sending out my next newsletter with an excerpt from the first chapter on June 6.

What series with the same MC have done a good job of showing growth for that character?

Here are more advice on how to write plots in stories.

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Plot Prompt for Memorial Day

Plot prompt for Memorial Day

Sometimes, a story comes to me just a moment or two after I find a picture. That’s the case with this plot prompt for Memorial Day. Since my prompts always post on Monday, I wanted to tie this month’s theme of plot to Memorial Day. I looked at several photos on Pixabay, but this one quickly ignited a story idea. If it does the same for you, put your inspiration in the comments. Here’s mine:

*****

Although I’d ridden in the Memorial Day Parade with Keith to honor his brother, missing in action in Operation Desert Storm, for more than twenty years now, it never got old. I was older, and the backseat on the Keith’s Harley wasn’t as comfortable as it used to be. But I loved helping him remember Kyle.

I waved at friends as we rolled by the courthouse.

The motorcycle took a sudden jerk, and I clutched at Keith to hang.

Instead of steering back into the slow line for the parade, Keith turned toward an alley. He motioned parade watchers to get out of his way, then pulled into it, and parked.

“What’s wrong?” Taking off my helmet, I couldn’t imagine what had made my husband pull out of the parade.

He climbed off the bike, trembling. I climbed off too and took his hand.

He passed a shaky hand over his white mustache. “I saw him. I just saw Kyle in the crowd.” His deep voice was only a strangled whisper.

“B-b-but that’s–“

“And he hadn’t aged any.” His stunned eyes bored into mine. “He looked like he did when he left for Desert Storm.”

“You must have seen someone who just looks like Kyle.”

“Like his clone?” Keith moved his gaze to the pavement of the alley, shaking his head.

I tightened my grip on his hand, pulling him back toward Main Street. “Show me the guy.”

*****

For more prompts for writing about plots, click here.

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How NOT to Plot a Series

How NOT to Plot a Series

A lot of the advice I read on plotting concerns stand-alone novels. When a novel is a stand-alone, then the advice authors give about creating the highest stakes and the worst setbacks for your main characters makes sense. As a writer, you want to leave it all on the field because you won’t be returning to these characters. But when you write a series, you must plot differently. Below are tips about how not to plot a series, lessons I’ve learned as I’ve worked on my series, Rae Riley Mysteries. Next week, I’ll have advice on how to plot a series.

Writing Without an Ending

If you are writing a series and know exactly how many books you are going to write and how the series will end, good for you! You are a rarity in the writing world. That makes plotting your series easier when you have the whole picture to work from.

But most series don’t develop that way, especially mystery series. A writer may had a great idea for the first novel, and a good grasp of what she wants to write in the second. But she might not have any idea what happens next.

I happen to know how I want to end my series. But I’m not sure how many novels it will take to get there.

Series writers have to be flexible, looking at what works in the novels they publish, and then figuring out to incorporate those aspects in the next book.

It Can’t Always Be Highest Stakes and Worst Obstacles

If you write a series in which your main character (MC) is always fighting for the highest stakes imaginable and the worst events possible keeping happening to him, then you don’t have a series. It’s more like you have a retelling of the Book of Job. Or worse, a soap opera.

I don’t want to read a mystery series in which the MC’s father is murdered in the first book. In the second, she learns he led a double life. In the third, she finds out she has an evil half-sister. In the fourth, her mother led a double life. All these horrible developments do raise the stakes very high for the MC. But they also stretch believability to the breaking point.

Bad things do happen to people. But if I overwhelm my MC with such tragic events, then the fifth, sixth, and seventh novels will have to focus on the therapy she undergoes to handle such trauma. If I want to be realistic at all. It’s much easier to introduce all that heartache in a stand-alone because you don’t have to deal with the aftermath in the next novel.

To make my novels in a series both interesting and realistic, I have to balance the dramatic events that occur in my MC’s life by spreading the drama to other characters, while still giving my MC personal stakes and setbacks.

I’ll cover that in next week’s post about how to plot a series. For more tips on plotting, click here.

Writers, how do you plot a series? Readers, what series has especially good plotting.

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Provide a Plot for This Conversation

Provide a plot for this conversation

My writing prompt of today is to provide a plot for this conversation, which is typed below. What’s the story behind this situation?

*****

“I don’t know why you’re putting up so much resistance.” I rested my elbow on the back of the bench. “It’ll work.”

Naomi stared at across the park as moms with preschoolers and babies played near the duck pond. “You have a lot more confidence in your plan than I have. So many things could go wrong.”

“I know.” I rubbed my forehead. “I have thought this through. I know the risks. It can work and work fantastically. All our problems will be solved.”

“If we pull it off.” She crossed her legs. “If we don’t …”

I closed my eyes. “I know that too. We don’t need to cover it again.”

“Maybe we should.” Naomi still didn’t look at me. “We should remind ourselves what failure means.”

“Not trying at all is worse.”

Her head swirled to me. “You really think–” She gasped, uncrossed her legs, and picked up her phone from where she’d set it on the bench. She said to the screen, “Noah just entered the park.”

My spine turned to ice, but without any hurry, I pivoted in my seat, removing my arm from the back of the bench. Shielding my eyes from the noon sun, I gazed to the duck pond, then snuck a quick peek to my right.

Noah and two other guys stood in the gate to the park.

*****

I can’t wait to read your inspiration for the plot behind this conversation!

For more prompts about writing plots, click here.

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When You Have to Tell, Don’t Show

When you have to tell, don't show

Yes, you read the title right. And you may look as shocked as the woman in the photo. There are times in a story when you have to tell, don’t show. The reverse of the time-honored technique of “show, don’t tell” can be appropriate in certain situations involving plot.

When You Don’t Want to Repeat Information

If my deputy interviews a suspect and then informs his sheriff, I don’t have to repeat the entire conversation. I can just state the obvious.

The sheriff scooted back in his swivel chair. “Did you finally get a hold of Old Man Thompson?”

I repeated what Mr. Thompson had said about the crime. “But he stumbled around his words. I think he’s hiding something.”

Or I can add a little information, such as:

Mom said, “So what happened in school today?”

Sighing, I took a seat at the kitchen table and told her about the whole miserable mess, only leaving out what Ava said to me.

Repeating information that readers have already read is not helpful, unless you need characters to discuss or think about a specific point.

When You Need to Compress Time

I use this one a lot in my mysteries because the case unfolds over several weeks. If the investigation has stalled, I don’t need to “show” every attempt the cops make at solving the crime. I can compress their investigation into a sentence, like this:

After a week, Sheriff Malinowski was no closer to finding the killer than when he had walked onto the crime scene.

The point of my “tell” is jump ahead in the story’s timeline, and I can do that in one sentence, keeping the story moving.

When You Have to Mention a Plot Point for Realism

I often want to convey to readers that the mystery my main character is confronting is a very hard nut to crack. I can do that with a “tell” like this.

After a week, Sheriff Malinowski was no closer to finding the killer than when he had walked onto the crime scene. No one had come forward with any new information, and researching the victim’s socials had yielded not one lead.

In one sentence, I can convey that there is no new information for readers without creating a lot of pointless dialogue or scenes. It also makes the mystery more realistic to tell that the police are struggling to solve it. Most likely, I will have a “show” scene first, in which a few officers talk about leads they’ve followed and that led them nowhere. Then I follow that with my “tell” sentence, demonstrating that the struggle continues.

I also use “tell” sections for realism concerning my main character’s family life. Rae Riley is part of a large extended family, who are critical to the series, but not all their actions affect the mystery in each book. But I want to give readers a sense of the family dynamic, so I might use a “tell” sentence like this:

After I helped Gram clean up the supper dishes, I helped Micah with his sight words and gave out Spanish vocab to Rusty. When Dad came home, I had to wait until he’d finished his late supper before I could ask him about the case.

The two sentences tell readers something about Rae’s family without getting bogged down in a lot of unnecessary detail.

Keep It Brief

“Tell” sections are always brief in current stories. You can’t get away with more than a paragraph or two. If you find yourself writing a whole page of “tell” information, you should review what you’ve written and see how you can create a “show” scene for most of it.

What are your thoughts on “show, don’t tell” and “tell, don’t show”?

For more tips on plot, click here.

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