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.

May 22, 2025 3

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.

May 15, 2025 1

Advice for Writing by the Seat of Your Pants

When I give writing advice, I base most of it off my own experience. I’m mostly a pantser–writing by the seat of my pants–instead of a plotter–a writer who works mostly from outlines, some of them very detailed. So it’s difficult for me to give advice on how to plot because a lot of it comes to me spontaneously as I write a scene. But I don’t think it’s fair for plotters to have reams of books to turn to for advice, while we pantsers only have our instincts. So below is advice for writing by the seat of your pants, lessons I’ve learned from writing and publishing three short stories and three novels.

No One is Totally a Pantser

I haven’t met a writer yet who hasn’t thought deeply about his or her story before sitting down to write it. No writer begins writing without a single thought as to what he or she wants to write. One writer may keep all the story ideas in her head until she writes the first scene. Another may make some general notes on scenes he knows he wants to include.

I write characters’ motivations, not in story. form, but like a report.

“John owns ten care dealerships. He likes showing off his wealth. He was no close family. He’s driven to keep adding to his business empire.”

Since I write mysteries I’ll also write in report form how the crime was committed and why.

“John killed Mary because she knew he’d bribed their local senator. He used a gun he stole from his best friend.”

Pay Attention to Your Process

I think a lot of writers are pantsers because they enjoy the freedom of a limited outline and the joy of discovery while they write. I love it when I realize a plot point I’ve never considered:

Wait a minute. Old Man Thompson was seen at the grocery store before the murder, and my amateur sleuth’s cousin works there. Maybe she saw something! What could her cousin have seen that will help crack the case?

But to be productive we need to pay attention to the writing process that works best for us. I’ve tried too many times to change how I write a novel in order to complete it faster. While nearing the end of my third Rae Riley novel, I thought I could outline the rest of the chapters and make the actual writing go faster.

Nothing doing. I had to stick with the process that works for me: sketch out a few scenes in the next four or five chapters, write them by hand, edit while typing them, decide if they’re any good, and then sketch the next few chapters.

No Wrong Way

There are as many ways to write as there are writers. The only wrong way is one where you can’t finish the story. So if you’re pantser, proclaim it proudly, sit down, and take a wild, writing ride.

For more post on the writing process, click here.

Writers, are you a plotter or a pantser or a bit of both?

May 8, 2025 1

Grab Readers with First Lines

This month’s theme is plot, so I’m kicking off with the first part of any plot–the opening lines of your story and the need to grab readers with first lines. Beginnings are tricky. Authors need to snag readers’ attention while also introducing them to characters and their world.

Begin with Action …

And I don’t mean a bomb going off, although some writers start that way with excellent effect. Start with an action that’s attached to the problem the hero will have to solve. Since I write mysteries, I introduce the puzzle my detective has to solve as soon as I can in the first chapter.

In my first novel, A Shadow on the Snow, the first line is the text of the first anonymous note my amateur sleuth Rae Riley receives.

I’M NOT FOOLED, RAE. YOU’RE JUST LIKE YOUR MOTHER.

So from the beginning readers know Rae will try to unmask who is sending her threatening notes.

In A Storm of Doubts, I open with:

“Just stop it!”

The shout made me jerk and get poked by a dead branch of a honeysuckle bush.

That line makes readers wonder who is shouting, who is listening, and if there’s a problem.

… and Attitude

Conveying your main character’s (MC) personality in the first few lines also grabs readers attention. I think I have it easier than a lot of writers because I write from first person POV. When readers know it’s a first person story, they also know they’re slipping into the MC’s skin and are experiencing the world from their perspective. That makes writing much easier, and a lot of fun, for me.

I was introduced to the Nero Wolfe mystery series with the novel, Too Many Cooks, in college. From the opening line, I knew I had to read more because I got a definite attitude from the narrator, Archie Goodwin.

Walking up and down the platform alongside the train in the Pennsylvania Station, having wiped sweat from my brow, I lit a cigarette with the feeling that after it had calmed my nerves a little I would be prepared to submit bid for a contract to move the Pyramid of Cheops from Egypt to the top of the Empire State Building with my bare hands, in a swimming-suit; after what I had just gone through.

What stories have you read that grabbed your attention from the first lines?

For more tips on writing plots, click here.

May 1, 2025 1

Writing Fun with Plots

How do you have writing fun with plots? Check out my suggestions below.

Fun Ideas for Plots

Play with the rules of a genre. What if the couple doesn’t end up together at the end of the romcom? What if the mystery isn’t solved?
Place your characters in a different genre. For example, if you’ve written fantasy stories, take the same characters and write about them in a contemporary, realistic story.
Underdog story. I love underdog stories. Create the under-est dog story you can think of, stacking the odds against your MC as high as you can.
Ridiculous quest. Create a quest with a ridiculous objective and then see how many absurd obstacles you can place in the characters’ path.

Fun Ideas for Plots within Your WIP

These ideas are to inspire you when you are working on a story that you can’t take a break from but would still like to have some fun while working on it.

Your MC loses something critically important.
The least likely character helps your MC somehow.
Your main character’s (MC) closest friend betrays him or her (I know that’s not fun for your MC, but betrayal is a powerful plot twist and can be fun for the writer)
Make your MC more vulnerable.
Your MC sees another character in a new light.
A hidden piece of family history is revealed. I’ve had fun with this one because my mysteries are built around my MC’s immediate and extended family.
Turn a plot point upside down. For example, my amateur sleuth gets a critical clue from cranky Old Man Whitaker. What if I have him lie to her? Or she gets the clue from her friend instead. What if her friend lies to her? Another example is your MC’s goal in the story. What if he or she achieves it in the middle of the story and it doesn’t accomplish what the MC thought it would?

For more ideas for writing plots, click here.

January 23, 2025 1

Category: Plot