Do Not Play Your Readers For Fools

 

I hold in high esteem authors that create a series around their protagonists. Their characters can and should grow over time, but their essence should remain the same. I have several such authors that I follow, and so far I continue to enjoy their work, with the sad exception of the last two books that I read from a specific author that shall remain nameless.

All of a sudden the protagonist is accused of murder, arrested and placed in a holding cell. This is a small town, so we see not only their lawyer but family and friends traipsing through the holding cell. (It's a small town - our protagonist is the only person in said cell all weekend.) Then the family member making bail for them doesn't know how to make the bail, so a close friend steps in. This does not present the character of the family member as they have been presented so far in the series.

In the second book (from the same series) another family member is accused of murder. This is totally out of character for this individual. To make matters worse, the victim is being presented as this horrible person, while so far in the series they have been presented as a womanizer, and a bit ignorant, but not as the devil incarnate.

Throughout both books, the protagonist has a running conversation in her mind with herself and the devil on their other shoulder. Which, while out of character, might not be so bad if the author had not made the questionable decision to place these thoughts in italics. 

Too many changes that make absolutely no sense. As a writer, if you cannot think of a way to keep your series going, then end it and start another one. Do not play your readers for fools!

(c) October 2021 Bonnie Cehovet

Reproduction prohibited without written permission from the author. 

It's All In The Details!

As writers, we want our stories to hold together well, and to make sense. Keeping track of all of the pertinent details about storyline, protagonist, and supporting characters for a stand alone book is one thing, doing the same for a series of books is even more difficult. We don't want something that we have a character say or do in book five be at odds with something they said or did in book one!

There is more to the details than we think. We not ony have to keep track of what our characters are saying and doing, we have to keep track of how we are presenting their environment, and how they are reacting to their environment. If we reference something from another era, we need to make sure that it reflects that era. Historical events need to be reflected as they happened, not as however we feel they fit into our storyline.

If we do something as simple as moving a paragraph, or an entire chapter, to another location in our story, we need to make sure the information fits, and makes sense. We also need to make sure that it is not repititious, and that the information we are moving is not needed in any of the chapters coming before it. (i.e. If we move Chapter Six to Chapter Ten, we need to make sure that Chapters Seven and Eight do not depend on any of the information from Chapter Six.)

The way that I track information in my writing is through the use of a Book Bible. Everything can be noted here - character history, storyline, what happens when - you name it, it can go into your Book Bible.

Writing is a joy, but if we want to sell our writing, and develop a following, we need to pay attention to the details!

September 2019 Bonnie Cehovet

Reproduction prohibited without written permission from the author.

When A Series That You Are Reading Hits Fail Mode!

What do we do when we really become devoted to a book series, and that series hits an epic fail? That has happened to me twice now. The first time it happened it was with an author that I had followed for years. Her books (mysteries) were exceptional. After she died, her publisher came out with two more books. The first one was a simple disappointment - obviously written from her notes, but not well done at all. The last one was screamingly bad - whomever wrote it (and it was published under the well known author's name) had never, ever read her books. By the time that I finished the book, I had made the decision to throw it away, rather than pass it on to someone else. It was really that bad, and a piss poor representation of this author and this particular series. When I went to leave a review - really the one and only bad review I have ever put up - I could see that other readers felt exactly as I did. The book was a travesty. However, I have and still reread her other books.

The second series that hit an epic fail is an author that I only recently (within the past couple of years) started to follow. I have only read three of the books in this series, but I would rate them from good to exceptional. The exception book was followed by her latest book - which is an epic fail! The family dog (which, I admit, was elderly) died and was replaced. With no explanation. Suddenly a character from her previous book was now four years older, had been adopted by the protagonist and her husband (with no clue as what happened to the aunt that had adopted her when her father, the protagonist brother, died), and the protagonsit step-son was in college with a girlfriend. I will reread the two books in this series that I know were good, and perhaps read some of the earlier books, which other reviewers are noting as being good, but I doubt that I will purchase anything more in this series. A good idea gone bad. Also, the author went into overdrive on information not relevant to the book. (She has done this to some extent in her previous books, but she left a huge footprint of yuck in this book.) 

It is difficult to deal with disappointment - we want a good series to go on forever. As authors, we can learn from this. Build strong characters, keep plots tight, and edit out anything that is not relevant to the plot, or to the character's growth.

How is your day going?

(c) August 2019 Bonnie Cehovet

Reproduction prohibited without written permission of the author. 

Continuity In A Book Series

How do we bring continuity to a book series? I really want to do my books in a series because if my readers like the characters in my first book, they will buy the books that follow. This is a question I am currently facing - my current WIP is the first of a series of three books, which will be followed by a series of cozy mysteries. That is another issue! My first mystery book was "supposed" to be a cozy mystery, and it took a very sharp turn right from the beginning into the land of metaphysics and distant viewing! 

I have no problem with having enough content and storyline to justify a series - I can take the same characters and put them in 1001 different situations. And I have defined what my series will be based on. My first series, based on my WIP, is a storyline that arcs over all three books. My second series, the cozy mysteries, will feature the same characters with storylines that resolve within each book. IOW - each book is a "stand-alone".

Here are some of the things that I am looking at that will help bring continuity to my book series:

•  Have a good foundation for my stories, and enough of a storyline to justify a series.
• Use recurring themes throughout the series.
• Portray my characters in the same manner in  each book in the series - they will grow, but they will also have the same background, likes/dislikes, and shadows that they did in the first book.
• Remember what you have presented in your previous books - life events, how a character speaks, what motivates each character, and what each character's perspective on life is.

My aim is to publish at least one book a year, so my readers don't get antsy and wander away! I also think that leaving a few loose ends might be a good thing - keep my readers wondering. My aim will also be to make each story different - if I keep telling the same story in different ways, that story will get old fast! 

Looking at all of the above, I realize that my character bible is going to be a very important tool in keeping my characters straight from book to book. What they say and how they react in one book has to pretty much stay the same in future books in the series. I don't want readers saying "So and so said this in book one, and this in book three. Which did they really mean?" That is a rabbit hole that I do not want to go down!

(c) June 2019 Bonnie Cehovet

Reproduction prohibited without written permission of the author.

Developing Supporting Charcters

How far do we want to develop supporting characters? The first thing to note here is whether this is going to be a continuing character. If your character is part of a series of stories/books, then they need to be fairly well developed. Readers will want to know at least some of their background (back story), what is important to them, and what makes them tick.

Decide what the relationship between your supporting character and the main character (protagonist) is, and how it should play out. Is there friction there? Is there a sense of trust? How do they intract, and why? This may be a supporting character, but it has its own role in the story - an important role. This will be especially true if this character is used to more the story forward, or if it is used to create conflict/tension.

Make sure that your character carries a name that is compatable with their actions. Both names and nicknames should remind the reader of who this character is, and the part that they play in the story.

Whatever your supporting characters say or do, they should make an impression. Think of Sherlock Holmes and Inspector Lestrade, or Batman and Robin. Think abut how the supporting characters add authenticity to the story, how they make it "real", how they make it come alive!

You should be keeping a bible for each story, and your bible should include pertinent information on minor/supporting characters as well as your main characters. You need this for continuity, and, quite frankly, just to keep evrything straight!

In my next blog, I will be talking in the voice of the protagonist from my WIP, and how she feels about the development of her story.

(c) June 2018 Bonnie Cehovet

Reproduction prohibited without written permission of the author.