Three Unique Types of Fiction Series

Have you ever wondered how to write a fiction series of books?

If that’s you, I hope you find today’s blogpost and video helpful.

As I wrote Book #1 in a new women’s fiction clean romance series, I realized that this novel series was different than my other series. But what made it different?

I had so many questions, that I decided to do some research on how to write a fiction series.

This is the first video & blogpost in a series to help you write your fiction series. I hope you find it helpful…

Type #1: A Standalone Series.

Sometimes this is called a Static series.

This is the kind of novel series where each book stands alone so a reader can read them in any order without missing important developments in the story.

An example is the Jack Reacher thriller series written by Lee Child. Jack is a former military cop who finds unique ways to bring bad guys to justice.

This kind of series can be read out of order. For instance, readers could start at Book #8 in the series and they would still understand the story.

Often a standalone series will share the same setting or family or characters. Yet, each book can have different main characters.

One example, is my pen name billionaire clean romance or my cowboy clean romance series. These are standalone books — but they are brothers who live in the same small town.

Things to remember when writing a standalone fiction series:

1.You only need to plan out each book as you write it — there’s no need to plan an overarching plot for the series.

2.The characters are slower in their character growth and transformation.

3.Readers can read the books out of order.

4.To help keep your character’s and setting consistent, consider writing notes in your notebook or using a digital app to write notes on your computer.

Type #2: An Episodic Series.

In this type of fiction series, each book works alone and has it’s own story — but they combine into a larger story.

This is sometimes called a hybrid series.

In each book there is a lot going on with interpersonal relationships between characters and there is a much bigger storyline that goes across all the novels in your series.

For instance, if you begin reading Book #6 in the series — you might miss some part of the much bigger, overarching story.

An example of this is the Harry Potter series. In each book the main character faces challenges and wins, however each time he wins there is a new broader struggle that is evolving which opens the way for the next book in the series.

With this type of series, you need to plan out the story of each of the books and you need to plan the much larger story for the series.

This means, you will have standalone mysteries for each novel — but there will be an overarching mystery that must be solved by the last book as well.

Things to remember when writing an episodic fiction series:

1.Plan out the story for each novel AND plan the overarching mystery of the entire series.

2.It will be important to keep a series bible — so you can write down important details for your characters, setting and any other important details.

3.Write down a synopsis and scene list for each separate book in the series — and then write a summary for the series as a whole.

Writing this type of series is more work, however, if readers really love book #1, they will be hooked to read the rest of the books in your fiction series.

Type #3: A Sequential Series.

In a sequential series, each book is just one part of a single large story. So a reader must read all the books in the series in order or they won’t understand the story as a whole.

This type of series can also be called a Dynamic series.

For example: The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien. Originally, Tolkien wrote this as one really long book(which I didn’t realize)… and it was the publisher who divided this into three books.

In this type of fiction series, it needs a lot of planning.

This is a series that is a continuing story arc that continues across many books in your fiction series.

Because it’s like one really long story, characters often have a lot of growth from Book #1 to the last book in your series.

There is usually some bigger plot that goes from Book #1 to the last book in the series.

Each book will have a resolution, but also a cliffhanger. For example: Divergent series by Veronica Roth.

The bigger your story, the more characters and details of the setting and world you’ll need to track.

Things to remember when writing a sequential fiction series:

1.Plan out the story for each novel AND plan the overarching mystery of the entire series.

2.It will be important to keep a series bible — so you can write down important details for your characters, setting, your world any other important details.

3.Write down a synopsis and scene list for each separate book in the series — and then write a summary for the series as a whole.

I hope this list of three types of fiction series, helps you understand more about writing a series.

A question to ask yourself: Should you write a fiction series?

There are pros and cons to writing a series.

One con I can think of is that it can be a lot more work because you need to figure out the story for each book as well as the overarching storyline(if you’re writing an episodic or a sequential series).

There a few pros I can think of for writing a fiction series.

If you’re writing a romance series, often romance readers are eager to read the next book in a series, which is quite wonderful for the author…lol 😉

You can help readers along — to read the next book in your series — by writing a short blurb at the end of your ebook and add a link to the sales page so readers can pick up the next book in the series right away.

If you don’t mind the extra work involved in writing a series — I would highly encourage you to try. Your books will promote each other to readers, which will keep readers coming back for more.

I hope these tips were helpful.

Next time, we’ll dive into how to Plan a Fiction Series.

Happy Writing!