My series bible

The collection is not a series. Not really, anyway. The books are connected, the work together, but it's not a series.

Still, because of the way the books are all connected, I'm writing them similarly to the way others write a series. Specifically, I'm creating a series bible.

The idea behind a series bible is to have notes and information all in one place that I can reference as I'm working on the books. That way, when I write about Cameron, who first appears in the coffee house book, in a later book, I have notes about him to keep consistency in his character and story.

The biggest thing in the series bible so far is character biographies. The characters are the driving force in the books, so it's important to have that information handy. That's not all that's going to be in there, though.

I have charts that show relationships between characters as needed for the stories. I have a sheet that shows which books the characters are in, since there is crossover. And I have an overall story arc for each character that spans the whole of the collection.

When you create a world in a series or collection, you have to stay true to it and write within whatever parameters you establish. A series bible helps you do that.

Nathan Bransford has a nice post about creating a series bible, which he used for Jacob Wonderbar. If you need a series bible (and you do if you're writing a series), I encourage you to read his post.

Do you have a series bible? How has it impacted your writing?

The collection in 2013

I've been working on the coffee house book background information lately. I have a lot of work done in my character files,* and I feel like I'm really making progress on the project.

To that end, I've been thinking about my editorial calendar for 2013, and how to incorporate the collection into it so that I can meet my writing goals for the year, and for each month. I know where I want the collection to be one year from now, so adding it to my editorial calendar will help me get there, one step at a time.

I've already put a lot of myself into this project. I've never been as excited and passionate about a project as I have been--and am--about the collection. There's just something about it that resonates with me, and makes me want to keep working, even on the tedious parts, until I've got a story to share. And when I'm not working on it, I can't seem to stop thinking about it. Dialogue shimmers into my head on the drive to work. Characters turn corners a few paces ahead of me. The collection won't leave me alone until it's done. I know it.

2013 is going to be a good year for me, and the collection is going to be just one aspect of that. The progress I'm making on the collection now will help carry me through the coming year. And before I know it, the coffee house book--and the funeral book, perhaps--will be done.

What is your main project for 2013?






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*Because of the nature of this project, each character has an individual folder with the information I need for that character kept in it.

Writing isn't always fun

I've been heavy into background work for the collection lately, working on character biographies and scene sheets and research.

I'm excited about the progress I'm making with the collection, even though I'm not doing a lot of actual writing yet. And, really, the excitement of knowing I'm making progress even if it doesn't look like it is what keeps me going on all this background work.

I love writing. And there's a lot of this background work that I enjoy. It means creating a world and populating it with people. It means crafting a story and reactions to what happens to the people. But that doesn't mean there's some tedium that comes along with all this background work. Research and outlining and scene sheets are not always exciting or fun or anything other than work, but they have to get done, particularly for this project.

All projects have aspects that aren't fun. Whether you dread background work or find the type of task that makes you want to rip your eyeballs out, writing can't always be flowing words and staring out windows. You have to put as much sweat on the page as you do heart. Often more.

But if you hang on and push through, you'll find that the story-telling parts will help get you through the eyeball-ripping parts. And all your readers will see is the heart.

Happy writing (or editing or researching)!

Chapter-by-chapter outlining

There's a lot of background work
for the collection!

I'm an outliner when it comes to writing. It helps me think about the story as a whole. And, in the case of the collection, it will help me think about the community of the people and their stories, and how everything fits together.

I already have a basic outline for the coffee house book, as well as synopses for the other books in the collection. Since I'm still doing all the background writing and research, what I have is fine for now.

However, as it gets closer to time to actually start writing the coffee house book, my intent is to take the outline a step further by creating detailed outlines for each individual chapter. I think I've mentioned before that the characters are the driving force in the books, and because of this, the simple outline I currently have for the coffee house book is adequate for background work, but is really a skeleton outline. I need to fill in the holes to be able to move forward.

Essentially, what I intend to do is sit down with the coffee house book outline, and write the chapter outlines as if each chapter stood independent of the rest of the chapters (and collection). When I have that done, I'll fit the chapters together within the larger work of the coffee house book (there is a loose story arc that ties the chapters together, after all), and think about how the coffee house book fits into the larger collection. When all those threads are put together, I'll have an extremely detailed outline for the coffee house book, and I'll be ready to start writing!

Not every story needs this kind of outlining. Many stories I've written don't. But because of how integrated everything is in the collection, I think it's necessary to do. Tedious, maybe. But necessary.

Do you outline before you write? How detailed are your outlines?

What was I thinking?

I'm crazy. Really. I don't know what I was thinking, but I'm regretting it. Ragh!

In the latest manifestation of the coffee house book, each chapter is written about a character who is either a patron or employee of the coffee house and that character's relationship with the coffee house and its owner. Through each chapter, you learn about the coffee house and its owner, as well as the people who fill it.

Well, I decided (for some reason) that this wasn't enough for me in this project. So I also decided that each chapter would be told from the perspective of its character....in first-person point of view.

I know. I can see you shaking your head at me. And believe me, I've been shaking my head at myself since I started this crazy project! And I've been spending the past couple of weeks trying to convince myself that the story would be good--or better--if the chapters are told in third-person POV.

I just can't do it. The chapters need to be in first-person. It's hard, it's frustrating, and it's going to take quite a bit of character biography-ing. Luckily, I found a really great character biography worksheet that's working perfectly for all these "minor" characters, as well as a scene list worksheet that's helping me keep my story straight within the vignettes.

I have more background work than I thought I did, but if it helps keep me organized, it'll definitely be worth it.

I'll get this story written yet!