Review Beginners Guide to Story Arcs for Trilogies and Series (Fiction Writing Aids Workshop in Book Form 14)
Any set of stories that feature the same characters, or some of the same characters, and covers a stretch of time for the tale to be successfully told, tend to require some sort of story arc to tie all the parts together.
This can happen when there is a sequel. A sequel is a second story featuring the same main characters as in the previous book. It tends to be a continuation of their tale, except that you did need a previous standalone story with a satisfying ending to enlarge upon. If more disasters are ahead for these characters, then in the second standalone title, their story is really tied up by the conclusion of this second book.
It can happen with a spin-off, that is a book that features one or more characters who were in a previous book but who were not the main character or characters in the earlier book. The world these characters inhabit is the same one that appeared in the first book and the story arc that began in the original book will reach a conclusion in the spin-off. But the spin-off will also have a standalone story to satisfy the reader.
Story Arcs are much easier to understand when it comes to trilogies because while there are three standalone stories told, there is a larger picture that it takes three books to bring to a successful conclusion.
With series, the story arc is stretched to cover every title in the series. Frequently it is a quest or a hero’s journey, a coming of age or growing more proficient in a job category tale.
In BEGINNERS GUIDE TO STORY ARCS FOR TRILOGIES AND SERIES we also take a quick look at sequels and spin-off books and seriously consider how best to tie more than a single story set in the same fictional world together.
About the Author:
Beth Daniels, as Beth Henderson, is the author of 29 and counting historical romantic adventures and romantic comedies, many of which have snagged 5* reviews on Amazon. She has also dipped her quill into the mystery/Alternative History and urban fantasy niches as J. B. Dane, and Steampunk as Nied Darnell. She holds a BA in American History with a minor in British Modern History and a MA in English Composition and Rhetoric with an Emphasis in Creative Writing.
After presiding over seventy various online workshops about writing fiction, most of them at SavvyAuthors.com and various online Romance Writers of America chapters, she began retiring the workshops, turning them into the various Fiction Writing Aid Workshops in Book Form titles. BEGINNER'S GUIDE TO STORY ARCS FOR TRILOGIES AND SERIES, with a Bow to Sequels and Spin-Offs, is the 14th title in the series.
Join her on Twitter @BethDaniels1, @Beth__Henderson, or @JBDaneWriter, or on Facebook at BethHendersonAuthor.
Visit her at www.RomanceAndMystery2.com, www.Muse2Ms.com, or www.WritingSteampunk.com.
Beginners Guide to Story Arcs for Trilogies and Series (Fiction Writing Aids Workshop in Book Form 14)
Story arc is a useful topic
I like this book because the author tackled a topic that has few takers: how to visualize a series.
As with many books mining new material, the effect is a bit scattershot, but that's not surprising. With so few reference books to consult, and with the length of time it would take to analyze the arcs of original series and trilogies, there is a lot of work involved. Short of a grant to finance the research, or work in conjunction with a teaching career, I think it would be difficult to squeeze out the amount of dedication needed for that level of research. I appreciate the author's work in trying to herd these cats and I do have pages of notes to guide my own thinking.
On the downside, if you confuse Saruman with Sauron, don't reference the Lord of the Rings. 49