Since were snowed in today, I got to spend some time on writing projects. I don’t know that “snowed in” is completely accurate. There was enough snow on the ground to make walking hazardous. I figure if walking to the car is a hazard, driving the car is similarly hazardous. There was maybe an inch of snow on the ground so we could have gone out if it were absolutely necessary. By “absolutely necessary” I mean life or death. Or running out of chocolate.
Anyway, aside from a few domestic duties, I had some time to sit down and start digging through How To Write A Series (https://www.hollyswritingclasses.com/course/1w-how-to-write-a-series/), a course put together by author Holly Lisle. She’s been gone a little over a year now and I still miss her. She had a thirty plus (30+) years long career writing science fiction, fantasy, and paranormal romantic suspense. More importantly, she was able to observe and analyze her processes and put them down in a comprehensible manner so that others could learn.
The course is pretty much what it says on the tin – how one would go about writing a book series. I’ve looked through most of the course at one point, but I haven’t actually worked through all the exercises. I started doing that about six years ago and only made it through the first lesson before other things took over.
I figured since I’m working on the supernatural soap opera that it might be good to try and not screw it up right from the start. Also, I need to get back to writing more of the adventures of Arthur Mace. When I originally wrote about Arthur I hadn’t intended to write a series of books around him. But as I finished the book, I felt there were more stories to tell about him. I’ve got some ideas about where things will go, but doing some of the background work in HTWAS will help solidify those ideas and keep me from writing myself into a corner, then trying to finish everything by saying “and they all died.” That would not be the best way to go.
Should I get the above two projects up and running, my Muse has several more series in mind that she wants to pursue – a “pulp” epic, a sci-fi series, a post-apocalypse series, the “other” soap opera my Muse wants to write, two different “B movies” themed series, four kids series, and two comics. These are all in addition to the stand alone books my Muse wants to write.
If you want to try your hand at writing, I can’t recommend Holly’s classes enough. They are a lot of work, but you’ll learn a lot. When you do one of her courses, you should do it the way Holly presents it the first time around. After that you can adopt what works into your writing processes and discard the rest. You’ll also get access to the writing forums, which is a great place to hang out with others on their writing journey. You can ask questions and get answers and we’re generally friendly. Full disclosure – I’m a moderator on her forums. I don’t get anything for recommending her courses. I just think they are that good.
Anyway, the weather is supposed to be better tomorrow, with a high around 50 deg F (10 deg C) and clear skies. We’ll probably get out to get a few errands done so I won’t have as much time to work on writing but I’m determined to get back into the daily habit. Wish me luck, my Hordeling.
If you’d like to support my efforts, why not buy me a chocolate chip cookie through my Ko-Fi page? https://ko-fi.com/jhusum