Pondering on Writing

[queenoftheskies]

I've been considering two things tonight. One troubles me. The other I just wonder about.

What troubles me is this...is all writing valuable? If I don't feel like writing (like tonight, for example), and I write anyway, is it worth anything? If I have to cut out what I wrote, is it still good that I wrote it? Is it worth something as a placeholder for now? Is it worth something to keep me writing? Or should I have stopped until I had something worthwhile to write again?

I'm constantly having trouble with the value of my writing, but nights like this are very difficult indeed.

But, on a lighter note, what I've been wondering about is why nobody has written a writing book on writing a series of novels...which is what I'm working on. I actually started further along in my series, but decided that I needed a different opening book to introduce my main character, and hence I began The Beginning of the End.

This book introduces Lilli and several other characters which will not only have roles later in this particular series, but which spawn a couple of offshoot series as well. I have the series itself plotted out on an outline according to timeline...how I want to go forward with it along several different lines and then have the different storylines merge back into one later on.

I'd also like to go back for a series (if I ever get these others written) involving the backstory that I created when I built these characters and their worlds.

However, what puzzles me is whether or not there is a "proper" way to build a series? Or does one build it in a way that works for them?

For me, what I've attempted to do is introduce my characters that start out in this series well enough for my reader to get a handle on who they are, what they believe in, and empathize with them, root for them, and hopefully care about them, what they want to accomplish, and whether they live or die. However, I've tried to also introduce hints of mystery about the characters that I do not explain fully, but that will be further resolved and revealed in future novels.

I hope this works. I hope I can pull it off. Creating the universe and the storylines was a huge job to begin with. But, it's nothing like actually writing the novels to fit into it without too much or too little story and information and character development in each book.

Each novel is not just one little story. They're all a self-contained chapter in a much larger universe, a much broader storyline. And, therein, lies the real challenge. Making them all enjoyable as stand-alone novels and yet dependent upon one another for the FULL story, without becoming repetitious or boring.

Whew...I wish there was a discussion group somewhere for series writers. I would love to find out how others go about this task and whether they set out in advance to write a series of novels, or whether they write one and then discover other adventures for their characters to embark upon.