The Demands of Writing a Series

by

Bryan W. Alaspa

When does it happen? When does it happen that a writer decides that they novel they are working on would make a better series? It probably changes from author to author the way writing styles, writing habits and inspiration change from author to author. Perhaps you just have so much more story to tell that you decide it needs to be broken up into multiple novels. Perhaps you just really love your characters and the story and don't want to leave it.

I have written a number of series. The latest novel I have out is called The Lord of Winter and it's the second novel in my YA Elementals series that started with The Lightning Weaver. I expect to write and publish two more novels in this series. I also have a three-part post-apocalyptic series, a detective series and more. It seems series come at me a lot these days.

Writing a series often seems like a good idea. This one will become a huge hit and people will love the characters so much that, of course, they'll come back for more! So, you set off to create a series, finish that first novel, and figure you'll take a break and work on some other things and come back to it later.

At least, that was what I did when I started the Deklan Falls detective series. I knew I would bring him back, but I got lost in other projects and suddenly it was years later and I hadn't written that second book. Meanwhile, readers were finding Deklan and demanding to know when he was coming back!

That's the thing. Writing a series can handcuff you as much as release you. Yes, you now have multiple books over which to extend your story, but you had better be prepared to tell the rest of that story as quickly as possible. If you don't your readers get frustrated and they might forget all about you. This is particularly true if you start a Young Adult series - those young adults just keep becoming full-fledged adults while you're off writing your one-shot horror tale.

What will surprise you is how you will find some very diehard fans of your series. Look, I spend my days writing website content and blog articles for a large corporation. I don't sell enough of these books to make authoring my full-time gig. However, the people who do declare themselves fans of my work are some hardcore folks.

What you will be surprised is how fast time goes past, so that first book will recede into the past pretty fast and you'll find your social media posts, blog articles, website and email filled with people wanting to know when the next book in the XYZ series is coming out. But I've been writing all of these other great books in the meantime, you'll cry, but it won't matter. Those readers have invested time and emotion in those characters you created and if you have left them hanging, they are just dying to know what happens next.

So, writing a series can be amazing, but you have to take it seriously. That will leave little room for writing anything else! It's an interesting road to head down, but you find that the people who really enjoy your work are often more than willing to head down the road with you - and that makes the writing just a little less lonely.

ABOUT THE BOOK

**Continuing the epic story started in The Lightning Weaver comes The Lord of Winter!** 

Robin Frost is an air Elemental. He can cause the air temperature to drop, form ice, snow and freeze people, buildings, entire cities. The problem is that, as a teenager, he was injured in an accident, so the part of his brain that allows him to control these abilities has been destroyed. Now, as he gets older, his power grows, but his control lessens. After an incident in a parking lot, the entire city of Miami is threatened. 

Christopher Farraday and Katie Albright have spent the time since the mountain fell honing her abilities. More powerful than before, Katie can now control the earth’s magnetic field. Still running from the horrors of the Organization and Johann Apasilic, they head to Miami to help Robin. Of course, nothing can ever go smoothly. 

Robin is pursued by a drug cartel, Mr. Apples and a world that thinks Elementals are evil and all of them come together in one city that is nearly destroyed by their presence. 

Mr. Apples, meanwhile, is making his own plans, creating an army of super-charged Elementals. He is pushing the world closer to war between human and Elemental kind. With the lives of millions in the balance. 

Can the world survive the coming conflict? The latest epic chapter in the Elementals series will leave you breathless and waiting for more. 

Find it on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Lord-Winter-Elementals-Book-ebook/dp/B01BH6C6XO

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Bryan W. Alaspa is a Chicago born and bred author of both fiction and non-fiction works. He has been writing since he sat down at his mother's electric typewriter back in the third grade and pounded out his first three-page short story. He spent time studying journalism and other forms of writing. He turned to writing as his full-time career in 2006 when he began writing freelance, online and began writing novels and books.

For non-fiction, he is the author of: Ghosts of St. Louis: The Lemp Mansion and Other Eerie Tales, Chicago Crime Stories: Rich Gone Wrong, Chicago Disasters, Forgotten Tales of Illinois, Silas Jayne: Chicago's Suburban Gangster, Sabotage: A Chronicle of the Chesterton Crash and Chicago's Unsolved Mysteries.

For fiction he is the author of: The Ballad of the Blue Denim Gang, The Vanished Child, Dust, RIG: A Novel of Terror, Sin-Eater: Book One, Sin-Eater: Book Two - Destiny, Mythos: A Thriller, After the Snowfall, The Dead Phone, One Against Many: A Deklan Falls Mystery, Vicious, Sapphire: A Paranormal Romance, Strange Fruit and the Slender Man, Sin-Eater: Book Three - Renegade, Fracktured: A Deklan Falls Case File and Rotate the Earth: Book One: The Drivers.

He is also the author of three collections: Why Hockey Sucks! And Other Random Thoughts, Stories and Flashpoint: A Collection of Curious Beginnings and Endings.

Mr. Alaspa has also contributed stories to the anthologies Wrapped in Red and Wrapped in White.

Mr. Alaspa writes true crime, history, horror, thrillers, mysteries, detective stories and tales about the supernatural