5 Tips For Writing Series Characters
I’ve always dreamed of writing a series. As a kid, I devoured all the American Girl and Ramona Quimby books there were, and as an adult, I tore through Dennis Lehane’s Pat & Angie books and re-read Raymond Chandler’s tales of Phillip Marlowe. Revisiting the same characters felt like I was visiting old friends each time I cracked a new spine, and I endeavored to give my readers the same feeling with my work.
(Writing an Aging Protagonist in a Novel Series.)
My newest novel, Negative Girl (Datura 2024), may be the first novel featuring ex-punk private eye Martin Wade and his assistant, the tattooed hipster Valerie Jacks, but it’s far from the first story. No, that would be “All Shook Down,” published in the September/October 2020 issue of Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine. I enjoyed writing for Martin and Valerie, and as of this publication, there are eight stories in various magazines and anthologies, with two more slated for publication (and plenty more in my notebook!).
Whether you’re writing a series in short stories or novels, here are some tips for creating—and maintaining!—memorable characters that readers are always happy to see on the page.
Start With Compelling Characters
All stories need compelling characters, but when you’re writing a series, this task becomes crucial. They need to be characters your reader will want to spend time with, but just as importantly, they have to be characters you want to spend time with. Readers can tell when an author gets bored with their characters, so that means finding what compels you to write about your characters with each new story, without snipping the threads that bind the stories together.
Don’t Neglect Your Supporting Cast
A dynamic cast of side characters will go a long way to helping link your series without having the main characters do all the work. Your readers may even pick their favorites and look forward to stories where they get to see a little more of the world your main characters inhabit. And who knows—you could even write a spin-off!
Leave Room for Your Characters to Grow Throughout the Series
As writers, we hear a lot about the Hero’s Journey, but not every story needs to have that same structure. One story may be about a character learning to forgive an absent parent, the next may be about finally getting around to starting a reasonable exercise routine. They don’t always have to be major revelations—after all, how many major journeys do you go about on a weekly basis?—but they do need to be strong enough to keep the characters feeling like they’re moving forward towards being stronger people.
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Pay Close Attention to Time
Unless your story opens with a specific date, it’s the little details—like a character putting on a coat or noting that holiday decorations are going up—that will orient your reader as to when the story is taking place. But this means that in a series, you have to keep very close track of when the previous stories happened—you don’t want to look back and realize that the story you wrote before took place in April and the next one takes place in February of the same year.
I keep a vintage Rolodex of all my characters, and a hand-drawn timeline of when each story happens and how long it takes. You could even keep a pocket calendar for your characters, marking notable dates—birthdays, start/end of a particular story—to really keep yourself on track!
Make a Trail of Breadcrumbs
Not everything will be revealed in the first, second, or even third book. But when you begin writing a series, you need to drop a few hints about what’s to come—a friend missing since childhood, a mystical artifact, a family secret—and work towards there…a few stories down the line.
Check out Libby Cudmore’s Negative Girl here:
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