Keeping the Story Straight in a Novel or Series
When I began writing my first Beaumont book in 1983, I had no idea I was starting a series that would keep me occupied for more than 40 years. Den of Iniquity, Beaumont #26, is due out September 11. For a time, even after I began writing a second series featuring Joanna Brady, I kept track of all those character details in my head—who they were, what they looked like, what made them tick.
(5 Tips for Writing Series Characters.)
That was all fine and dandy until readers pointed out that a character in Joanna #8 was someone I had knocked off in Joanna #1. It took several books to paint my way out of that corner, but I did so by having the second character be the nephew and namesake of the first one.
And then there was a problem with Joanna’s height. In some books she was five-two and in others five-four. My editors didn’t catch that tiny detail and neither did I, but again some of my readers noticed and let me know.
And then there was a critical issue concerning days of the week. Early on I received an editorial letter saying as follows: “This book takes place over a two-week period in late April and early May, all days are consecutive, no days are skipped. Unfortunately between the second Wednesday, May 3, and Thursday, May 4, there is an extra unnamed day. Please fix.” Doing so meant taking everything that had happened on that day and duct-taping it into the story somewhere else. Unfortunately, one scene that I especially loved took place on that extra evening, and I ended up having to leave it out. I still miss that touching scene some 40 years later.
As I write a book in any of the four series—Beaumont, Brady, Reynolds, or Walker—I keep a name file chapter by chapter. If a character enters the story in chapter one, his name goes into the name file in Chapter 1, along with as many personal details as I know about him at the time. If more details show up later, I add them to that initial name file listing. I also use the name file to keep track of the date the action in that chapter, not only the day of the year but also the day of the week along with the time of day. In other words, a name file heading looks like this:
Chapter 1
Seattle, Washington
Thursday, November 28, 2024, 9:00 AM
By the way, if you happen to be telling a story in chronological order and have characters operating in different time zones, you have to remember that what happens in the UK, will be 8 hours earlier than what’s going on in Seattle. As the author, in order to keep from confusing your readers, you’ll need to account for that difference. Believe me when I say this—doing that will go a long way to keep the writer from becoming confused as well.
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When it’s time to start a new book in an ongoing series, I go back to the name file for the book immediately preceding the one I’m now working on and import a copy of that name file into the new book’s file folder. Then, starting with the prologue or chapter one, as characters appear—new ones and continuing characters alike—they all go into that new name file. For recurring characters I can simply copy what was in the previous book’s name file listing and bring that into the new Chapter 1.
What details are included in that listing? Date of birth, color of hair and eyes, how tall are they, where were they born, where do they live, what vehicles do they drive, what weapons do they carry. That helps keep those details consistent from one book to another. And because the name file always includes the day the action takes place, as I start a new story, by consulting the old name file, I know exactly how old those recurring characters were in the previous book and how old they are now.
Reading back through this, I’m worried that what I’ve written may be dry as dust, but what I’m suggesting, especially for beginning writers, is that you don’t do what I did to begin with and count on your little grey cells to remember all those pesky details. Keeping track of them in black and white in a name file from Book 1, Chapter 1, Page 1, will serve you in good stead.
Whether you write one book or multiple books in multiple series, believe me, you’ll thank me for this later.
Check out J.A. Jance’s Den of Iniquity here:
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