I'm happy to have Sabrina Benulis as my guest today. She's sharing how she planned her fantasy series, The Books of Raziel. Be sure to check out the first book of the series, Angelus, and also Sabrina's great giveaway contest at the bottom of this post.
A Book Series is A Journey
There really is an art to writing
novels in a fantasy series, and by now I firmly believe that no matter how many
books you read, this is a skill that someone can only firmly acquire through
experience. Many times when I'm asked how many novels I've been contracted for
in The Books of Raziel series and I say 'three,' people first congratulate my
good fortune, and then they look at me flabbergasted. The next question
inevitably is, "So how exactly can you write three books that are all
connected?" or better still, "How in the world do you keep track of
everything?"
The short answer is: it's
complicated.
So very briefly, here in my own
humble words is what can be expected in the amazing and terrifying journey from
Book One to Book Three, which seems to be the most common book series number
encountered, especially in the speculative fiction genre. Hopefully, this will
help other aspiring authors out there of all genres--or at least entertain!
Book One: For a fantasy writer like me,
this is the most exciting book of all, because it's chock-full of endless
possibilities. At this point, you (the hypothetical spec-fic writer) have at
least a beginning and end in mind to your story, the major characters are
already dancing around in your head, and best of all, you've taken as long as
humanly possible to revel in the world you've been fermenting in your head for
months, or more likely, years. This book is both the most time-consuming to
write and the shortest, because you've certainly spent an outlandish amount of hours
developing your world and ideas. But when you finally set your fingers to your
keyboard, hopefully the words flow fast because of that very fact.
Like I said: hopefully. You know these
characters like the back of your hand; you know this universe inside out. The
hardest part at this stage is simply figuring out how the reader will get to
know them too. Time and care must also be taken to establish the overall plot
of the story that will connect all three books. Yet in the always uncertain
gamble of the publishing world, it's still so important to have this first
novel stand alone.
That means you're doing triple duty
while you're writing: you're introducing the major players of the story and
establishing the setting, you're at the very least hinting at the grand
overreaching plot to come, and you're providing some kind of smaller plot to
get the momentum of the story going in the first place.
But as I said before--at this stage,
everything can feel like magic. Each moment of the novel is new and an author's
morale is at its highest.
Yet the story must go on. That's
when things start to get a little hairy. Meaning--stressful.
Book Two: There's a reason most authors dread writing book
number two in their series. It is often described as little more than a 'bridge'
between the beginning and the end--a middle zone where the plot can very easily
stall to a boring vapid nothingness. Often this is coined as the second book
slump. For many writers, it can often feel that no matter what they do,
inspiration can be sorely lacking. The latter dilemma is really just an
illusion. After the excitement of Book One fades, the dawning reality that one
must accomplish Book Two begins to loom large, with all the fear of not meeting
expectations behind it.
Besides,
you the author have possibly spent years developing the first book. Sometimes,
you might never even have dreamt there would be an actual completed novel for
people to pick up and read. Suddenly, the pressure is on to continue that story
you started.
Worse,
you often have to remind people of the characters and events--and for spec-fic
writers the world--from the first book so that they're not totally lost picking
up the second. At least a year goes by from one novel to the next in the
publishing arena. That's plenty of time for readers to forget the important
stuff you told them in the first round of your story. Weaving that back-story
and exposition into the novel again can become a delicate, precarious chore.
Too little, and you've accomplished nothing. Too much, and you risk boring
those already following your book series to tears.
In this instance, I can say that
reading other series novels is an absolute necessity in learning how to develop
this skill. But it's also something you must practice and refine with time.
That's where the experience I previously mentioned comes into play. Having beta
readers for your initial draft also certainly helps. They'll definitely let you
know when you've made them snore.
You can't afford to let that happen
either. Because by all means Book Two has to top Book One. At least half of the
overarching grand plot must be resolved; otherwise your readers are going to
get antsy. More important, the stakes must be raised even higher. If the climax
to your first book seemed overblown, there's the necessity to top that off with
something even more spectacular this time around. And all the while, you must
hint, hint, hint at what's to come at the end.
So after these terrible rounds of anxiety,
followed by relief, followed by more anxiety, Book Two is finished. By a sheer
miracle, you the writer have made it stand strong and proud. With any luck,
readers are hungrily awaiting the end of your book series, and are drooling
over even a mention of the grand finale you have up your sleeve.
Book
Three: Yet it's not time to clap yourself on the back just yet. Book Three
has so much riding on it, you can't afford to get that distracted.
The third book (if you are writing a
trilogy) now becomes the greatest of all your accomplishments. There is no
slump any longer. You are on a sheer steeply pitched slide toward the end of
your story, and picking up momentum fast. But, oh, there is so much to yet be
done. Characters, sub-characters, and sub-plots must at last find their
resolution. There is nothing worse than a book series where a character or
characters seemed to have no purpose in the first place. Themes merely hinted
at in the first two books must now be fully realized. Settings, especially in fantasy,
must be grander and often take the main character far out of the somewhat
normal realm they began in. Stakes are even higher than before.
The great difficulty here is
meandering a way through all of the plot webs you've woven. Not one loose end
can or should remain by the time the climax of the novel has been reached.
The third book in almost every
fantasy series I pick up and read is the longest, and with good reason. There's
quite a bit for the author to accomplish at this stage, and if it takes six
hundred pages for the reader to feel satisfied, then so be it. And remember,
you still have to do what you did for Book Two--and that means reminding and
introducing readers to the world, the story, the characters one last time and
twice over, because you're not only recapping what happened in Book One but in
Book Two as well.
But eventually and at last the words
"THE END" are typed, and the overwhelming rush and relief of a job
well done sets in. You, the author, have made it from beginning to end while still
somehow holding onto your sanity. To your readers, what you have done if you've
done it reasonably well, looks like nothing more than channeling. Surely the
characters and world you've created are real. You've just been lucky enough to
tell the rest of the reading world about them. The tricky part once you finish
the first draft of such a hair-raising accomplishment is to go back, to make
sure that every last detail fits consistently with that foreshadowing you
presented all the way back in Book One.
This makes Book Three often feel a
million miles removed from where you first started. You've been so immersed in
this particular story for so long that you can't imagine how you even began to
type it out.
Yet even after all this excitement
fades, something else starts to peek over your creative horizon. That would be
the next book series tumbling through your brain, and the beginning and end of
an entirely new and exciting universe of possibilities.
Now how in the world can an author
jump from one universe to another after so long and do it successfully?
Well, I suppose you might say that's
literally another story.
Angelus
Books
of Raziel Trilogy
Book
Three
Sabrina
Benulis
Harper Voyager
Genre: Fiction / Fantasy /
Paranormal
On-Sale: February 9, 2016
ISBN: 9780062069429
E-book ISBN: 9780062069436
A Harper Voyager Trade Paperback
Original
In
the heart-pounding conclusion to The Books of Raziel trilogy, Angela discovers
that she holds the keys to both Heaven and Hell, and that angels, demons, and
all the creatures in between will stop at nothing to possess her...
The war started by three powerful
angel siblings - Raziel, Lucifel, and Israfel - has divided the kingdoms of
both Heaven and Hell. Now the destruction is spilling over into our world.
The last hope for a crumbling world
is the Archon, also known as the human Angela Mathers. Angela alone can
successfully oppose Lucifel and open Raziel’s Book for the power of good rather
than evil. But to do so would mean murdering her best friend, a fact Angela
refuses to face.
Now Angela sits on the throne of
Hell, fulfilling a prophecy of ruin. But ruin does not always mean
destruction.....sometimes it means revolution.
Praise for Sabrina Benulis & The Books
of Raziel Trilogy:
“[Benulis’]
unique take on religion and angels is truly innovative. With just enough left
unresolved, Covenant perfectly leads into the upcoming final book of the
trilogy”
—
Romantic Times Magazine on Covenant
“These
angels can be vindictive and cruel, more human than you might expect and oozing
supernatural abilities…. If you think you have the guts to take on this novel
pick it up.”
—
Boulder Examiner on Covenant
“A
dark, bold story.”
—
Lexington Literature Examiner on Covenant
“Benulis
writes a no-holds-barred tale of destruction, love, power, and friendship.
Everything you thought you knew about God, the Devil, angels and demons will be
wiped away and replaced with a world so terribly beautiful that you will
yourself gazing out into the night sky, hoping against hope that magic is real.
Her characters have depth and 3-deminsional personalities, while her scenery,
complete with candlelight and stain-glass windows, emphasizes the primal battles
that humans go through on a daily basis.”
—
Tulsa Books Examiner on Archon
“…
Benulis uses lush descriptions and larger than life characters to tell the
story of a battle between Heaven and Hell…She proves herself as a force to be
reckoned with… I will definitely be on the lookout for the next installment in
her book of Raziel series so I can grab it up and pour over each page.”
—
Suspense Magazine on Archon
About
the Author:
Sabrina Benulis graduated with a
masters in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University. She currently
resides in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania with her husband and a spoiled
cockatiel.
Tour Giveaway:
1 set of all three books in the
series; ARCHON, COVENANT, and ANGELUS. Open to US Shipping
1 comments:
For me, it was the other way around. I had book two in mind before I started writing book one - at least for my current series. So I struggled more with book one. Now I have the same thing with book three - it's a lot more difficult than book four will be, since I know exactly what will happen in book four and not in book three (just start and end)
I do agree, though! Writing a series IS a journey.
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