How to write a series.--part two

How to write a series—part two.

My first published novel of the series, The Red Scarf, took a simple premise and tied together diverse stories, such as the hunt for the chicken-killing coon and the robbery of Doc’s newsstand, into a story line that was linked together by Richard’s attempt to earn enough money to buy Rosalie, his wanta-be girlfriend, a red scarf. It worked.

My next step in setting up the remainder of the series was to devise a time line where I could place the remaining stories into sequence. Since I had used the newscaster, Walter Winchell, to link my stories to the 1944 time frame, I had to be sure his newscasts, that I had inserted into the novels, followed the Second World War properly. That sent me to Google to get the war time-line down. Then, as I moved ahead, two other items came into play. The age of the boys had to increase and the sequence of seasons must follow the story line.

The sequel to The Red Scarf is the next in the series. The Red Scarf ended on Christmas Eve, and the sequel, which I have titled, Lyin’ Like a Sorry Yard Dog, begins on Christmas morning and continues through the winter and spring.

The next of the series, The Yankee Doctor, continues the saga of the two boys, now a little older. The stories become more adult, as they encounter an evil doctor and the ‘girls’ of the Randolph Hotel.

The next novel, The Swamp, is more of an adventure for Richard, who is kidnapped by escaped convicts. It’s reminiscent of Mark Twain’s The Ransom of Red Chief.

Following The Swamp, is The Mystery of the Canebrake. Part real mystery laced with wild stories about the boys meeting the Cowboy Hobo, learning how to hop a freight train, and, of course, solving the mystery of what’s in the canebrake

Currently, I have the last of this series going through editing. It’s titled, Half Uncle Snort, The River Rat. It’s full of moonshinning and Catahoula Hog Dogs on the Ouachita River, with Richard meeting his half brother, Rabbit.

Will I write more in the series? Probably. Right now, I have a coming-of-age novel, set in a college atmosphere. I have titled it Choices. I guess you could say it’s the primary character Richard of the Richard Series going to college. Of course there’s room to have a lot of additional stories from age 13 to 17. Who know where the series will end?

So that’s how I came up with a series. It’s an amplified, fictionalized set of remembrances, which have a ring of believability, tied to an overriding plot line that links and ties the stories together.