048: 3 tips for writing books at the END of a series

Learn 3 tips for how to write books when you are getting to the end of a series in this episode of Indie Author Weekly.  ... Because that is where I’m at right now! My Polyamorous Passions series will have 9 books in total, and each of the three trilogies within this series follows a different main character. In other words, this means that every three books, I begin a new story arc. Books 1 - 3 followed Emma’s story, Books 4 - 6 followed Helen’s story, and I’m currently writing the first draft of Book 7, which will follow Scarlett’s story until the end of this Polyamorous Passions series.  Sidebar: If you’re curious about learning more about those books, you can visit SaganMorrow.com/books for full information on all of them.  Also, another sidebar: I shared 8 tips for how to keep track of everything when you’re writing a book series in a previous episode here on the Indie Author Weekly podcast. Tune into Episode 16 for details on that.  Okay, now, when you get toward the end of the series, it can feel a little daunting. Basically, you don’t want to mess things up! More than one reader has told me that their favourite character is Scarlett, which makes me so happy, because I love her too… but it’s kind of funny, because I think I’ve been putting a bit of unnecessary pressure on myself.  Frankly, it was much easier to write Helen, I think for two reasons: first of all, she’s very different from me, so it was really easy to separate myself from her. And second, she’s not a particularly likeable character in the first few books of the series! So it was fascinating to explore things from her perspective and get to know her, and see how she develops into this really likeable, very strong-willed character. Readers love Helen once they get to her books in the series.  Besides the characters, it can also be nerve-wracking to try to tie up loose ends, or make sure that everything comes together perfectly, or ensure that you don’t forget about something.  So that’s possibly one of the biggest obstacles that can arise when you get to the end of the series: it can feel rather daunting because you don’t want to mess stuff up—and that often means that we get stuck and start avoiding the writing process.  With that in mind, I have 3 tips that have helped me get past that stage, and I hope it will help you, too…Resources & links mentioned in this episode:  Learn more about all of Sagan's books at SaganMorrow.com/books .Episode 16 of Indie Author Weekly: how to keep track of everything when you're writing a series .Episode 44 of Indie Author Weekly: how to use mind mapping to outline your book . Tune into Indie Author Weekly on your favourite podcast platform at SaganMorrow.com/podcast .Rate & review this podcast on iTunes .Let's chat about this episode:  @Saganlives on Twitter and Instagram .Hashtag: #IndieAuthorWeekly .Email [email protected] .Share your thoughts (or submit requests for future episode topics) in this survey at SaganMorrow.com/question  Send fan mail! Click HERE to leave Sagan a voicemail & share your thoughts about this episode.Support the show