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Writing the Fiction Series: The Complete Guide for Novels and Novellas
The definitive guide to crafting a series!
From the Hunger Games Trilogy to the Jack Reacher Series, from Harry Potter to Harry Dresden, there's no denying that writers--and readers--have caught series fever. But if you're contemplating writing a series, there are plenty of considerations you'll need to make first. Writing the Fiction Series is the complete guide to ensuring your series stays hot after the first, fourth, or even fifteenth book.
Inside, you'll learn how to:
• Write a series that captures the hearts of readers and stands out in a sea of competition.
• Find the focus of your series, develop your idea, and plan ahead.
• Hone in on the two most important aspects of series writing: characters and consistency.
• Utilize a variety of series organization techniques, complete with downloadable worksheets and checklists.
• Market your series effectively and increase your sales.
With insights from nearly 100 series authors and publishers, as well as Grow Your Series Muscles" exercises, Writing the Fiction Series is the only book you'll need to write a series that sizzles.
Also available: the companion tutorial from Writer’s Digest Tutorials, Writing the Fiction Series:
http://tutorials.writersdigest.com/
From the Hunger Games Trilogy to the Jack Reacher Series, from Harry Potter to Harry Dresden, there's no denying that writers--and readers--have caught series fever. But if you're contemplating writing a series, there are plenty of considerations you'll need to make first. Writing the Fiction Series is the complete guide to ensuring your series stays hot after the first, fourth, or even fifteenth book.
Inside, you'll learn how to:
• Write a series that captures the hearts of readers and stands out in a sea of competition.
• Find the focus of your series, develop your idea, and plan ahead.
• Hone in on the two most important aspects of series writing: characters and consistency.
• Utilize a variety of series organization techniques, complete with downloadable worksheets and checklists.
• Market your series effectively and increase your sales.
With insights from nearly 100 series authors and publishers, as well as Grow Your Series Muscles" exercises, Writing the Fiction Series is the only book you'll need to write a series that sizzles.
Also available: the companion tutorial from Writer’s Digest Tutorials, Writing the Fiction Series:
http://tutorials.writersdigest.com/
352 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 2013
32 people are currently reading
225 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews
January 26, 2016
1.5 stars, because I did not enjoy this read at all and got *very* little out of it, but I believe others can get more than I did.
"Writing the Fiction Series" is (unintentionally, I believe) heavily weighted toward commercial romance series. Wiesner thoroughly discusses combining genres--for example, fantasy with humor, romance with suspense, historical fiction with time travel or other sci-fi aspects, etc.--but the vast majority of her advice would not necessarily hold in, say, the SF/F/Horror genres. For that reason, I would be comfortable recommending "Writing the Fiction Series" to brand-new writers of most genres and to newly- or partially-established romance writers, but few others. (To those who are new to writing, I would stress that unless they plan to write commercial romance everything within should be taken with a grain of salt.)
The book is overloaded with anecdotes, both from Wiesner and others that she interviewed in the process of writing it. Anecdotes are all well and good to support a stance or idea, but there were zero statistics included. Everything was viewed toward Wiesner's lens of "this is what I've heard or read online," which grew into a major trust issue before I had even gotten halfway through the book. It's not that there is no merit to the advice provided within "Writing the Fiction Series," but that it hugely overgeneralizes over and over again. After tripping over a silent, "but that's not true for SF/F/H" for the sixth time, everything I read became suspect.
Finally, in an attempt to illustrate both sides to each argument (for example, how close together series installments should be released, or whether a book or series should be left open-ended), Wiesner succeeds only in waffling between the stances that she prevents. The books suffers from an overabundance of "on the other hand"s and "of course, so-and-so does it differently."
Overall, I am very, very glad to both be done reading "Writing the Fiction Series" and that I can't remember if I paid money for it. If you are an unestablished or partially-established commercial romance writer, this book could very well do you a lot of good and is definitely worth reading. For everyone else, however, I offer this advice: get it from the library, and don't hesitate to return it early if you can't make it through the whole thing.
"Writing the Fiction Series" is (unintentionally, I believe) heavily weighted toward commercial romance series. Wiesner thoroughly discusses combining genres--for example, fantasy with humor, romance with suspense, historical fiction with time travel or other sci-fi aspects, etc.--but the vast majority of her advice would not necessarily hold in, say, the SF/F/Horror genres. For that reason, I would be comfortable recommending "Writing the Fiction Series" to brand-new writers of most genres and to newly- or partially-established romance writers, but few others. (To those who are new to writing, I would stress that unless they plan to write commercial romance everything within should be taken with a grain of salt.)
The book is overloaded with anecdotes, both from Wiesner and others that she interviewed in the process of writing it. Anecdotes are all well and good to support a stance or idea, but there were zero statistics included. Everything was viewed toward Wiesner's lens of "this is what I've heard or read online," which grew into a major trust issue before I had even gotten halfway through the book. It's not that there is no merit to the advice provided within "Writing the Fiction Series," but that it hugely overgeneralizes over and over again. After tripping over a silent, "but that's not true for SF/F/H" for the sixth time, everything I read became suspect.
Finally, in an attempt to illustrate both sides to each argument (for example, how close together series installments should be released, or whether a book or series should be left open-ended), Wiesner succeeds only in waffling between the stances that she prevents. The books suffers from an overabundance of "on the other hand"s and "of course, so-and-so does it differently."
Overall, I am very, very glad to both be done reading "Writing the Fiction Series" and that I can't remember if I paid money for it. If you are an unestablished or partially-established commercial romance writer, this book could very well do you a lot of good and is definitely worth reading. For everyone else, however, I offer this advice: get it from the library, and don't hesitate to return it early if you can't make it through the whole thing.
June 7, 2013
Writing the Fiction Series: The Guide for Novels and Novellas by Karen S. Wiesner
Not only does this book fill in a long overdue gap in craft skills for novel writers, but it also delivers. Although I knew a preview copy was enroute, I couldn’t wait so purchased the kindle copy to get started. And I stayed up very late my first night reading. This does not happen very often with craft books. In fact only a few of the writing books I read make it to my column.
Wiesner is also the author of First Draft in 30 Days, and From First Draft to Finished Novel. One ongoing feature of her books is her inclusion of practical, accessible worksheets and graphs. Organizing one novel can be daunting at times let alone a series. Wiesner skillfully blends the organizational skills together into comprehensive sanity. Although, here I do need to note that the sketches and outlines didn’t always show up well on the e-book version. The print copy is much better at the design layout for easier reading.
In Writing the Fiction Series she extends her additional resources first, by including ongoing advice and encouragement from series authors and publishers across multiple genres, and second, by making the full interviews available on her website. There are over one hundred. This is a field that is vibrant and hungry for good writing. http://www.angelfire.com/stars4/kswie...
And that is the key behind this book: writing a quality series. Wiesner details the definitions, catalyst, styles, focus, organization, and marketing required for any series by showing explicit examples, case studies and stumbling blocks. She thoroughly examines and warns about the importance of characters and consistency when writing across extended novels. On the surface this might seem to be common sense, but in reality it is a danger that can sink your series, and/or lose future readers.
Writing the Fiction Series warns you of the potential landmines and shows you navigable routes to write a sustainable high-concept fiction series and enjoy the process. Advice that is long overdue. Advice that is fun to implement.
Read deep, marcy
http://mythicimpact.blogspot.com
Not only does this book fill in a long overdue gap in craft skills for novel writers, but it also delivers. Although I knew a preview copy was enroute, I couldn’t wait so purchased the kindle copy to get started. And I stayed up very late my first night reading. This does not happen very often with craft books. In fact only a few of the writing books I read make it to my column.
Wiesner is also the author of First Draft in 30 Days, and From First Draft to Finished Novel. One ongoing feature of her books is her inclusion of practical, accessible worksheets and graphs. Organizing one novel can be daunting at times let alone a series. Wiesner skillfully blends the organizational skills together into comprehensive sanity. Although, here I do need to note that the sketches and outlines didn’t always show up well on the e-book version. The print copy is much better at the design layout for easier reading.
In Writing the Fiction Series she extends her additional resources first, by including ongoing advice and encouragement from series authors and publishers across multiple genres, and second, by making the full interviews available on her website. There are over one hundred. This is a field that is vibrant and hungry for good writing. http://www.angelfire.com/stars4/kswie...
And that is the key behind this book: writing a quality series. Wiesner details the definitions, catalyst, styles, focus, organization, and marketing required for any series by showing explicit examples, case studies and stumbling blocks. She thoroughly examines and warns about the importance of characters and consistency when writing across extended novels. On the surface this might seem to be common sense, but in reality it is a danger that can sink your series, and/or lose future readers.
Writing the Fiction Series warns you of the potential landmines and shows you navigable routes to write a sustainable high-concept fiction series and enjoy the process. Advice that is long overdue. Advice that is fun to implement.
Read deep, marcy
http://mythicimpact.blogspot.com
June 5, 2021
For someone that is starting in my fiction writing journey, this book provided great insights into how to think about and prepare for a series. It had very specific guidance and case studies for review.
August 2, 2019
This book does a satisfactory job presenting the issues that face an author tackling a fiction series. There are lots of issues and pros/cons raised, and it helped me insofar as it immersed my brain in these problems.
However, it is exceedingly poorly put together. Weisner interviewed many series authors for this book (which is lovely), but made the unfortunate choice to spam the reader with full quotes presented in the form of long lists of "John Smith says, 'quote'. Jane Doe says, 'quote.'"—repeatedly, throughout the whole book. The material, presented this way, lacks coherence. And because authors often have different views, it makes it difficult to gather any useful takeaways. Moreover, she seems to have no guiding thesis that could sustain a craft book of this type. Certainly I can appreciate that rules are made to be broken, but she hasn't even presented rules in a way that is usable.
She includes many blank "worksheets" to use, but many of them (such as character sheets) do not add value. Inclusion of case studies of popular novels is helpful, but she includes "case studies" for the entirety of books 1-7 of Harry Potter—her two appendices take up nearly half of the book, and seem to be included for no reason other than to make the book seem long enough.
I picked up this book hoping for a framework for thinking about how to organize a series, but she hasn't given it to me. I do have a better sense of the questions that I face, but no answers or even an efficient approach to tackling them.
However, it is exceedingly poorly put together. Weisner interviewed many series authors for this book (which is lovely), but made the unfortunate choice to spam the reader with full quotes presented in the form of long lists of "John Smith says, 'quote'. Jane Doe says, 'quote.'"—repeatedly, throughout the whole book. The material, presented this way, lacks coherence. And because authors often have different views, it makes it difficult to gather any useful takeaways. Moreover, she seems to have no guiding thesis that could sustain a craft book of this type. Certainly I can appreciate that rules are made to be broken, but she hasn't even presented rules in a way that is usable.
She includes many blank "worksheets" to use, but many of them (such as character sheets) do not add value. Inclusion of case studies of popular novels is helpful, but she includes "case studies" for the entirety of books 1-7 of Harry Potter—her two appendices take up nearly half of the book, and seem to be included for no reason other than to make the book seem long enough.
I picked up this book hoping for a framework for thinking about how to organize a series, but she hasn't given it to me. I do have a better sense of the questions that I face, but no answers or even an efficient approach to tackling them.
March 21, 2019
Good beginning but
I think this is a good start but I’m going to be honest - I’m disappointed. I didn’t learn much from this book about series at all. As a writer, I want to learn how to juggle multiple characters and plot arcs through a story and a series but there was no touch on that. It was more like here’s what a series need (lots of definitions and interviews) but no actual HOW to go about doing them.
I think this is a good start but I’m going to be honest - I’m disappointed. I didn’t learn much from this book about series at all. As a writer, I want to learn how to juggle multiple characters and plot arcs through a story and a series but there was no touch on that. It was more like here’s what a series need (lots of definitions and interviews) but no actual HOW to go about doing them.
September 14, 2016
I've been searching high and low for a book on this topic. This was fabulous and so helpful. Highly recommend it.
October 16, 2018
I picked this book to find out how author's create arcs and characters for a series. However, this book leans a little too much into cozy mysteries and romance series for me and I found much of the information about series not very useful. Here is an example: "The word series has many connotations in fiction writing, but in the most basic sense, an ongoing book series is any continuing or interconnected set of stories." Okay, I already knew that. It seems obvious. The author goes on to elaborate on what ties series together. I had no problem with that, but in her examples she should have included a Lee Child, a James Patterson or even Robert Ludlum. Lee Child purposly doesn't describe Jack Reacher in detail. Is it important to leave things to the reader's imagination or describe in detail like Sue Grafton or let them identify with the hero like Lee Child? Do most authors stumble into a series or purpously write one? For example, Jack Reacher is a loner, like the Lone Ranger, Reacher goes on his way stumbling across crime and helping people. Overall Writing the Fiction series was an okay book but it was no page turner. And if you're reading more books like this instead of writing, put it down and get going with your own story.
March 18, 2019
With a different, more honest title, this book would get a four stars from me. But who ever chose the title was trying to draw in a larger audience than the book actually stands to serve. More properly, this book should be labeled "Writing the Romance Fiction Series".
Karen S. Wiesner writes commercial romance, mostly, though looking at Amazon, she seems to have taken a turn to writing book on writing for the last few years. I would certainly be concerned if anyone tried to copy her book cover styles. She holds them up near the end of the book as examples of branding, and while they may have served her fine in the earlier 2000's, they do not scream quality covers in today's market (2019). She does, however, make an excellent point about series logos, which I do recommend.
The rest of the book is half quotes from authors she interviewed, or quotes from readers she found on message boards by readers, and half recommendations on series writing (once she's done defining what styles of series exist.) I found the first fifty pages the most useful in general. After that, I found the material very focused on romance and not so useful for my genres. The last hundred plus pages are appendixes and charts and worksheets.
Karen S. Wiesner writes commercial romance, mostly, though looking at Amazon, she seems to have taken a turn to writing book on writing for the last few years. I would certainly be concerned if anyone tried to copy her book cover styles. She holds them up near the end of the book as examples of branding, and while they may have served her fine in the earlier 2000's, they do not scream quality covers in today's market (2019). She does, however, make an excellent point about series logos, which I do recommend.
The rest of the book is half quotes from authors she interviewed, or quotes from readers she found on message boards by readers, and half recommendations on series writing (once she's done defining what styles of series exist.) I found the first fifty pages the most useful in general. After that, I found the material very focused on romance and not so useful for my genres. The last hundred plus pages are appendixes and charts and worksheets.
January 24, 2018
If you want to know how to plan and write a fiction series in any genre, check this book out. When it comes to providing examples, Wiesner does toot her own horn but also provides other authors' examples which balances out the experiences. It's not a fast read by any means, especially if you plan to use the appendixes to try out some of her suggestions on your own writing. One of the few books where I read and realized that I needed for my own collection.
November 17, 2023
Come along with the author for their exploration on what makes a series. It's alright. A lot of plotting scaffolds at the back. My stuff seems to fit their structure which I guess is reassuring, but its hard to know that I'm not just forcing it to fit into a pretty generic outline. I'd still recommend the book tho
December 15, 2016
So so many helpful things in this book. I've been working on a series for 7 years, changing it constantly because I didn't know where it was going or how I wanted it to end. Karen Wiesner is amazing and knows her stuff.
October 4, 2019
I just didn’t feel like this was very helpful at all! It was more about the pros and cons of writing a series, now HOW TO write a series, which is what I was looking for. The worksheets at the back are kind of helpful but other than that this wasn’t what I was looking for.
April 3, 2021
Great research, and I’ve marked this one up like in the old days. I do think there’s a bit more reference to Wiesner’s own work than might be necessary, but the sample pages for series bibles and individual story arcs are definitely going to be used.
December 29, 2023
This might have been more helpful when I first picked it up a couple of years ago, but with writing YouTube Videos flourishing nowadays, this book is more useful for those who have just started their writing journey and have not looked elsewhere for any help.
December 21, 2018
Excellent book on writing a series. A must for authors who want to write a fiction series.
May 15, 2022
Definitely took away a number of ingenious tactics for developing and writing fiction series.
June 2, 2018
It took a long time to read this, but I do believe it made some good material for any newcomers in the world of writing fiction. A lot of people don’t realize how much work actually goes into writing a novel now a days, at least, if it’s going to a well written one.
The book was a way to realize what exactly needed to be done in order to really get started; I especially liked the way it differentiated between story arc and the series arc; I’m currently in the process of working on a series, and that information feels very useful.
Also, total side note, the book also references Harry Potter a lot for the process in relation to what the chapter is about, and since I love HP, that was also a plus, and it helped make some stuff make more sense actually.
I also liked how the author interviewed so many different authors on their process and what they did for their books/series and it’s relieving, but also nerve racking how they can be so different. It makes it harder to decide what’s going to work for you personally, but still a good starting point.
The only thing I really questioned was in the post writing section was when you decide to space out your books if you’re writing a series. They said you should do two or three a year because readers will be impatient and lose interest. On the reader side, yes I agree I’d be impatient waiting for one book a year (and I have for some books, sometimes 1 year+) but if I’m a fan, I’d still be loyal and wait, at least if the series seemed interesting enough to continue with. Looking into the author, I see she writes a lot of the harlequin romance series or books in that kind of work, so maybe the waiting period expectation is different since those aren’t as thick of reads? Maybe, I’m not sure, but it’s a guess.
Overall, I think this book proves useful for a new writer wanting to start a fictional book or series and just needs a good reference on how to start it. I wouldn’t go exactly by what they say on every page, but still a great resource for a newcomer like myself to get a good sense of where to start and what information needs to be found out in order to start the writing process!
The book was a way to realize what exactly needed to be done in order to really get started; I especially liked the way it differentiated between story arc and the series arc; I’m currently in the process of working on a series, and that information feels very useful.
Also, total side note, the book also references Harry Potter a lot for the process in relation to what the chapter is about, and since I love HP, that was also a plus, and it helped make some stuff make more sense actually.
I also liked how the author interviewed so many different authors on their process and what they did for their books/series and it’s relieving, but also nerve racking how they can be so different. It makes it harder to decide what’s going to work for you personally, but still a good starting point.
The only thing I really questioned was in the post writing section was when you decide to space out your books if you’re writing a series. They said you should do two or three a year because readers will be impatient and lose interest. On the reader side, yes I agree I’d be impatient waiting for one book a year (and I have for some books, sometimes 1 year+) but if I’m a fan, I’d still be loyal and wait, at least if the series seemed interesting enough to continue with. Looking into the author, I see she writes a lot of the harlequin romance series or books in that kind of work, so maybe the waiting period expectation is different since those aren’t as thick of reads? Maybe, I’m not sure, but it’s a guess.
Overall, I think this book proves useful for a new writer wanting to start a fictional book or series and just needs a good reference on how to start it. I wouldn’t go exactly by what they say on every page, but still a great resource for a newcomer like myself to get a good sense of where to start and what information needs to be found out in order to start the writing process!
June 20, 2014
The title, "Writing a Fiction Series," speaks for itself. Karen Wiesner has produced a tremendous manual on how to achieve the fiction series you are longing to write. It doesn't matter if the series is short or long, Wiesner provides the nuts-and-bolts of all things writing over an extended number of volumes.
All the basic concepts are covered from vocabulary to plot development. There are a number of terms you may be unaware of while developing your series; this book will provide the terminology you need to communicate to others in the writing and publishing industry what are want to get across to readers.
She discusses the micro- and macro-levels of your series are laid out, explained, discussed, and shown how to develop.
And the best part of the book is the massive amount of illustrations. A good third of the book's length, practically, is filled with examples from a slew of series in a variety of genres. If you require illustrations aside from the abstract discussion, this book has plenty of them to get the points across.
I should say, while this book is geared toward fictional series, the same concepts and technique readily apply to the non-fiction series as well. Of course, there are other things to deal with in a non-fiction series that you might not have to confront in a fictional series--such as research, bibliography, and notes--but the premises of Wiesner's fictional series explanations can still apply.
I would highly recommend this book for the aspiring or established reader who is looking to further their writing skills through the development of a series. Wiesner show how fun the process can be while covering all the bases.
Happy writing!
All the basic concepts are covered from vocabulary to plot development. There are a number of terms you may be unaware of while developing your series; this book will provide the terminology you need to communicate to others in the writing and publishing industry what are want to get across to readers.
She discusses the micro- and macro-levels of your series are laid out, explained, discussed, and shown how to develop.
And the best part of the book is the massive amount of illustrations. A good third of the book's length, practically, is filled with examples from a slew of series in a variety of genres. If you require illustrations aside from the abstract discussion, this book has plenty of them to get the points across.
I should say, while this book is geared toward fictional series, the same concepts and technique readily apply to the non-fiction series as well. Of course, there are other things to deal with in a non-fiction series that you might not have to confront in a fictional series--such as research, bibliography, and notes--but the premises of Wiesner's fictional series explanations can still apply.
I would highly recommend this book for the aspiring or established reader who is looking to further their writing skills through the development of a series. Wiesner show how fun the process can be while covering all the bases.
Happy writing!
July 7, 2013
I loved this book! It has so much useful info about the writing process but more specifically, for writing a series (which is virtually all I do). I've never found another book on writing that catered specifically to series or one that was so insightful (no matter the story length). The only issue I had (and I'm not sure if I'd even call it an issue really...) with this book was the author was a bit....self-promoting? With several of the examples, she used her own work as a reference. I understand you want to promote and of course you know your own work better than anyone else's but after awhile, it just got kind of obnoxious. MY series this and MY series that. I don't know; maybe that's just a personal pet peeve but I find it kind of...arrogant I guess. Though she does have every right to do so since she's published 100+ books. Again, not really an actual issue with the book or writing. I'd still recommend this to every writer on the PLANET!
March 1, 2017
This book was very helpful in changing the way I think about planning a series; it's exactly the resource I needed for looking at the big picture beyond the individual novel. In particular, the appendices with worksheets and examples were very useful, and I will continue to use them as resources in the future.
Wiesner clearly comes from a viewpoint of experience, having written many series. This is good, because I can accept her authority on the subject. Although her ability to give first-hand examples to illustrate her points was helpful, I found it superfluous to the point of annoyance at times. It seemed like she was "tooting her own horn" or trying to push her own writing. I skimmed over many of the sections where--for pages at a time--she illustrated her points through details from her own books.
Wiesner clearly comes from a viewpoint of experience, having written many series. This is good, because I can accept her authority on the subject. Although her ability to give first-hand examples to illustrate her points was helpful, I found it superfluous to the point of annoyance at times. It seemed like she was "tooting her own horn" or trying to push her own writing. I skimmed over many of the sections where--for pages at a time--she illustrated her points through details from her own books.
October 11, 2015
This is a pretty good book. I like that it's for writing series, rather than just one book. As my stories all seem to end up having series potential, it seems, this is the kind of information I need. This is one of those books one needs to read more than once as it has a lot of information in it. My hope is that this book will help me organize the mishmash that is my series thingies and help me make sense of them so I stop ending up curled in a ball on the floor twitching about how something I should know works and somehow doesn't. A good book and I recommend it for any planning on writing a series, or believe the book they are writing will end up spawning "siblings."
June 30, 2014
Excellent resource if you're going to be writing any kind of fictional series. The worksheets at the back will really help you get your series organized and keep track of all your different character arcs, etc.
April 4, 2015
This book is intended as a resource for authors developing a series. Although much of it maybe common sense and overloaded with examples, an author could use this as a checklist for series development. It also includes worksheets that an author could tweak for his or her own style.
June 11, 2025
Very Informative
This book had a lot of good information. It's written for traditionally published authors but as an indie author I was still able to take a lot away from it and learn the tips and tricks of writing a successful series.
This book had a lot of good information. It's written for traditionally published authors but as an indie author I was still able to take a lot away from it and learn the tips and tricks of writing a successful series.
January 27, 2016
If you're considering writing a series, this is where you must start. Included are lots of extras that you will go to again and again to keep things straight. It doesn't just contain advice on writing the series but additional how to sell it to a publisher and/or market your series.
July 3, 2013
Great advice - good examples…
September 14, 2014
Insightful and valuable advice which I hope to have a use for one day soon...
April 16, 2017
Good overview of the series writing process and a lot of great resources and insights from series authors. I would like to see information on Indie series publishing given its growth in readership/sales in the past few years. Also, some of the current examples could be edited without losing the gist of the information to be shared. Karen, thank you for sharing your experiences and that of many other successful series authors. -Sally Ann Sims, Author of Halt at X: A North of Boston Novel
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