Series Preparation
When I decided that I would write to publish and aimed to target developing a series I never considered looking at what other authors did. My whole career has been based within the information technology industry and so I was already utilising a suite of products which executed the framework for planning and tracking. I lean towards being a visual person so for me utilising mind mapping tools is a preference.
Adaptability to the plan is what I feel provides the best opportunity for me to set myself up for success. I detail what I believe to be the goals I want to set and then look at adding the finer details as the work is in progress. I’m always placing an enormous amount of pressure on myself to start and complete creative projects. My experience has demonstrated time and time again that life can get in the way of my ambitions if I allow it.
The image below depicts the high-level outline of the Soliloquy’s Labyrinth series. At the moment, it is mapped out to be a total of five books. People often ask how do I know prior to writing them that it will be a certain number. My answer is that I don’t know for sure, but it is how I have chosen to plan because I have five distinct interelated stories in mind. This may become four or extend to twelve. I choose to start at the point of knowing I want to approach the series this way and then allow it to evolve as the story does.
Initially I started with creating an outline of a map of the five books, then I extend the thoughts into target dates for the various milestones such as writing, book cover design, editing and then finally publishing. When I start writing I create another post to outline the chapters and names. There are times when I find myself pre-naming the chapters because of inspiration I received while writing. To me this is part of the excitement because I tend to often go on completely different tangents to what had been initially planned. Its wonderful and assists in keeping me entertained. Where is the fun in knowing everything well in advance? Writing is a joy because I am forever suprising myself.
At some point I will begin to think about what the book blurb could be and start considering the best promotional plan for the release of the novel and what this could entail. I’m almost always working to refine these aspects because there is no avoiding the need to promote, promote, promote. Indie self published authors must master the art of marketing their own work. I find this aspect challenging at times because of the massive time consumption required to do it effectively.
The above image is just an example of what I was capturing for Illuminarium. If you look at the book blurb under the Soliloquy’s Labyrinth series you will be able to compare what the thoughts were during the planning phase versus the end result.
Blessings ~ Truth Devour
Devour thy own truth ~ Quote By Truth Devour
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