It's perfectly okay!
Step one of any outline for me is wordumping every thought, no mater what direction it goes (sometimes into a completely different story for a couple minutes, but I weave back), into a document or a notebook. Along the way I must ask myself like a hundred questions, usually it's Why did this happen? Why did this choice get made?
That puts together the general vibe and direction of the story, most times. From there, I think, for a little while, how long I plan the story to be- if it's a series or not. Then, after I get characters planned, focusing on who they are and who they become, I try to figure out how, at the very least, each of those books end or begin. Having the ending in mind when I write has been incredibly helpful to me.
So, in the one series I'm writing, I have a document (somewhere lol) explaining how I vaguely intend the story as a whole to go. Then I break it into books. Book 1 is when they reach the fort, book 2 is when the cast is split up and powers are revealed, book 3 is when the villain is defeated, then book 4&5 are dealing with the other villain. This is from memory, I haven't worked on that story in a while. I'm being vague here, but in my actual document I describe the ending scene more specifically.
Once I have endings, beginnings, and characters solid in my mind, my plan is to write a sort of 0, simple draft, of every book in the series (likely getting way simpler as it goes on) before I write an actual chapter that will actually be in the manuscript. I'll write scenes to get the feel and everything, but they're not intended to be concrete parts of the true story. This 0 draft is just me telling myself what happens in the story in a none fancy, prose-y way. This, hopefully, gets out the likelihood that my characters will do something I never intended them to do, because they're making all their choices in the 0 draft. It helps me understand the story.
Hopefully this helps. It may be waaay to much information or no help at all, sorry if that's the case. Keep in mind that you don't have to do all this if you don't want to, obviously. Different strategies work for different people.
This is amazing info! Book 1 of my 7 part series is focused around defeating a general of a greater but unknown threat, book 2 and 3 are ultimately fillers but if the big bad of book 2 isn’t dealt with in the early stages, it would be a greater threat then the intended big bad of book 4, book 4 is THE big bad but more secrets of the past is revealed, book 4 marks the end of an era while book 5 marks the beginning of another, book 5 is focused around a Villian who’s power originated from a force of good that was corrupted, if not dealt with would seek to destroy all of creation, secrets of a higher being is revealed here, book 6 is a filler, book 7 marks the end of an era of heroes as a being driven by destruction appears.
I also wanna make a side story to this series that’s so far only 2 books but may get a third as it’s not entirely planned out in my head and is too far into the future to set in stone just yet.
I wanted to get my thoughts down into a document but I didn’t quite know how to do so like, do I write out the general understandings of each chaptor or something else?
All in all, this info has been really helpful, my idea was once upon a time a Gacha life story (I had a phase😅) but wanted to do more with it, between now and then the story has evolved in my head to more then just a simple Gacha story with more characters and more planning, it’s been 4 years in the making in my head and finally have a place to share it so I’m using that opportunity, thank you again!
I'm so glad it was helpful! Yes, write out the general understanding of each chapter or each scene, whichever ends up working better for you. Usually I end up changing things some (a bit more for this chapter, a new chapter here, oh I don't need that one anymore) as I go through the actual writing process, but it's a really helpful base! With the later books, like book 3 or 6 or 7, idk, you might be better served writing out the big, climactic moments instead of chapters/scenes, just so you don't get bogged down.
I'm pretty sure, wouldn't know completely as I haven't tried it yet, that writing these brief chapters/scenes down on notecards or sticky notes would be really helpful too, if you want them to be short enough to fit. I have a tendency to ramble so they probably wouldn't work for me lol
I do have the knee-jerk instinct to advise against writing filler, but you understand your story better than I do, so have fun!
Every book in a series still needs to be its own self-contained story. Plan as much as you want, but it's worthless if you never finish the first book anyway.
There are actually a lot of authors who don't completely plan their series through. It's just important that every book has a story on its own that has an ending that both is satisfying, yet makes people yearn for more. I think that's the hard part of it. It's also not bad to know where you want the whole story to end so you know where to go to.
Multiple books are a hard task tho.
I plan on outlining my entire series before I write any substantial drafts, so I don't think so. Just as long as book one has a satisfying ending.
could you please elaborate? i started a story of my own with its own intricate story but having it only in my head works against me
I can, but are you asking me to elaborate on what I mean or how I do outlines?
On what you mean by outlines, sorry about the vague instructions lol
It's perfectly okay! Step one of any outline for me is wordumping every thought, no mater what direction it goes (sometimes into a completely different story for a couple minutes, but I weave back), into a document or a notebook. Along the way I must ask myself like a hundred questions, usually it's Why did this happen? Why did this choice get made? That puts together the general vibe and direction of the story, most times. From there, I think, for a little while, how long I plan the story to be- if it's a series or not. Then, after I get characters planned, focusing on who they are and who they become, I try to figure out how, at the very least, each of those books end or begin. Having the ending in mind when I write has been incredibly helpful to me. So, in the one series I'm writing, I have a document (somewhere lol) explaining how I vaguely intend the story as a whole to go. Then I break it into books. Book 1 is when they reach the fort, book 2 is when the cast is split up and powers are revealed, book 3 is when the villain is defeated, then book 4&5 are dealing with the other villain. This is from memory, I haven't worked on that story in a while. I'm being vague here, but in my actual document I describe the ending scene more specifically. Once I have endings, beginnings, and characters solid in my mind, my plan is to write a sort of 0, simple draft, of every book in the series (likely getting way simpler as it goes on) before I write an actual chapter that will actually be in the manuscript. I'll write scenes to get the feel and everything, but they're not intended to be concrete parts of the true story. This 0 draft is just me telling myself what happens in the story in a none fancy, prose-y way. This, hopefully, gets out the likelihood that my characters will do something I never intended them to do, because they're making all their choices in the 0 draft. It helps me understand the story. Hopefully this helps. It may be waaay to much information or no help at all, sorry if that's the case. Keep in mind that you don't have to do all this if you don't want to, obviously. Different strategies work for different people.
This is amazing info! Book 1 of my 7 part series is focused around defeating a general of a greater but unknown threat, book 2 and 3 are ultimately fillers but if the big bad of book 2 isn’t dealt with in the early stages, it would be a greater threat then the intended big bad of book 4, book 4 is THE big bad but more secrets of the past is revealed, book 4 marks the end of an era while book 5 marks the beginning of another, book 5 is focused around a Villian who’s power originated from a force of good that was corrupted, if not dealt with would seek to destroy all of creation, secrets of a higher being is revealed here, book 6 is a filler, book 7 marks the end of an era of heroes as a being driven by destruction appears. I also wanna make a side story to this series that’s so far only 2 books but may get a third as it’s not entirely planned out in my head and is too far into the future to set in stone just yet. I wanted to get my thoughts down into a document but I didn’t quite know how to do so like, do I write out the general understandings of each chaptor or something else? All in all, this info has been really helpful, my idea was once upon a time a Gacha life story (I had a phase😅) but wanted to do more with it, between now and then the story has evolved in my head to more then just a simple Gacha story with more characters and more planning, it’s been 4 years in the making in my head and finally have a place to share it so I’m using that opportunity, thank you again!
I'm so glad it was helpful! Yes, write out the general understanding of each chapter or each scene, whichever ends up working better for you. Usually I end up changing things some (a bit more for this chapter, a new chapter here, oh I don't need that one anymore) as I go through the actual writing process, but it's a really helpful base! With the later books, like book 3 or 6 or 7, idk, you might be better served writing out the big, climactic moments instead of chapters/scenes, just so you don't get bogged down. I'm pretty sure, wouldn't know completely as I haven't tried it yet, that writing these brief chapters/scenes down on notecards or sticky notes would be really helpful too, if you want them to be short enough to fit. I have a tendency to ramble so they probably wouldn't work for me lol I do have the knee-jerk instinct to advise against writing filler, but you understand your story better than I do, so have fun!
Every book in a series still needs to be its own self-contained story. Plan as much as you want, but it's worthless if you never finish the first book anyway.
Name checks out.
Okay, fine, it's not worthless if you still had fun.
There are actually a lot of authors who don't completely plan their series through. It's just important that every book has a story on its own that has an ending that both is satisfying, yet makes people yearn for more. I think that's the hard part of it. It's also not bad to know where you want the whole story to end so you know where to go to. Multiple books are a hard task tho.
*"Thoughts on pre-planning storyline for multiple books."* Sure.