What’s Different About Writing a Series?

Since The Halo Effect is the first book in my first eries, I’m curious to ask you all some questions.

The real struggle I’m facing is how to keep each book vital on its own and yet connect each to the last. I think Daniel Silva has done this really well. As has Lee Child . Douglas Preston and Lincoln Childs , Michael Dibdin and Laurie R. King also manage to keep their series fresh and exciting.

But some other series I’ve read get really bogged down after the first three or four books. I don’t want to mention names but one of the most common problems center around the main character’s love life if the author includes it.

You all know the books I mean, the protagonist keeps breaking up and getting back together with the man or woman in their life, over and over and over until finally you throw the book across the room saying – enough already.

The other issue I have is with amateur sleuths who keep happening on murders. This is handled better or worse depending on the author. Sometimes I don’t even notice how odd it is, other times it becomes ludicrous.

I’m hoping I can avoid those two issues by writing some of the Butterfield Institute novels about Dr. Morgan Snow and some about other therapists who work there. Except I’ve sort of fallen in love with Snow and am up to book three and she’s still demanding I tell her stories.

So I thought I’d ask you, dear readers, to warn me about what other pitfalls are out there. What’s your gripe with series mystery or suspense? What works for you? What is done too much? What’s not done enough? What should I try? Avoid?