Writing one book can be a challenge keeping up with the plot much less the height and hair color or your hero. Add a series to this mayhem and you have literary chaos. I’ve had heroines whose eye color changed with the turn of the page, steps that simply went missing and rooms that moved more than Hogwarts’ staircases. As any good writer (or writing team) would do, I’ve come up with a few tips.
WHO’S ON FIRST?
First, start a spreadsheet or other form of recordkeeping so that when you’re writing book two in the series, your heroine from book one maintains her eye color. If you are meticulous in these records, then you won’t have things like “(insert eye color here)” or “the humor in her blue eyes” when your heroine was a brown-eyed brunette in the first book.
I like to track things including jobs, parents, even what foods they like or don’t like. Some other examples of things to include in your spreadsheet are the character’s names – especially if you have characters who are related to one another or have names that begin with the same character. Not sure what I mean?
Okay – how about this? There are two secondary male characters in our most recent release, Changing Paths – one named Kajika, one named Keme. They’re Native American, they’re shapeshifters and they both turn into wolves. Kaj is in his mid-30s with lots of tattoos and really long hair. Keme is 17 and a senior in high school. Kind of like twins only not. Now, you’re saying to yourself that it’s easy to tell them apart, right? Well…not necessarily.
When you’re in the heat of a scene, sometimes your brain goes on vacation. The 17 year old is all crushed out over a 16 year old girl in this book. When I switch names, making Kaj Keme, I now have a 30 year old ogling a 16 year old. Now in most states that’d get Kaj arrested! And it’s DEFINITELY not the action of a heroic character. So, make notes in your margins, start a spreadsheet, keep track of your characters. Otherwise the heroine in book three could have changed weight and hair color by book four.
Now you’re telling yourself that there’s no way you’d forget a character’s attributes – after all, you created them, they’re YOURS. Sometimes they do take on a life of their own. Sometimes you lose track of who’s doing what…or, since I write erotica, whom. In my M/m BDSM, Needing Harte, not only did I headhop, but we completely reversed the roles of the two male leads. Let’s just say that turning the Dominant Cop into the submissive stripper was kind of a big deal. Luckily I caught it before causing my editor to shriek with pained laughter. Laughter good. Pained laughter bad. Very bad.
DELUSIONAL?
How often does this happen? Well…here’s where things really get interesting. I’m two people. I don’t mean I’ve got a pseudonym. Nor am I schizophrenic or delusional. Well, I might be delusional since I do listen to the voices in my head.
What I mean is that Marilu Mann is actually a writing team. Yep, there are two of us. We’ve been friends for close to forty years now. Because you have two writers, sometimes one of us switches out the characters or changes the eye color of a character or even moves the kitchen from the first floor of a bar to the second floor – or was it from the second floor to the first?? In any event, because we are a team, sometimes one of us ‘forgets’ – hence the (insert blah-blah here) that might appear in our manuscript. Sometimes it’s funny, sometimes it’s annoying, sometimes it’s downright hysterical. Still, that’s why you read, re-read, have a Beta reader, and don’t depend only on your editor to catch those things.
Let me repeat that. Do not depend on your editor. It is not his or her job to catch those mistakes. The editor’s job is to tighten your writing, point out where you need to expand or condense and make your story overall a better read.
WATCH OUT FOR THAT HOLE
Writing as a team has its own set of pitfalls. You are bound to have conversations that go something like this:
“Hey, her eyes are brown.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes I’m sure. He calls them brown like chocolate syrup, remember?”
“Oh yeah…”
We have sidebar conversations in comments too.
C: Why are we in Minnesota? The Lodge is in Wisconsin.
A: It is? Hmmm, when did that happen?
C: In book freaking three? Remember? Micah goes home to tell them he can’t be Alpha?
A: Hmm. So I should change all 200 references to Minnesota to Wisconsin?
C: Sigh.
Or you might engage in this architectural delight:
“Um, wasn’t the kitchen on the second floor?”
“I dunno. Check the first chapter. I thought it was on the first floor.”
“No, that’s where the shop is.”
“Oh hell. I just wrote 1500 words on the second floor.”
“Well we’ve only got 250 about it on the first floor. I’ll call the architect and have him move it.”
Har-dee-har-har and so it goes.
SPREAD ‘EM, SWEETHEART
Did we mention that spreadsheets are very helpful when writing a series? You can start them at any time. Many authors refer to them as the series “bible”. For example, if you’re going to write about a bunch of shapeshifters, it’s helpful to remember what they become. Your readers will remember. And they will point out what you forgot. In one case, one of our moms asked us where the steps went in Lusting Wild 1: Changing Times. No one caught that and it went to print that way. Luckily the subsequent books didn’t have any architectural missteps (I can hear you groaning from here.)
Now we’ve never had a werecat become a werewolf, but wouldn’t that be odd? I wonder if there’s a market for the werewolf who decided he was a werecat trapped in a wolf’s body. I can hear my editor from here. Definitely pained laughter.
Have you read any books with funny mistakes like missing steps or character’s with shifting eye colors? We’d love to hear your tales as well. We are so interested in hearing from you that we are giving away prizes!
Read a four star review of Changing Paths by clicking here.
Buy a Kindle copy of Changing Paths from Amazon by clicking here.
Books in the Lusting Wild series in the order they should be read:
Changing Times
Changing Hearts
Changing Focus
Changing Paths
About Marilu Mann
Author Bio:
Who is Marilu is not such an easy question to answer. We have two answers. First up is the official bio. Marilu Mann brings the steaminess of the Louisiana bayous to her books and she doesn’t stop there. Marilu’s willing to travel to the frozen tundra of Wisconsin to heat up those northern nights and melt a little snow. She’ll also circle the world to Wales, Ireland, Scotland and back just to bring you books that make you sweat.
Currently residing in Texas, Marilu is an avid armchair traveler. Her sexy shifters will set your blood to boiling in no time. Owned by one Diva Daughter and various animals, Marilu keeps busy writing the novels her readers beg for.
Marilu is thrilled to be a part of the Ellora’s Cave family and loves to hear from readers.
The real bio is below.
Cai Smith and Stephanie Lynch met at Indian Creek Girl Scout camp in Louisiana. They were both there to become instructors in the Red Cross canoeing course, but unfortunately everyone else was there for a basic canoeing course. So Cai and Stephanie were thrown together by the whims of fate, not to mention a buff, good looking teacher, to practice their strokes.
Through a series of mishaps – including overturned canoes, a lopsided race, and a Three Musketeers candy bar (no, we will NOT go there!) – they discovered that they were living only a few streets apart and would be attending the same high school. Thus was born a friendship that has lasted through marriage / divorce / childbirth / and various and sundry other natural disasters.
Cai and Stephanie kept in touch via phone and cards, but it wasn’t until the advent of the Internet that they got serious about writing. Both have written all their lives. Both have always wanted to be an author. One email series kicked off their first manuscript which they finished as a rough draft (VERY rough draft) in three and a half months. Stephanie attended the RWA National Conference in Denver in 2002, and had the opportunity to pitch that first novel to an editor who requested a full. Not bad for a first pitch,eh? Though it was (nicely) rejected, they were started on a quest for publication.
Writing as Marilu Mann, they took the contest plunge in 2005. One manuscript placed in six contests and won two others. The winning manuscript was requested by two editors and two agents. This manuscript was bought by Brianna St. James at Ellora’s Cave in October 2007.Connect with Marilu
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CONTEST INFO:
Open to readers worldwide.
Prize 1: $50.00 Amazon Gift Card
Prize 2: 2 each $25.00 Amazon Gift Cards
Prize 3: 1 copy of 33 Days To Finish Your Book eCourse
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