WEBVTT 1 00:00:03.270 --> 00:00:05.219 ProWritingAid: Okay, Jackie. It looks like 2 00:00:05.410 --> 00:00:08.449 ProWritingAid: people are starting to filter in. Perfect nice one. 3 00:00:09.735 --> 00:00:10.780 ProWritingAid: Okay. 4 00:00:11.190 --> 00:00:29.590 ProWritingAid: Hello, everyone. I'm Sarah from writing aid. Thank you for joining us today. If you can see and hear me, please drop your name and location in the chat. We're already getting people doing that which is always nice, and at least that means you guys can hear me as well hopefully. So we've got 5 00:00:30.392 --> 00:00:40.039 ProWritingAid: Mari from Finland. We've got Shelby from Asa. Is that Arizona? Awesome we've got Katie from Canada. 6 00:00:40.806 --> 00:00:43.670 ProWritingAid: People from New York! 7 00:00:44.183 --> 00:00:50.230 ProWritingAid: We've got some people from still got Liz from Canada from U.S.A. 8 00:00:50.270 --> 00:00:57.090 ProWritingAid: New Mexico, Texas. That was a very excited Jace from Texas. By the looks of things. Alicia from Idaho. 9 00:00:57.900 --> 00:01:09.649 ProWritingAid: Oh, okay, the chat's going crazy. Now. Let's try to catch up with people anyone from the Uk. We got Michael Bylaws things from London. Uk, awesome. Okay, donkey. That's brilliant. So 10 00:01:10.353 --> 00:01:22.550 ProWritingAid: before we get started. We just have a few housekeeping items. So I'm just gonna go through those now. Hopefully, you guys can all see my screen. So 11 00:01:22.820 --> 00:01:40.760 ProWritingAid: first you can access your fancy week replays by going to the Hub page replays for Monday to Thursday. Sessions are available for everyone on the hub as soon as they're done processing by zoom, they'll also be posted to our community page for all members to view. By May third. 12 00:01:42.210 --> 00:02:01.430 ProWritingAid: Friday is our premium day for premium and premium pro members only. If you are a premium or premium pro user, you'll receive an email on Friday morning with instructions for accessing those sessions. So if you're worried during the week that you haven't had a link to Friday sessions, don't worry about it because it gets sent on Friday morning? 13 00:02:01.879 --> 00:02:26.249 ProWritingAid: And then, if you are a free user and you're interested in upgrading so that you can attend premium day, we have an offer for attendees this week for 25% off yearly, pre writing a premium and premium pro subscriptions. That's a lot of peas you can upgrade by Friday morning to receive access to the Premium Day sessions. So as long as you're upgraded before Friday or by Friday morning, then 14 00:02:26.250 --> 00:02:35.420 ProWritingAid: should catch the email. If you aren't, or you upgrade on Friday before the sessions start. And you haven't received the email, drop us an email and we'll get you the link to the hub. 15 00:02:36.280 --> 00:03:05.179 ProWritingAid: And then, if you would like to keep the fantasy writing conversation going, we'd love to have you in our private online writing. Community joining is easy. You simply visit the link shown on the screen, and then you can log in with your prorating aid account info, and then you can also hop over to the live event chat to talk to the other attendees. We also put some posts in there sometimes at the end of sessions, just to ask you guys what you thought to them. Especially are the interactive ones. 16 00:03:05.640 --> 00:03:06.575 ProWritingAid: Okay. 17 00:03:07.730 --> 00:03:32.690 ProWritingAid: remind us for this session. If you have any questions for our speaker, please use the Q&A box. You can usually find that if you've got zoom open big you can usually find it at the bottom. It's usually in the middle. If you hover over the screen, and then usually the buttons come up and you'll have a chat option and a Q&A option. So Q. And a. Is for questions for Savannah, and then, if you would like to chat with other viewers. 18 00:03:32.690 --> 00:03:39.679 ProWritingAid: please use the chat and be sure to select everyone, otherwise your messages will just come to the host and panelists. 19 00:03:40.960 --> 00:03:48.359 ProWritingAid: and then also links to the offers from protein aid, and our speaker will be available on the Fantasy week. Hub 20 00:03:48.420 --> 00:03:57.090 ProWritingAid: and I will also just post those into the chat now, so that you can grab them before we get started. 21 00:03:58.630 --> 00:04:00.999 ProWritingAid: There we go. 22 00:04:01.020 --> 00:04:11.589 ProWritingAid: so I've just dropped those in there. So that's the the Hub page where you can grab all the other links, the community link. And then also Savannah's little Freebie as well. 23 00:04:12.420 --> 00:04:17.269 ProWritingAid: Okay. So with all that being said, let me 24 00:04:17.589 --> 00:04:19.502 ProWritingAid: stop sharing my screen 25 00:04:20.300 --> 00:04:36.399 ProWritingAid: transfer over and we can get going. So today we are joined by Savannah Gilboe. So Savannah is a certified developmental editor and book coach who helps fiction. Authors write edit and publish stories that work. 26 00:04:36.460 --> 00:04:58.759 ProWritingAid: She also she's also the host of the top rated fiction writing made easy podcast where she delivers weekly episodes, full of simple actionable and step-by-step strategies that you can implement in your writing right away when she's not busy crafting her own stories. You can find Savannah car dealt with a good book, a cozy blanket, and her 3 furry partners in crime. 27 00:04:58.760 --> 00:05:11.009 ProWritingAid: which we've already have heard, like one of them is in the room, and the other 2 are in the other room. By the sounds so I think that's all from me. I will hand over to Savannah, and we can get going. 28 00:05:13.030 --> 00:05:39.730 Savannah Gilbo: Awesome. Hello, everybody! Can you see me? Okay. Am I in charge now? Let's see. Oh, I see, Nikki, I adore the doggos. Me, too. I've got my biggest one in here with me. You guys will hear him for sure when he dreams he yips, and it's very cute, so get ready. But we're here to talk about how to how to start planning a book series. So I'm curious. Put a yes or a no in the chat. Are you planning on writing a book series? 29 00:05:39.930 --> 00:05:41.210 Savannah Gilbo: Let me know. 30 00:05:41.500 --> 00:06:05.590 Savannah Gilbo: Yes, okay, lots of yeses. I love that. Let me go ahead and put my slides up here. So we're gonna dig into 5 steps to really just start planning. So this is gonna help. You kind of collect all of your ideas. And you know, get them into some sort of organized system so that you can actually start making progress. Okay? So a few housekeeping things before we dive into the details. 31 00:06:05.883 --> 00:06:30.560 Savannah Gilbo: If you wanna connect on social, you can find me on instagram@savannah.gilbo. I love seeing pictures of how and where you guys are tuning into the training. So if you're with your furry partners in crime, or your kids, or whatever you're doing, you have a cup of coffee, cup of wine whatever. Take a picture and tag me, and I will reshare them on my Instagram page. Okay, the other thing I have for you guys is a free. 32 00:06:30.560 --> 00:06:39.070 Savannah Gilbo: a book planning series worksheet. So basically, it's taking everything that we're going to talk about today and kind of. 33 00:06:39.070 --> 00:07:03.769 Savannah Gilbo: you know, high level recapping it and giving you some some space to do the work, to get your ideas out of your head and onto the page. So I see Deborah Deborah in the chat. I love your podcast. I thought you'd be taller. I'm only like 5, 3, 5, 4. So I'm not very tall. So go to Savannah. gilba.com forward slash Pwa, to get a copy of this worksheet. It is a Google Doc. 34 00:07:03.810 --> 00:07:18.949 Savannah Gilbo: So you will need to when it. When you open the link, it'll say, make a copy, and you will want to make a copy so that you can edit the document. Okay, so just I'll leave that up for a second. Savannah Gilbercom! Forward! Slash! Pwa 35 00:07:19.140 --> 00:07:46.049 Savannah Gilbo: and Amy! Hi, Amy! I see you in the chat. You put that in there for everyone. Alright. So here's where we're going today, we're gonna talk about what makes a series work. So what makes certain series successful and what makes other ones not work or not successful. We're gonna talk about how to craft a cohesive message across your series of books. We're gonna talk about how to start mapping out your character arc. So again, just getting those ideas out of your head and onto the page 36 00:07:46.190 --> 00:07:55.269 Savannah Gilbo: we're going to start about creating. And then we're going to talk about creating an antagonist hierarchy for your series. So we'll go into more details about that shortly. 37 00:07:55.280 --> 00:08:21.440 Savannah Gilbo: And then we're gonna talk about developing your story and your individual stories and your series plots. Okay? So we're gonna go into all the details of this in a second. And then hopefully, we'll have time for some. QAI am probably gonna talk a little fast, because it's in my nature to talk fast, but also because I do wanna have room for QA. At the end. So we are. Gonna get you these slides. You'll have the workbook and everything so 38 00:08:21.440 --> 00:08:26.380 Savannah Gilbo: hopefully, hopefully, I'll go fast enough to get through it, but slow enough to digest 39 00:08:26.390 --> 00:08:42.389 Savannah Gilbo: alright. So what makes a series successful versus unsuccessful? And I'm curious if there's any book series that come to mind in your heads that you've read that you're like that didn't work. Put them in the chat. I'm just curious what you guys will all say. 40 00:08:42.590 --> 00:08:49.039 Savannah Gilbo: Then we'll talk through what makes certain book series work and what makes other ones not work. Okay? So 41 00:08:49.430 --> 00:09:03.600 Savannah Gilbo: the very first thing a series works when it has a cohesive message and theme across its books. Okay, it doesn't. A series won't work when the message or that core theme is a logical or incohesive. 42 00:09:03.730 --> 00:09:10.490 Savannah Gilbo: Okay? So works when it has a cohesive message, doesn't work, when it has a illogical or incohesive message. 43 00:09:10.520 --> 00:09:33.358 Savannah Gilbo: it works when it has consistent genre makeup. So we'll go into that more in detail in a second. It doesn't work when it has a genre identity crisis. So I'm curious if some of these series that you're putting in the chat if they're not working, possibly because the genre flipped you know, midstream. So we'll we'll go into that a little more in detail. But I'm just 44 00:09:33.680 --> 00:09:42.860 Savannah Gilbo: you know. Just curious. All right. So series works when it has strong character arcs. It does not work when it has characters that will stagnate or kind of just 45 00:09:43.220 --> 00:09:59.320 Savannah Gilbo: fall flat about halfway through a series works when it has a plot that logically progresses and the conflict grows, escalates and complicates. A series will not work when the plot randomly jumps around and doesn't, you know, connect together or add up to something cohesive 46 00:10:00.150 --> 00:10:16.789 Savannah Gilbo: like I said, a series works when the conflict escalates, it grows and it complicates. So we want to see things, you know, get harder, get more difficult for the protagonist. As the story goes on, it won't work. If your conflict doesn't grow, escalate and complicate. 47 00:10:17.370 --> 00:10:46.589 Savannah Gilbo: A series will work when it starts small and kind of builds that narrative momentum. It won't work when the pacing and the narrative build is wrong. So we'll talk about that throughout the training as well. And then finally, a series works when it has momentum, so it has momentum, and it keeps that momentum going by doing all of these other things, and it falls flat or won't work when the momentum has run out. But the story continues. So I saw someone mention the sort of true series in the chat 48 00:10:46.730 --> 00:11:15.100 Savannah Gilbo: that was, it still is one of my favorite series. But we have to admit at some point. We ran out of momentum there, right? And the stories just continuing. And it's kind of like, did it need to go on so long? Right? Same thing is true with some of our favorite TV shows. It's like we just run out of steam and they keep going. Okay. So I'll leave this up for just a second and then we're gonna talk about different types of Book Series Cause. This is a a key decision that we need to make before we start planning a series. Okay. 49 00:11:15.330 --> 00:11:43.659 Savannah Gilbo: so what kind of series are you planning to write a series of standalone books? This is option one. This is a series that takes place in the same story world, and or follows the same character or characters, but each book is more about an event versus an overarching plot. Okay, so this could be something like, Sherlock Holmes. Even the Bridger 10 books right? They're in the same world. The same characters are present, but 50 00:11:43.660 --> 00:11:49.139 Savannah Gilbo: each book is kind of contained about a different set of characters or a different problem. 51 00:11:49.890 --> 00:12:17.580 Savannah Gilbo: a dynamic series. This is a series of books that will follow a character or group of characters across multiple books in which that plot problem grows, escalates, and complicates. So both plot and character have to evolve over time for this kind of series to work. This is something like Harry Potter, or, you know the game of Thrones series. This is pretty much what we're gonna be focusing on today. So we're gonna focus on a dynamic series where that plot problem grows, escalates and complicates. 52 00:12:17.880 --> 00:12:41.119 Savannah Gilbo: Okay? And then, finally, there's the anthology series that includes books that are linked by a defining element like theme or setting, but they offer feature, a different cast of characters per book, but not always so. My favorite example of this could be something like the goosebumps books right? Every story is completely different, but they all do the same thing essentially 53 00:12:42.230 --> 00:13:05.910 Savannah Gilbo: alright. So let's dive into the 5 steps. So once you've decided what you're going to, what kind of series you're gonna write like I said, we're gonna be focusing on this because this is what a lot of fantasy series are, they are dynamic series that follow a character or group of characters across multiple books. Then you can dive into these 5 steps. So the 5 steps to start planning your book series 54 00:13:06.080 --> 00:13:31.079 Savannah Gilbo: Number one, we want to identify the theme of your series and the theme of each individual story in your series. So again, I'm gonna say, this, multiple times throughout the training, we're not gonna know all the answers to every piece of these steps. Okay? So when I say, identify your series, theme and your stories theme each individual stories theme. That doesn't mean you have to do it exactly and perfectly before you move on to any 55 00:13:31.080 --> 00:13:39.440 Savannah Gilbo: anything else. Okay? So we're just gonna do our best and expect that we're not gonna have every single answer to every single thing, especially when you just start planning 56 00:13:39.690 --> 00:13:47.180 Savannah Gilbo: step number 2 is to determine your series genre and your individual books genres. We'll talk about that more in a second 57 00:13:47.210 --> 00:13:52.979 Savannah Gilbo: step. Number 3 is to start mapping those character arcs across the series and across each individual book 58 00:13:53.330 --> 00:14:10.799 Savannah Gilbo: step number 4 is to develop the antagonist hierarchy across your series. So in most of our favorite series, you can probably think of, you know how there are multiple layers of antagonism or antagonistic forces throughout your series. So we want to think about that in the planning stage as much as we can. 59 00:14:11.370 --> 00:14:21.369 Savannah Gilbo: and then step 5. We want to take all the work you've done through steps 1, 2, 3, and 4 to start brainstorming the plot of our series and of each individual book. 60 00:14:21.550 --> 00:14:32.509 Savannah Gilbo: Okay? So that's like the 5 steps at a glance. We're going to dig into each one of these. We're also going to briefly touch on world building across your book Series 2. So we'll get to that at the end. 61 00:14:32.580 --> 00:14:50.409 Savannah Gilbo: Now, I'm sure there are some of you that are wondering. Do I need to be a super plotter to successfully write a series, and the answer is, No, you don't have to be. But I will say it definitely helps if you can. You know, map out some of the things. It's just gonna make your job easier in the end. But 62 00:14:50.520 --> 00:14:59.259 Savannah Gilbo: planning and writing an immersive and compelling book series is possible, no matter where you fall on that plotter pancer spectrum. Okay? 63 00:14:59.910 --> 00:15:23.189 Savannah Gilbo: Now, like I mentioned, this is not something that you're gonna knock out in one sitting. So this is something you're going to need to start right? Maybe today, you start mapping out your series and then you're gonna massage it over time as you get to know your books and your characters, and your world and your plot more right? So please know that going in. Otherwise you will be signing yourself up for frustration if you expect to have all the answers 64 00:15:23.463 --> 00:15:38.760 Savannah Gilbo: and like, I said, I'm gonna give you a framework to build your series in today. So we're just gonna start the process. Or if you've already written, let's say books one and 2 you can retroactively kinda look at what you have and see. You know what you need to do going forward. 65 00:15:38.980 --> 00:16:03.659 Savannah Gilbo: Okay, so let's dive into step number one. I'm gonna go ahead and put these full screen, and then I'll come back on camera at the end. Just so you guys can take snapshots and things like that. Alright. So step one, we wanna identify the series theme and our individual stories themes. Okay? So the stories that stick with us are the ones that have strong themes or strong points. And basically what this is is, it's just a 66 00:16:03.660 --> 00:16:09.320 Savannah Gilbo: specific message that you want readers to take away from your story about how the world works. 67 00:16:09.320 --> 00:16:12.920 Savannah Gilbo: Okay. So, for example, Harry Potter. 68 00:16:13.040 --> 00:16:22.239 Savannah Gilbo: the theme is something like, it's better to die for those you love than live a life without love and friendship. Right? That's kind of the core message of all the books in the series 69 00:16:22.380 --> 00:16:33.200 Savannah Gilbo: in the Bridgerton books. It's all about love overcoming class and overcoming and healing our past traumas. So all of the books in the series. Speak to a theme like that. 70 00:16:33.380 --> 00:16:44.689 Savannah Gilbo: Sherlock Holmes. We always see Sherlock's cunning, cleverness, and being observant, and how this brings about social order and justice. So all of the books speak to that theme 71 00:16:45.010 --> 00:17:05.460 Savannah Gilbo: in a game of thrones. Circe Lannister literally tells us what the theme is. She says when you play the game of thrones. You win or you die. There is no middle ground, right? So all of the books speak to that. So this is, it's just a specific message. That's gonna kind of bridge your books together. And then you're gonna have individual messages within each one of your books as well. 72 00:17:05.829 --> 00:17:28.339 Savannah Gilbo: Okay? So you need to know the theme, or you know not not the 100% perfect or totally succinct theme before you develop your series. But you should have an idea of what you're writing about. Okay? So again, this is the message you want readers to take away from your series as a whole. And it's gonna be your guiding light as you write edit and publish your series. 73 00:17:28.410 --> 00:17:37.420 Savannah Gilbo: So it's usually expressed in one sentence, and it's dependent on your series content genre which we're going to talk about more in a second. Okay? So 74 00:17:37.420 --> 00:18:02.849 Savannah Gilbo: I'll go back to this point in a second. But essentially, it's like, if you're writing a series of love stories. You're most likely talking about love. Right? That's why you've chosen to write a series of love stories. If you're writing something that, you know, has life or death stakes. You're probably talking about what it means to survive, or what it takes to survive? Is it sacrifice? Is it friendship, is it? You know something else? Right? So we'll look at content genres a little bit more later. But 75 00:18:03.040 --> 00:18:21.550 Savannah Gilbo: it's usually your theme is usually dependent on the content genre. Okay? So the conflict in each one of your books and how your character is going to grow and change because of that conflict. That's what's going to help you express the theme of your series and of each individual book, and we'll look at examples of this in a second. 76 00:18:22.215 --> 00:18:30.840 Savannah Gilbo: So we said earlier, a series works, and it's successful when the themes and the messages are cohesive and coherent across all books. 77 00:18:31.100 --> 00:18:36.800 Savannah Gilbo: your individual themes are going to be those takeaways that each book will convey to readers. 78 00:18:37.030 --> 00:18:47.709 Savannah Gilbo: Those are going to build on one another to teach the character and the reader your overarching series theme or that core message that people will take away right? And then 79 00:18:47.990 --> 00:19:03.339 Savannah Gilbo: what I want you to know at this stage is, it's okay. If whatever you come up with sounds generic or cliche. That is very normal. Nothing set in stone, sometimes generic or cliche themes are actually good, because it means you're getting to something universal. Okay, so just keep that in mind. 80 00:19:04.150 --> 00:19:27.929 Savannah Gilbo: Now an example I wanna walk you through. This is just something I kind of put together yesterday of if I was writing about a book series where my character is standing up to evil. Right? So I knew there was. It's like a good and evil story. Maybe my character. I'll just say some things I thought I knew about her right. I think she feels powerless. She feels like maybe she's really poor, and she doesn't think that. 81 00:19:28.180 --> 00:19:57.339 Savannah Gilbo: you know she could ever be a person strong enough, capable enough, whatever it is, to stand up to evil right? So I might know that that's the realm I'm working in. I could start mapping out my themes like this. So maybe in Book one she's, you know. Let's say she's a teenager, and she's learning that evil exists in the world. So it doesn't matter if you're rich or you're poor, it doesn't matter. Evil exists, no matter what right. And maybe she was naive in the beginning. But she learned that evil exists. You know, throughout Book one. 82 00:19:57.340 --> 00:20:17.050 Savannah Gilbo: maybe. Then in book 2, she says, Okay, now that we know evil exists, we're gonna have her learn about how an individual can choose to stand up to evil or not so. It's like, regardless of where you came from, regardless of how rich or poor you are. You can choose to do something about evil or not right? So that could be the lesson of Book 2 83 00:20:17.280 --> 00:20:38.190 Savannah Gilbo: in Book 3. Maybe it's like, okay. She has stood up to evil. She's found that courage or that individual power, whatever it is. She stood up to evil. And now maybe it's alienated her core friend Group. So maybe Book 3 is about if your friends aren't willing to stand up to evil. You still can. Maybe it's more about her values and how she holds to her values, and. 84 00:20:38.610 --> 00:21:00.480 Savannah Gilbo: you know, does the right thing, even if her friends don't. Okay. So you know, this isn't perfect. But hopefully it gives you just a sense of how you can start playing with what those themes in your book look like, and how it will ultimately add up to something like, you know, I'm writing a series about how an individual can stand up to evil, and how they have their responsibility to stand up to evil. 85 00:21:01.240 --> 00:21:26.740 Savannah Gilbo: So one thing I want you to notice, even though, like I said, this isn't a perfect example. You can see something in here that the character and the reader will learn or take away from each of these books and how it will add up like I said to this overarching theme, okay, so each story has a theme that it's going to be expressed on its own. It's also going to layer with the one before it. And then, you know, provide that final takeaway at the end. 86 00:21:26.960 --> 00:21:45.439 Savannah Gilbo: Okay, so an example of this. This is from the Bridger 10 books. I know these aren't fantasy, but I know we have a lot of writers who are writing love stories set in a fantasy world. So this is, can relate right. So in every book love wins right, but every book tackles a different and sometimes similar topic. 87 00:21:45.440 --> 00:22:01.369 Savannah Gilbo: So if we just kind of wanted to look at these first 2, and again, you'll get the slide so you can go through this in more detail. But in book one love is overcoming the pressure of societal norms, and it's helping heal past trauma. So that's the power of love in each. In in book one 88 00:22:01.370 --> 00:22:20.109 Savannah Gilbo: in Book 2, love is still helping heal past trauma. And it's now helping us find identity after a big loss. Okay? So you guys can read through these later and see how this author played on the theme of love winning. And there's actually 2 slides of this. I did a little snippet for each book in the series. 89 00:22:21.010 --> 00:22:45.960 Savannah Gilbo: But what I want you to do, and you can do this in your workbook. If you've downloaded it, you can get that at Savannah, gilba.com forward, slash! Pwa, just start thinking about what you want, your point, your theme, or your point of your series and your stories to be so. Questions you can ask to kind of get this train of thought going. What advice would you give to others to make the world a better place? Or what do you have to say about 90 00:22:45.960 --> 00:22:53.809 Savannah Gilbo: life, love, human nature, or whatever topic you're tackling. So what point are you trying to make or prove. 91 00:22:53.810 --> 00:23:06.950 Savannah Gilbo: and then also consider your protagonist. So what advice would you give them at the start of the story? And what do they need to learn. Those are some good questions to help you dig into your theme for your book, each individual book and your book series. 92 00:23:07.050 --> 00:23:13.929 Savannah Gilbo: Okay? So that's step, one digging into our theme. And this is going to lay a nice groundwork for everything else that's to come. 93 00:23:14.080 --> 00:23:39.299 Savannah Gilbo: Okay, so step number 2 is to think about your series, genre and your stories, each individual stories. Genres. Okay? So a quick note here, if you've listened in my, podcast you've probably heard about me talk, heard me talk about this before. It's this idea of content versus commercial genres. So there's 2 things you need to think about when planning your series. And again, we're not aiming for perfect answers. We're just kind of getting the wheels in motion. Right? 94 00:23:39.300 --> 00:23:50.289 Savannah Gilbo: So your commercial genres, these are the sales categories that talk about how your book is sold in the market, or what bookshelf it would go on. So an example of this is young adult fantasy. 95 00:23:50.480 --> 00:24:03.949 Savannah Gilbo: See? Right, we can go to the young Adult fantasy section, and you know, see, see a bunch of different books. And I'm getting yeah. I'm getting a note that the screen's blurry. So hang on 1 s. 96 00:24:07.130 --> 00:24:09.400 Savannah Gilbo: Let me do something different here. 97 00:24:09.690 --> 00:24:12.209 Savannah Gilbo: How is that? Hopefully, that is better. 98 00:24:14.865 --> 00:24:31.079 Savannah Gilbo: Let's see, I'm just gonna I'm clicking some buttons over here, so that's why I'm pausing. I don't know. I don't see where I can turn off my little square if you if you wanna help me with that, or we can just leave the the other square up. I'm not sure how to how to tackle that 99 00:24:32.106 --> 00:24:34.530 Savannah Gilbo: actually hold on. Let me try something. 100 00:24:35.540 --> 00:24:59.720 Savannah Gilbo: Okay, you guys are saying it's better. So I'm just gonna keep going. Okay, all right. So these are your commercial genres. Right? This is how a book is sold to the reader. But underneath these commercial genres we have. Yeah, I see, Jay says, viewing options, Gilbo, Large or Gilba Gilbo small. Yeah, there you go. So content. Genres. These describe what kind of book you're writing within that sales category. So 101 00:24:59.720 --> 00:25:13.540 Savannah Gilbo: if you're writing something like young adult fantasy. Is it a mystery? Is it an action story? Is it a thriller? Is it a romance like? What is that book? Right? Yes, it's set in a fantasy world. But what kind of story are you actually telling? 102 00:25:13.540 --> 00:25:39.359 Savannah Gilbo: And what's really great about identifying the content genre is that it's gonna give you insight into the character roles you need to include the settings you need to have in your story and events that readers will expect to see. So it's not giving you like a you know. Do or die framework. It's not saying, Do this, or your story won't work, but it's saying, look at all the things you can do that your readers are already expecting. So it offers you a very nice framework. 103 00:25:39.600 --> 00:25:55.370 Savannah Gilbo: Okay? So in most cases, if you're writing a book series. The genre, the content genre of each individual story will match that of your series. So I really don't want you to over complicate this. Okay. So if we look at Harry Potter. 104 00:25:55.520 --> 00:26:19.329 Savannah Gilbo: those are action stories. And Harry has an internal worldview arc. So his worldview is changing as he navigates the action plot. Okay? And yes, Letisha, this is just like Anne and Richelle's story type. So we took the same certification program. We speak the same language. Okay, so exactly like that. And the Bridgerton books. Those are love stories with a worldview internal arc. 105 00:26:19.330 --> 00:26:30.599 Savannah Gilbo: the Sherlock Holmes series. Those are crime stories, right? The game of thrones. Those are action stories. It's life or death. So just identify this for the realm you're working in. 106 00:26:30.600 --> 00:26:50.970 Savannah Gilbo: You will have layers underneath these genres. Right? So if I'm writing like in the later Harry Potter books, there's love subplots in there, right? But primarily it's still an action and a worldview story. Okay? So again, I can't stress this enough don't over complicate this, especially in the beginning, right? We're just trying to get a sense 107 00:26:53.540 --> 00:26:58.160 Savannah Gilbo: of where we're going. What that framework is that we have to work within and then going from there. 108 00:26:58.660 --> 00:27:02.709 Savannah Gilbo: And this is kind of why, let's see. 109 00:27:02.750 --> 00:27:18.230 Savannah Gilbo: my screen's freezing so hopefully, I'm still here with you guys. But this is why I was saying earlier, you know, sometimes if you mix up genres, it's going to mess with what readers expect so an example. And I love the discovery of which is the first book. 110 00:27:18.260 --> 00:27:44.390 Savannah Gilbo: But this is to me it's an example of a series that doesn't quite work, because the genre changed from book one to book 2. So yes, we're still dealing with witches and vampires, and all of that right? We're going to. Some of the similar locations, right? But in Book 2 it it reads more like something that's historical. The stakes are less exciting. They're less extreme. So for me, if I'm thinking about this 111 00:27:44.390 --> 00:27:57.720 Savannah Gilbo: as a reader, I said, Okay, this didn't work. And here's why I think it didn't work. The characters were the same, and all of that right. But book 2 really let me down because it didn't match what the author delivered in book one. 112 00:27:57.720 --> 00:28:17.549 Savannah Gilbo: Okay, so just something to keep in mind when in doubt, just default. Think about what's at stake in your story. Okay? So if you're writing a story, a fantasy story where there's life and Death Stakes. You're probably writing an action story. We don't need to over complicate. You know this decision. It's usually just what you think it is 113 00:28:17.590 --> 00:28:29.869 Savannah Gilbo: okay. So now, something really important is the key to making books within a series work that are all the same genre. So let's say, we're writing fantasy stories that are action and worldview content genres. 114 00:28:30.270 --> 00:28:39.050 Savannah Gilbo: It's not changing up the genres that's going to make it exciting. What's going to make it exciting is escalating the conflict and the stakes from book to book. 115 00:28:39.160 --> 00:28:46.950 Savannah Gilbo: Okay? So we want to make whatever we establish in book one grow, escalate, and complicate throughout. Book 2 and the rest of the series. 116 00:28:46.990 --> 00:28:57.219 Savannah Gilbo: Okay, and I love seeing that some of you are like, yeah, I felt the same way about that series. I'm I'm glad it's not just me. I've heard it from other people, too, so I think there's a good lesson there, you know, if she would have 117 00:28:57.590 --> 00:29:22.570 Savannah Gilbo: delivered something that felt similar in the conflict in the stakes. We probably all would have been very satisfied, and, you know, loved it, and someone's. Evie says I have thoughts about Book 3. I didn't even get to Book 3. That's how disappointed I felt in Book 2, and I hate saying that because I love so many books. It's like, I wanna like them. All right. So okay, so that's step 2, we wanna figure out our genres specifically our content genre. 118 00:29:22.570 --> 00:29:30.630 Savannah Gilbo: That's also in your workbook for you to work through. And in step 3, we want to map out our character arcs across our series. 119 00:29:30.630 --> 00:29:35.829 Savannah Gilbo: Okay, so just to make sure we're on the same page. A character arc is how a character changes 120 00:29:35.830 --> 00:29:44.020 Savannah Gilbo: over the course of each story and over the course of the series mainly because of the external conflict they face from book to book. 121 00:29:44.330 --> 00:30:00.019 Savannah Gilbo: Okay, so what this means is who your character is at the beginning of your series should be in conflict with who they were, or should be, in conflict with who they are at the end of the series, and each story, so you you probably hear the advice. The end is like. 122 00:30:00.070 --> 00:30:13.199 Savannah Gilbo: kind of like a mirror, or showing the opposite at the beginning. Right? That's what we're talking about here. So this means we need to know 2 things to map out our character arcs. Okay, so who are they? When the series starts 123 00:30:13.420 --> 00:30:14.659 Savannah Gilbo: and then 124 00:30:15.033 --> 00:30:22.680 Savannah Gilbo: how? How? Who are they at the end? Right? So how do they change? What? What does the before look like? And what does the end result? Look like. 125 00:30:22.890 --> 00:30:25.839 Savannah Gilbo: okay, so this is in your workbook as well. I'm going to keep going. 126 00:30:26.150 --> 00:30:41.610 Savannah Gilbo: Now, here's a trick that I love using. Okay, your character is going to end the series believing in your overarching series theme. So if your series theme speaks to love wins, that's how they're going to end the series. Okay? So you already know that 127 00:30:41.820 --> 00:30:56.649 Savannah Gilbo: this means you can go to the opposite end. So the beginning of your series and say, What's the complete opposite of what they're going to believe at the end. So what is the complete opposite of my theme? And then you can do that for each individual book as well. 128 00:30:56.700 --> 00:31:16.799 Savannah Gilbo: okay. So what you're trying to get to is your characters internal obstacle at the beginning of Book One. And then again at the start of each book. So in this example, we're gonna look at an example from Harry Potter in a second. But let's just say we're doing love wins as our series arc. And in book one love wins because it helps me overcome. 129 00:31:17.157 --> 00:31:41.689 Savannah Gilbo: Trauma in my past right? So book one. That's where my characters going. They're gonna believe that by the end that means in the beginning. What's the opposite of that? Right? So maybe it's I don't need love. I'm independent. I can do everything myself. My trauma makes me broken right, whatever that looks like. You can start getting a really nice before and after picture, just by thinking of the opposite of your theme. 130 00:31:42.690 --> 00:31:58.919 Savannah Gilbo: Okay, so this internal obstacle, this is that lie, that misbelief, that worldview that they need to shed or unlearn in order to accept the theme of your book and of each individual's book in the series and achieve their goals in each book. And in the end of the series. 131 00:31:59.080 --> 00:32:02.170 Savannah Gilbo: Okay, so I'll leave that up for a second. I'm going to grab a sip of water. 132 00:32:05.820 --> 00:32:18.149 Savannah Gilbo: Okay, so let's take a look at Harry Potter, because this is, you know, it's an example we're all familiar with, right? So the point of we could say, book one right is that 133 00:32:18.270 --> 00:32:21.999 Savannah Gilbo: we, Harry learns, and we, as readers see that he learns. 134 00:32:22.130 --> 00:32:29.889 Savannah Gilbo: no matter what you're unconditionally loved. And it's your differences that make you special and help you survive right? That's kind of the ark he goes through in Book One. 135 00:32:30.130 --> 00:32:44.999 Savannah Gilbo: So the opposite of this is that Harry starts the story believing that his differences make him weird, and that weird or different is a bad thing. Okay? So that's how he starts the book in order to learn the theme of Book one 136 00:32:45.400 --> 00:33:01.360 Savannah Gilbo: throughout the middle. He's unlearning this. So he's unlearning this misbelief, and he's embracing his gifts so he's learning to like the things that make him different. He's learning to see them as strengths, and he's learning how to use them to essentially survive the threat. 137 00:33:01.820 --> 00:33:23.890 Savannah Gilbo: Okay? And then in the end he accepts the theme that you are unconditionally loved, and it's your differences that make you special and help you survive. So you can do this exact same exercise with your character. If you want to take a screenshot of this, or just kind of write down the framework. It's what's your theme? How do they start the book? Where do they go in the middle. And then what do they believe by the end? 138 00:33:24.280 --> 00:33:26.420 Savannah Gilbo: And again, you can do that in your workbook. 139 00:33:26.750 --> 00:33:40.460 Savannah Gilbo: Okay, so now, this is another little trick that you can use to start brainstorming. So as your character as they go through the story, they're gonna in the beginning. They believe that internal obstacle, right? So they make decisions 140 00:33:40.630 --> 00:33:54.410 Savannah Gilbo: through the lens of that internal obstacle. So for Harry, if he thinks my differences are what makes me weird and weird, is bad, he's going to show up and make decisions based on that belief right? And then there will be consequences. So 141 00:33:54.440 --> 00:34:06.510 Savannah Gilbo: those consequences are what's going to add up and build up until the characters finally forced to confront that inner obstacle within each book to create their overarching series. Arc. Okay. 142 00:34:06.866 --> 00:34:21.740 Savannah Gilbo: and yes, your character will have gone through an upgrade. So let's say they've gone through an upgrade in Book one, but it's kind of like now that they've learned the book one lesson. What else is there like? Now, what's gonna happen? Right? So there's always more to learn and experience. 143 00:34:21.760 --> 00:34:30.320 Savannah Gilbo: You need proof. Just think about your own life right? We never stop learning. So think because of that in Book one. Now, what's going to happen? 144 00:34:30.620 --> 00:34:49.219 Savannah Gilbo: And I want to show you an example from Harry Potter again, just because this is top of mind for me right now, it's also something we all have seen or read. So again, the Series Point is something like it's better to die for those you love than live a life without love and friendship something like that right? 145 00:34:49.535 --> 00:35:08.799 Savannah Gilbo: Book one! He learns he's unconditionally loved and worthy, and his differences are what makes him special and help him survive. Okay, so that's kind of what book one is about. Right. Book 2. He learns he's never alone. There's always help if you ask for it, and being open to and relying on your friends, is the key to survival. 146 00:35:08.990 --> 00:35:28.160 Savannah Gilbo: Okay? So we see him do that in Book 2 in Book 3 we see that he learns survival sometimes requires having the courage to seek and accept the whole truth about someone you love. So this is the book with serious black, and he's, you know, learning that the truth about him isn't always that great right, but it is what it is. 147 00:35:28.160 --> 00:35:51.140 Savannah Gilbo: Alright, so I won't go through all these. I have books 6 or 4 through 7 on the next slide which you guys will get a copy of. But you can kind of just look at this and say, Okay, can I see what Harry's learning in each of these books, and how this ties to that main series theme, which is, it's better to die for those you love than live a life without love and friendship, or something like that. Right? 148 00:35:51.150 --> 00:36:05.999 Savannah Gilbo: So what you can do is take out a piece of paper or open that workbook that I gave you guys and ask things like, what's the opposite of my series? Point? What are the smaller lessons my character can learn in each individual book 149 00:36:06.440 --> 00:36:16.210 Savannah Gilbo: what flaws, or, you know, outdated ways of thinking are holding back my protagonists from being a better version of themselves or accomplishing their goals. 150 00:36:16.300 --> 00:36:26.459 Savannah Gilbo: And then how could new obstacles, inner obstacles. So new misbeliefs, new outdated worldviews rise up from succeeding or failing in the previous book. 151 00:36:26.600 --> 00:36:35.049 Savannah Gilbo: Okay? So you could just brainstorm these and see what comes up, and I you'll you'll be surprised at what comes out of your brain. Okay, it's a really fun exercise to do 152 00:36:35.910 --> 00:36:54.869 Savannah Gilbo: all right. Let's see. I see someone saying, Is there a link to the workbook? Yes, so it's Savannah gilbo.com forward slash Pwa. And it's a Google Doc. So you'll have to make a copy when you go to the the page. All right. So that's step 3. Just brainstorming your characters arcs across each book and across the series. 153 00:36:55.020 --> 00:37:02.430 Savannah Gilbo: Step 4 is to develop the antagonist hierarchy for your series, and I think this is my favorite part. So 154 00:37:03.150 --> 00:37:11.609 Savannah Gilbo: I like to say that understanding your antagonists, goals, motivations, and plans is really the key to planning your book series. 155 00:37:12.390 --> 00:37:20.980 Savannah Gilbo: And that's because your antagonist goal and the action they take to accomplish that goal will help you form the plot of each book in your series. 156 00:37:21.280 --> 00:37:33.800 Savannah Gilbo: The misguided way that your protagonist is going to react to what your antagonist is doing is going to create consequences that they're going to have to deal with until they finally learn the lesson of each book, which is your theme. 157 00:37:34.690 --> 00:37:58.880 Savannah Gilbo: Okay? And then, therefore, the plot of each book in your series. You can design it so that it's able to confront your main character with that internal obstacle they're struggling with again and again, which is where it gets really fun to kind of overlap all this stuff. And yeah, I see someone saying, Dana Pitman did a great presentation about creating an antagonist. Yes, that was really great. If you didn't watch it definitely, get the replay of that 158 00:37:59.570 --> 00:38:23.010 Savannah Gilbo: all right. So everything, in my opinion, starts with your antagonists, because without them there's really nothing for your protagonists to react to. There's no conflict for them to deal with. That's I mean, yes, there could be like minor conflicts, right? But there is nothing significant getting in their way or causing problems. So your series antagonist is going to provide the main conflict your protagonists will face. 159 00:38:23.020 --> 00:38:34.239 Savannah Gilbo: but there will be a hierarchy of antagonists across each of your individual books. So an easy example of this is Voldemort in the Harry Potter Series, right in most of the earlier books. 160 00:38:34.360 --> 00:38:54.390 Savannah Gilbo: Voldemort is not in his. Let's he's not in a full body right? So he can't really provide a ton of on-the-ground conflict for Harry, although he does in the climax of book one right? But so what do we do. If we have a situation like that, we consider the hierarchy of other antagonists right? So 161 00:38:54.610 --> 00:39:22.890 Savannah Gilbo: there's Snape, there's Filch. There's Malfoy right. There's there's other people that kind of stand in and act as that on the ground conflict for Harry to face. And again, if we consider why this is, or why this works. Harry's 11 years old, and Voldemort does not possess his own body right? So they have to grow, and this should say, change at the typo until they can properly confront each other at the end of the series. Right? So there's a very good reason why the author did that. 162 00:39:22.990 --> 00:39:37.890 Savannah Gilbo: Now I just want to show you how I look at an antagonist. So I broke down kind of what Voldemort's all about across the series, and you can think of your antagonist in this exact same way. Okay, so what does he want? Ultimately he wants immortality and power. 163 00:39:38.000 --> 00:39:45.589 Savannah Gilbo: Why does he want this? Well, he fears death, and he views it as a mortal weakness. So that's his motivation for going after what he wants 164 00:39:46.270 --> 00:40:07.969 Savannah Gilbo: now back in time. So in 1,980. There was a prophecy made that refers to someone that is able to defeat Voldemort. Voldemort believes as Harry Potter right? So this kicks off the central conflict for Voldemort. It's not something that we see on the page in Book One, but it's there in the author's brain, and we learn it later. 165 00:40:08.890 --> 00:40:31.380 Savannah Gilbo: So before we meet Harry on page one, I like to think about what has Voldemort already done to achieve his goal despite the conflict here? So, despite knowing there's a boy out there that could kill him. What has he already done? So he's amassed a following of death eaters to protect him and to fight for him right? He's tried and failed to gain power in multiple, different ways. 166 00:40:31.659 --> 00:40:50.129 Savannah Gilbo: He did at 1 point gain influence all over the world. He created the horror Cruxes, and he tried to kill Harry when he was a baby. So these are based on this conflict that kicked off like I said a while ago for Voldemort. He's already done a lot of this stuff right? So you can brainstorm your antagonist in this way and then say. 167 00:40:50.130 --> 00:41:17.550 Savannah Gilbo: after he fails to kill Harry. So that's kind of what kicks off Harry's story. He loses his body, and he he still is taking action on that quest for immortality and power. Right? So in every book he has a specific goal, or he tries a new tactic to achieve that bigger goal. So over his series journey, he will gain immortality by acquiring and using the sorcerer with Professor Quirrell's help. 168 00:41:17.550 --> 00:41:21.630 Savannah Gilbo: And Harry isn't actually on his radar here until he interferes 169 00:41:21.630 --> 00:41:40.670 Savannah Gilbo: cases. I think that's pretty cool in Book 2. He's recuperating from the events of Book one. He's trying to destroy less than witches and wizards via Tom Riddle's diary and the basilisk right, and then he also wants to destroy Harry Potter in the present via Tom Riddle's memory right 170 00:41:41.310 --> 00:41:52.910 Savannah Gilbo: in Book 3. He still hasn't totally succeeded. So he's got a new plan. He's going to use Wormtail or Peter Pettigrew to get to Harry so that he can kill him. If the de mentors don't do it for him. First 171 00:41:53.030 --> 00:42:18.770 Savannah Gilbo: in Book 4. He wants to help Harry win the Tri wizard tournament so he can use flesh of the enemy to cast that spell, to rebuild his body in Book 5. He's trying to pick off the order of the Phoenix, which allows him to get close to Harry, and hopefully in his mind, kill him. Right? Book 6. He's declaring war on the wizarding world. He's picking off members of the order, and he kills Dumbledore, who's been one of his main targets 172 00:42:18.770 --> 00:42:44.810 Savannah Gilbo: in Book 7. He he goes after the elder one so he can finally kill Harry, and in the meantime, he's gonna try to prevent Harry from destroying the horror cruxes. So you can kind of see he's after that same thing right? He just goes about it in different ways, and he's pivoting the more and more Harry gets into it. So I love this exercise just to start brainstorming. You might not have all the books in your series nailed. That's okay. Just write down what you have, and the ideas will come to you. 173 00:42:45.400 --> 00:42:54.949 Savannah Gilbo: Now, if you're writing a series of standalone books. I'm just going to go through this one really quick. So the Bridgerton books they focus on a different couple in every book. So the antagonist 174 00:42:55.000 --> 00:43:19.089 Savannah Gilbo: is different, but the antagonist is always a love interest. So this author is not mixing it up and having one, you know. Let's say one antagonist be a murderer, because that wouldn't make sense in a love series. Right? So in, there's not a specific overarching antagonist. But there is a genre, appropriate antagonist arc type. So if you're writing a series like this, just something to keep in mind 175 00:43:20.060 --> 00:43:43.799 Savannah Gilbo: now the recommended exercise. Get a piece of paper or that workbook and list out the steps your antagonists might take to accomplish their series goal and any possible consequences they might face or any wins they might have. Okay, so just start writing things down and seeing what comes out. And then you might start to notice some natural start and stop points for each of your individual books. 176 00:43:43.950 --> 00:43:51.740 Savannah Gilbo: Okay? So this leads us directly into the next step, which is step 5, brainstorm, the plot of your series. And each story. 177 00:43:51.870 --> 00:44:07.970 Savannah Gilbo: Okay? So these are the things we've already talked about, the theme of your series and your stories, the genre of your series and your stories, your characters, arcs across each book and the series, and your antagonist goals, motivations and plans across the series. And each book 178 00:44:08.000 --> 00:44:18.280 Savannah Gilbo: right? So that's a lot. And it should already give you a ton to work with in terms of your plot, like I just said you should start to see natural start and endpoints for each one of your books. 179 00:44:18.390 --> 00:44:30.240 Savannah Gilbo: but if you haven't, you can always go rely on a popular plotting method like Save the cat or the hero's journey, or whatever method you like to help you further map out each book. 180 00:44:30.480 --> 00:44:54.499 Savannah Gilbo: Now, a question I get asked all the time is, do you recommend using story math to map out all the plot points across my whole series. So give me a yes in the chat. If you have done this, have you used story math to try to lay out every plot point and say, you know, at 50% of my series, this should happen because I'm sure there are some of us who might have done this. Okay, I see some no's, but I do see some yeses. 181 00:44:54.500 --> 00:45:16.239 Savannah Gilbo: So in theory you can do this, but I don't actually recommend it. And the reason I don't recommend it is because, look at all this stuff you should already have an idea of. If you go through the exercises we talked about. Okay. So what I would do at this stage is, I would just start, you know, mapping out your story in an outline or start drafting. 182 00:45:16.560 --> 00:45:27.669 Savannah Gilbo: And I see a confusion around story math. So that's just basically saying, like, if I want my series midpoint to be at 50% of my series. That means it needs to be in 183 00:45:27.670 --> 00:45:51.929 Savannah Gilbo: scene 17 of Book 3, you know, or whatever that is, it becomes really constricting. And then it's almost like you lose. And this is true for plotters and panthers. Okay, so you lose some of the organic work that you've built already by doing the previous 4 exercises. So that's why, like in theory, yes, you can do this. I don't recommend it. I'd rather you build on this organic and strong foundation 184 00:45:51.930 --> 00:46:16.100 Savannah Gilbo: that you've built by answering the previous questions. Okay, so from this point you can map out your series and make sure that you're escalating the conflict and tension and stakes from book to book, and then what I would recommend is, if you like, those popular plotting methods do that after so fact, check it with your favorite plotting method and see where you land. You'll be surprised that you're probably better off than you think 185 00:46:16.100 --> 00:46:27.410 Savannah Gilbo: by going about this in an organic way. Okay, so one thing I want to show you before we go into Q. And A is, I want to just look at the Harry Potter series again and say. 186 00:46:27.410 --> 00:46:54.610 Savannah Gilbo: look at the amount of conflict and danger and the power of the antagonists, and how that escalates from book to book, because, like I said before, we don't wanna change genres or completely do something, you know, totally different to shake things up for our reader. Of course, if you want to, it's your book. You can do whatever you want. But if we want to write something, you know, it's gonna sell commercially. Well, then, we want to raise the conflict tension and stakes and things like that. So 187 00:46:54.960 --> 00:47:09.250 Savannah Gilbo: I'm just going to read this to you. Sit back, relax, and just kind of feel how the things escalate. Okay. So in Book one, Harry's 11, he knows 0 magic. Voldemort tries to steal the Sorcerer Stone, and Harry gets in the way. That's the gist of the story 188 00:47:09.280 --> 00:47:22.790 Savannah Gilbo: in Book 2. Harry's 12. He still has a lot to learn about magic, but he knows a little bit. Someone has opened a mysterious chamber under the school, and has been sending a giant snake to kill students. So you know, a little bit bigger of a deal 189 00:47:22.980 --> 00:47:39.990 Savannah Gilbo: in Book 3. He's 13. He knows a little bit more magic. But now the man who supposedly betrayed his parents is hunting him also to mentors are patrolling the school grounds, and one of his teachers is secretly a werewolf. Right? So we're escalating a lot from book 2 to book 3 190 00:47:40.010 --> 00:48:00.100 Savannah Gilbo: in Book 4. He's 14. He's somehow become an accidental participant in a very dangerous tournament, where tasks get more and more dangerous as they progress. The death eaters are an even bigger presence in the world now, and unbeknownst to Harry, one of his teachers is a death eater in disguise. So again, increasing conflict, tension, and stakes. 191 00:48:00.290 --> 00:48:20.540 Savannah Gilbo: In Book 5, Voldemort's regained his body. De mentors are everywhere in the Mughal world. They're attacking humans. The ministry doesn't believe Harry about Voldemort. This is when Harry learns about the prophecy which says he has to prevent, or which he has to prevent Voldemort from getting the death. Count goes up, and Harry's still only 15, right? So kind of a big deal 192 00:48:20.760 --> 00:48:44.830 Savannah Gilbo: in Book 6. Voldemort's declared war. Harry's still only 16. He's grieving. The loss of his godfather. Dumbledore appears to be injured. Draco may be a death eater. Snape is teaching defense against the dark arts. They're learning more dangerous. Magic attacks are getting more personal, and the worst part Harry learns about the horror Cruxes and Snape kills Dumbledore. So he's lost his mentor and a lot else. At this point 193 00:48:45.400 --> 00:49:12.049 Savannah Gilbo: in Book 7. He's no longer under the protection of the school. So he's 17 now he's on the hunt for horror cruxes without his primary mentor. But he does have his friends, and this is where we see the climax of the series, either must die at the hand of the other, for neither can live while the other survives right? So we've totally built up the conflict stakes intention, and also what the antagonist is doing from book to book. And again, you'll get these slides. So I'm just gonna keep going 194 00:49:12.260 --> 00:49:22.930 Savannah Gilbo: all right. So some ideas of how you can escalate the conflict, tension and stakes in your series. You can create conflict that is frequent and layered. So most stories are going to have at least 195 00:49:23.020 --> 00:49:35.679 Savannah Gilbo: half a dozen conflicts the protagonist has to deal with in commercial fiction. There could be upwards of 12. Right? So what I mean by this is like in Harry Potter. He has the fact that he knows no magic. 196 00:49:35.680 --> 00:49:53.069 Savannah Gilbo: He's being bullied by Draco. He's being bullied by snake, his scars burning. He doesn't understand why hagrids hatching illegal dragons in his hut right? There's just all these things that are frequently happening, and they're layering on top of each other to cause Harry problems. 197 00:49:54.030 --> 00:50:15.639 Savannah Gilbo: You can also stack different types of conflicts. So this is a good one, too, in that example. It's kind of like, you know, Harry has learned magic. He's getting bullied. And now Hagrid's gonna hatch an illegal dragon. Right? It's like we're just making things worse, making it harder. So I have an example here. So in a crime story, the investigator might have to solve a crime. 198 00:50:15.640 --> 00:50:25.320 Savannah Gilbo: but he might also be going through a divorce and or struggling with being called an absent parent, or he has some backstory that's continuing to haunt him right? So you can just layer it. 199 00:50:26.210 --> 00:50:35.180 Savannah Gilbo: You can broaden the conflict by bringing in more, so more antagonists, more victims, more suspects, more lovers, more clues, more family, more witnesses, whatever it is. 200 00:50:35.450 --> 00:50:46.139 Savannah Gilbo: you can deepen existing conflicts so you can make characters fall deeper in love. Have your detective find another dead body another clue, you know all these are great ways to raise the stakes. 201 00:50:46.460 --> 00:50:53.819 Savannah Gilbo: You can take away mentors, friends, resources, and abilities. So this also raises stakes and puts pressure on your characters 202 00:50:54.150 --> 00:51:02.930 Savannah Gilbo: you can play with different kind of arcs. So, for example, if your character succeeds at their plot goal, they might lose something important in the process, or vice versa. 203 00:51:03.990 --> 00:51:16.810 Savannah Gilbo: and then always consider the consequences of everything. So even if your character has a good outcome, what are the consequences of what happens? So the unforeseen consequences, good or bad, right? 204 00:51:17.260 --> 00:51:33.299 Savannah Gilbo: Alright. So exercise for you to do. You can use your genre framework as a guide here. There are a lot of articles on my website and in my episodes of my, podcast that deep dive into each of those genres that you learned about in the story 205 00:51:33.330 --> 00:51:56.190 Savannah Gilbo: story path. Teaching that Richelle and Anne did remember. Everything revolves around your antagonist plan, and how your main character reacts to it. Each book should have a have and prove a point, and then use consequences to help you escalate these stakes and raise the conflict. Intention for each book. Okay, so just, you know, think about what the plot could look like with all of that stuff in mind 206 00:51:56.430 --> 00:52:22.009 Savannah Gilbo: now, very quickly, because I see we do have some questions. I'm just going to go through this really really quick world building across your book series, so regardless of whether you write speculative or contemporary fiction, a lot of us here are writing fantasy, right? Our stories. World is going to play an extremely important role in tying your series together. So we want to make sure that the world building is consistent across our books, but we also want to build a world that plays into our themes 207 00:52:22.010 --> 00:52:26.739 Savannah Gilbo: and impacts the central conflict or arc of change, and that's really, really important. 208 00:52:26.840 --> 00:52:39.640 Savannah Gilbo: So keep in mind that your world has influenced your characters, beliefs, and flaws right? They've existed here, or if they're going to a new world. What did their old world? How did their old world contribute to their beliefs and flaws? 209 00:52:40.270 --> 00:52:45.349 Savannah Gilbo: Its physical aspects can literally create roadblocks or obstacles for your character. 210 00:52:45.650 --> 00:52:55.730 Savannah Gilbo: It's cultures and what the cultures believe and values can or believe and value can interact with each other and create conflict and tension for your protagonist. 211 00:52:55.950 --> 00:53:09.169 Savannah Gilbo: Its political landscape can really impact your characters. So just think about all these things again. You're not aiming for figuring everything out or having everything perfectly mapped. It's just to get your brain brain working. 212 00:53:09.400 --> 00:53:28.270 Savannah Gilbo: Okay? So the key point here, this is really important understanding the high level implications of your world and designing a world to create conflict that will put pressure on your protagonist inner obstacle. This is what's going to help you create a vivid and immersive world. That also serves an important purpose in each book in your series. 213 00:53:28.360 --> 00:53:40.019 Savannah Gilbo: Okay? So a quick little exercise on world building, you can read through all these questions. But just think about like, how is your world going to affect your characters? How is it going to affect the conflict and things like that. 214 00:53:40.210 --> 00:53:54.329 Savannah Gilbo: Okay? So hopefully, you now have a better sense of how to start planning a series of books. This is obviously not a start-to-finish guide to writing an entire series, but it should help you capture your ideas and start mapping out your series. 215 00:53:54.330 --> 00:54:13.439 Savannah Gilbo: So one more time before we do. Q. And A. This is the worksheet you guys can grab. It's a Google Doc. I saw we had some problems earlier. I've noticed that sometimes when too many people do it or try to access it at once. It has a little bit of an issue. So if you, if it didn't work the first time, try it again, and you should get access to that. 216 00:54:13.730 --> 00:54:20.899 Savannah Gilbo: Okay, so now we'll jump into some Q. And A. Let me stop sharing. Here, let's see. 217 00:54:21.900 --> 00:54:23.460 Savannah Gilbo: Here we go. 218 00:54:23.650 --> 00:54:47.979 Savannah Gilbo: Stop sharing and I'll come back on camera. So I can see you guys, how are you guys feeling? After that? I know it was a lot of information. But again, you will get slides at some point. I need to send them to pro writing aid, and they will get that for you guys. Let's see, I'm gonna go into the Q&A's and grab some questions. So there is a lot. There's 22 questions I probably won't be able to get to them all. But I will try my best. 219 00:54:49.010 --> 00:55:02.379 Savannah Gilbo: All right, let's see. So Joseph says. My first book's natural stopping point came when the heroin faces. Her first major defeat is a large cliffhanger like this, going to discourage readers. So 220 00:55:02.690 --> 00:55:24.140 Savannah Gilbo: I actually read a book recently where the clip is like the first time I've ever seen a cliffhanger where I close the book, and I'm like that totally didn't work. And what happened is, imagine the rest of the book was fantastic. You get to the climax, and it's like right when she's about to confront the antagonist. The book ends so you don't have any like closing on that 221 00:55:24.150 --> 00:55:33.510 Savannah Gilbo: plot arc from that book. And in in this scenario I feel like, because this is an established author who who knew what she was doing so, I'm sure she just. 222 00:55:33.510 --> 00:55:56.920 Savannah Gilbo: you know, push the envelope a little too far, and for me, personally it didn't work, so I always recommend closing the loop on as much as you can. So answering the question that is raised the beginning, and then also kind of adding something. So we did this, and now what or like, we close the loop and or we close the loop. But you know, kind of use something like that. 223 00:55:56.920 --> 00:56:08.320 Savannah Gilbo: because what I think, what you don't want to do is not give them the ending to the book that they were promised. If that makes sense, let me know. If not, so. 224 00:56:09.350 --> 00:56:10.640 Savannah Gilbo: let's see. 225 00:56:10.790 --> 00:56:25.520 Savannah Gilbo: Kelsey says you talk about a series how a series doesn't work when the plot jumps around. How does this work or not work with multiple Povs. Okay, so what I mean by the plot jumping around. This is probably my fault for not being clear about what I mean 226 00:56:25.990 --> 00:56:38.340 Savannah Gilbo: in game of thrones. Right. The plot obviously jumps around the landscape to different characters. That's fine, the plot jumping around and starting off as like a love story and then becoming a crime story. 227 00:56:38.490 --> 00:57:01.720 Savannah Gilbo: It means the beginning of your story won't answer. The or the beginning won't raise a question that the ending answers. So I see this a lot in drafts where it's like the characters meet. And we're like, Oh, great! We're in for a love story. And then by the end, it's about bringing someone else to justice. And you're like, what did I just read? Right? So that's kind of what I mean by the plot jumping around, there's not a through line. And it doesn't feel like a cohesive story 228 00:57:01.720 --> 00:57:12.059 Savannah Gilbo: so hopefully that helps. And if you listen to my podcast or if you want to, I just did an episode that came out today about writing a story with multiple points of view 229 00:57:12.060 --> 00:57:13.049 Savannah Gilbo: that might help. 230 00:57:13.660 --> 00:57:24.600 Savannah Gilbo: Okay. So let's see. Let's see, I'm just gonna I'm trying to find the ones that will help the most feel free to cut me off if I'm totally going over time. 231 00:57:25.116 --> 00:57:40.640 Savannah Gilbo: Let's see. Okay. So Hannah says, is it okay to change genres? If you're writing a new trilogy in the same world. So, for example, if you're writing an action fantasy, trilogy in a world. And then you write a mystery, fantasy, trilogy set in the same world. So 232 00:57:40.760 --> 00:57:41.940 Savannah Gilbo: I think 233 00:57:42.260 --> 00:57:47.160 Savannah Gilbo: you can do whatever you want obviously right. The one thing you'll want to think about is 234 00:57:47.820 --> 00:57:56.969 Savannah Gilbo: is it going to attract the same people? Is your world strong enough to bring them in to a different kind of story. Or are they going to be upset? That. 235 00:57:57.410 --> 00:57:59.409 Savannah Gilbo: you know, like you just have to. 236 00:57:59.420 --> 00:58:04.463 Savannah Gilbo: You have to speak to what you're promising in the marketing of it. Right? So, 237 00:58:05.100 --> 00:58:14.460 Savannah Gilbo: Personally, as a reader, I think that would be cool. I like mysteries, and I like action stories. So maybe in my mind as a reader, it's like, How do you blend both? 238 00:58:14.550 --> 00:58:20.349 Savannah Gilbo: You know a good example is Sarah J. Masses books right like the 239 00:58:20.590 --> 00:58:33.000 Savannah Gilbo: Throne of Glass series is primarily action, and then I'd say, Crescent City leans a little more crime, but they feel very close. So it could be a good case study for you to look at. 240 00:58:33.210 --> 00:58:37.830 Savannah Gilbo: and I see other people are chiming in the chat, so you'll see other answers in there. 241 00:58:39.547 --> 00:58:41.550 Savannah Gilbo: Let's see. So 242 00:58:42.140 --> 00:58:44.789 Savannah Gilbo: we talked about Cliffhangers a little bit. 243 00:58:46.650 --> 00:58:47.910 Savannah Gilbo: Okay, so. 244 00:58:47.980 --> 00:59:00.310 Savannah Gilbo: Anu, I'm not sure if I'm saying that right says, What if your antagonist, instead of being the person on the front line. They have minions. How would you plan the antagonist Arc so kind of like what we talked about with Voldemort? It's the same kind of thing right? He's 245 00:59:00.810 --> 00:59:19.369 Savannah Gilbo: he's using people to achieve his goals. So just map that out and then say, Okay, in book one who's the minion? And what are my readers going to think about him or her? What's my protagonist going to think about them as the book progresses? And then when is that reveal coming of who the main antagonist actually is. 246 00:59:19.920 --> 00:59:21.180 Savannah Gilbo: Hopefully, that helps. 247 00:59:21.740 --> 00:59:26.709 Savannah Gilbo: Okay, I might have time for one more again. Cut me off if I'm going too long. 248 00:59:27.373 --> 00:59:28.440 Savannah Gilbo: Let's see. 249 00:59:28.440 --> 00:59:31.919 ProWritingAid: Of you to carry on for a couple. If you want to. 250 00:59:31.920 --> 00:59:57.120 Savannah Gilbo: Okay, okay, let's see what it Pk says. What if you kill off the first antagonist between the first and second book? Does that make the series stand alone. No, I think a lot of series will do that, though it's like we just talked about with the minions or you know you, as the author of your story, know that you know who the Series Antagonist is, right. So by killing off the antagonist and book one as long as you're. 251 00:59:57.430 --> 01:00:04.550 Savannah Gilbo: you know, continuing everything else and presenting a new antagonist in Book 2. I think you'll be okay. But I think a lot of book series. Do that? 252 01:00:06.410 --> 01:00:09.099 Savannah Gilbo: Alright? Let's see. 253 01:00:11.460 --> 01:00:26.339 Savannah Gilbo: So Eliza said, at what point during the planning process should you begin writing? I love this question because it's gonna be different for everybody. So what I would say is, let's say you go through, and you've spent a couple weeks on planning and just kind of getting your ideas out right. 254 01:00:27.140 --> 01:00:29.240 Savannah Gilbo: If you get to a point where you feel like 255 01:00:29.610 --> 01:00:39.199 Savannah Gilbo: you don't know what else to put down in your planning, or you don't know you're like, I don't know what else is in my brain. That's when you start writing, because the writing is going to get you 256 01:00:39.710 --> 01:01:02.279 Savannah Gilbo: like into your story more, you're gonna learn more things you're gonna see opportunities that you don't even know about. So I think it's whenever you just feel like you're out of that juice to plan. That's when you start writing. And remember, you're planning documents and your outlines for your series. They can be a living, breathing document. So it's not like you stop planning and you stop thinking about it as soon as you start writing they should go hand in hand. 257 01:01:03.970 --> 01:01:06.330 Savannah Gilbo: Okay, let's see. 258 01:01:07.930 --> 01:01:17.790 Savannah Gilbo: someone says, Where did you learn to be a book coach? So I am. I have 2 certifications, one for editing through the story grid, and one for coaching through author, accelerator. 259 01:01:19.300 --> 01:01:20.415 Savannah Gilbo: Alright 260 01:01:22.600 --> 01:01:36.129 Savannah Gilbo: So Julia says. What are your thoughts on an overarching antagonist that won't be introduced until later. Say, book 2. Well, I think you still need an antagonist for book one. So you just think about from the reader's perspective. 261 01:01:36.380 --> 01:01:41.379 Savannah Gilbo: Who are they reading about? Who's providing the conflict? And what's that link between 262 01:01:41.400 --> 01:01:49.589 Savannah Gilbo: book one's Antagonist and the series Antagonist? So it could be that by killing off book one antagonist you leave room. 263 01:01:49.830 --> 01:01:57.169 Savannah Gilbo: or, like the the world has a void, and that book 2 antagonists fills it, you know. So just just think about it from the reader's perspective. 264 01:01:58.680 --> 01:02:00.729 Savannah Gilbo: Are you gonna cut me off. Go ahead. 265 01:02:00.730 --> 01:02:04.486 ProWritingAid: Yeah, yeah, I mean, we could be here for ages. Right? 266 01:02:04.800 --> 01:02:05.075 Savannah Gilbo: Yeah. 267 01:02:05.350 --> 01:02:14.979 ProWritingAid: I feel like there's a lot more questions. Unfortunately, we can get to all of them. Can they write to you, Savannah, if they still have questions for you. 268 01:02:15.180 --> 01:02:21.520 Savannah Gilbo: Yeah, you definitely can. And I'm also in the community. So I will pop in there in a couple hours and see if any questions have come up. 269 01:02:21.720 --> 01:02:41.276 ProWritingAid: Perfect. There you go, then, so hop over to the community. I will just drop the links back into the chat so that you guys can find them. Perfect. So thank you for generously spending time with us. Savannah, we have learned so many things. This chat has been amazing. And everybody loves you. 270 01:02:41.620 --> 01:02:42.320 Savannah Gilbo: Oh, good! 271 01:02:42.320 --> 01:03:07.310 ProWritingAid: We love spending time with you. And thank you to everybody who joined us tonight as well. It's always good to see you guys taking so much away from these events. Don't forget you can find the replays on the hub. I'll just drop the links again, because everyone's saying, Thank you. I don't want people to lose them. So yeah, don't forget you can. Yeah. Watch the replays on the hub. 272 01:03:07.310 --> 01:03:28.239 ProWritingAid: You'll also get the slides on there as well. So if there was anything that you missed, and you want to go back and watch it in in slow motion, like I usually do. Then obviously, you could go ahead and do that. And then, obviously, you can also join us for the other events this week. So thank you all for coming. And thank you, Savannah, for being here. It's been amazing. 273 01:03:28.390 --> 01:03:30.080 Savannah Gilbo: Thank you. Guys. Bye, everybody. 274 01:03:30.080 --> 01:03:31.180 ProWritingAid: Bye.