Today I’m excited to welcome Alexandra Warwick, author of the upcoming YA fantasy Below, to the blog to talk about how to take an idea and transform it into a series (like the North series!).

 

 

Creating a Series from an Idea

by Alexandria Warwick

I really love this question because I’ve never actually sat down and thought about how I go about creating a series from an idea.

Below was written with the intention of creating a series, yet without an idea of what direction the story would go. (Makes complete sense, right?!) This meant that in the finished book, there needed to be threads of information that could lead to possible conflicts/plotlines/what have you, were I to explore them. My job was to figure out what information was important and use that as a basis for a big-picture, overarching series idea. Now that I’m far enough along, I know the series will be 4 books long.

For me it was kind of a long process because I had to figure out the main conflict based on the world I’ve already built. It’s like, I have 30% of the world built in book 1. This is the foundation. Whatever occurs in Below has to connect to everything that occurs in subsequent books. There has to be a reason for everything to be happening in book 1, even if that reason hasn’t been revealed yet. So I’m asking myself, Why?

I remember very clearly when I figured out the main series conflict. I was researching Inuit mythology and I came across a detail that made a little lightbulb go off in my head. My brain was like, “Okay, you’re onto something. Keep going!” So I asked myself a question about this detail. And it was like BAM. That’s it. The answer to this question is the reason everything happened in book 1. The driving force, if you will. Now my job is to weave this information throughout the series, building tension in each book.

Once I had the series conflict, I could return to characters. How is my main character affected by the events in book 1? What does that mean for the character’s emotional arc? And I go from there. This may sound like it all happens neatly and in an order that makes sense, but what’s more common is stuff randomly pops into my head. If it fits with the “right” story, I go with it.

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About the Book

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From the author of The Demon Race comes a YA dark fantasy series inspired by Inuit mythology.

In the heart of the frigid North, there lives a demon known as the Face Stealer. Eyes, nose, mouth—nothing and no one is safe. Once he returns to his lair, or wherever it is he dwells, no one ever sees those faces again.

When tragedy strikes, Apaay embarks on a perilous journey to find her sister's face—yet becomes trapped in a labyrinth ruled by a sinister girl named Yuki. The girl offers Apaay a deal: find her sister's face hidden within the labyrinth, and she will be set free. But the labyrinth, and those who inhabit it, is not as it seems. Especially Numiak: darkly beautiful, powerful, whose motives are not yet clear.

With time slipping, Apaay is determined to escape the deadly labyrinth with her sister's face in hand. But in Yuki's harsh world, Apaay will need all her strength to survive.

Yuki only plays the games she wins.

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