Planning Things out Avoids Complications

Writing a series is the equivalent of making an entire city from scratch.

The plans need to be precise, and carefully laid out.

While I respect discovery writing a great deal, the fact is when writing a series as long as the one I’m currently working on, extensive planning needs to go into it.

My light novel series will be twenty sessions long, and some of those books will be near full-length novels to expand upon the lore of Orchestrylus.

The series dives into musicality, the psyche, what it means to be human, the meaning of fate, the benefits of religion, the downsides of organized religion, the impact of war, and whether the villain might be right after all.

Diminished Seventh isn’t some dark lord who is evil just to be evil. As he comes into play in the second light novel and beyond, I explore the history of Orchestrylus among a populace that has long forgotten the last four thousand repeats, the time of the Thousand Lost Melodies. Two hundred and fifty lost pieces of the First Legacy for each millennium of repeats.

Diminished Seventh is a major part of that time, the timeframe when Maestraumus made his Offer to the spheres.

The meaning of this Offer and how it relates to Diminished Seventh will flesh out in The Last Key of Maestraumus, as well as The Noted Colors of Silver Wings. The Voided Promises of Noble Songs will take place on the next sphere in the array, Verdisti, not Liszt. Stanzielle has never left Liszt, though to be fair to her there’s enough to explore there alone. Each sphere is about the size of Earth (minus a few thousand measures).

I will have written millions of words by the time this series is over, and digital drawing instead of having AI make the character art is time-consuming as well.

I’ve commissioned an artist for my next book covers and will continue to do so in the near future. Same thing with the interior art. I can do it myself using digital studios and the touch screen on my laptop with a pen, but I’m not the best at making art.

My gift is writing, not drawing. We must know our limits.

My goal is to vie with the best of them.

That requires a distinctive touch, a specific vision, and if someone draws better than I do, then you bet I’m going to hire them, so I can focus on writing.

There’s nothing like penning stories for me. Planning a giant series of books is a challenge, but there are seven spheres to explore in this universe and so much potential to be had.

I know the ending already, as well as the major plot points.

This series is going to keep me busy as a bee for the next three years.

My favorite part of the creative process is forming that vision that I see in my head and placing each word exactly where it’s meant to be. When a book is over, I get a gloomy feeling, like I’ve lost a friend to time.

I am doing the best I can to move forward in this series, but it’s going to take some time.

My choice of setting is clear, the path ahead is clear, the main story beats are clear, but how I get from point A to point B is not as clear.

An outline can only do so much for a writer, even if it’s fifty to one hundred pages long.

I don’t outline that extensively, but my process is like a road trip from coast to coast. I hit the major sights, but whether I choose to take a certain highway or a back road is up to me.

Doing this series the justice it deserves means planning it out so well that I know what side character B’s longing for his true love has done to him off-screen as he stares at the stars at night, staying up late most nights to overthink everything, even though he’s only selling the party a new songgraph for one paragraph.

Or that the shop owner in Stanzielle’s chordel, Beatty, hasn’t seen his son in six repeats because of his ex-wife’s tendency to explode over anything that keeps her precious prodigy from becoming an entertainer, not a symphonist, which Beatty fully supports, to her dismay and hatred.

Even details as small as Lyrician’s penchant for honey toast every weekend morning.

Or that Violeste Allegrette matches her clothes based on the phase of the spiralixes as they march between the spheres (besides her symphonist coat, of course).

The number of freckles on Timbre’s right arm, the reason Maestus Reinala goes by two names, the weather on Hadynus while it’s sunny on Liszt, etc.

You get the point.

Not everything has to be this detailed, and sometimes we write things to move things along. Sometimes things are what they are with no subtext or hidden meanings.

Describing the color of the Flame as it sets behind Liszt and moves toward Verdisti while the biomic auroras flash across the middle skies isn’t a treatise on the human condition.

What flowers and petals fall upon each sphere and continent may give certain insights, though.

The point is everything needs to be well thought out when writing a series this long.

An author can’t take shortcuts or do things haphazardly.

Careful planning and meticulous intention are the goals here.

Do I know what happens in session fifteen?

Yep.

Do I know what poetic plaque type I’m going to use in the middle of verse nine in session seven, whether it will be acrostic or free verse when character A attacks character Z?

No.

Sometimes surprises are the point.

Writing is planning as much as it is discovery.

But I’ve found that building that foundation and overarching structure helps bring the series together beautifully.

If you’re planning to write a series of novels, my best advice is to think things through and not rush into things.

But hey, if you’re a discovery writer, do what works for you.

Writing is supposed to be fun.

There is no right way, and the only wrong way is the thing that doesn’t work for you.