How to write a Series like a Pro

What is a 'pro'?

Most would accept a professional as being someone who generates revenue from a particular set of skills or knowledge. In today's publishing world, that definition could easily apply to anyone who makes a few cents from an e-book on Amazon, Smashwords, or similar sites.

I am going to call attention to the IRS definition, which views a professional as someone who generates enough revenue from a particular set of skills or knowledge to qualify as a business entity, eligible to claim deductions for any expenses associated with their professional activities. For what it is worth, I have a valid IRS Tax Identifier number dedicated exclusively to my professional writing activities.

The IRS views hobbyists differently than professionals, but that is strictly a business viability perspective and not a measure related to the actual skill or knowledge of the individual. I mention the differences between what the IRS views as a professional versus a hobbyist because it should be understood by anyone endeavoring to make money as a writer.

While these types of writers are my target audience for this article, hobbyist writers would also benefit from the information, since it will certainly make your written work appear more professional.

What is what? Understanding core differences.

So, for those who are currently pros, and those aspiring to be a pro, let's start with what constitutes a "series".

As it applies to literature, Merriam Webster provides this definition: ": a succession of volumes or issues published with related subjects or authors, similar format and price, or continuous numbering. "

Notice that this definition makes no mention of the term, "chapter". That term is defined by Merriam Webster as: ": a main division of a book".

At this point, we can utilize these distinct definitions to establish at the core that writing a series (different stories) is not the same as writing serially (ie, a story comprised of a sequence of interdependent chapters). Understanding this difference is essential for a professional writer to properly present their work to traditional publishing entities and not face immediate rejection. It doesn't hurt your reputation as an amateur writer either.

Examples that you might relate to.

Television is an ideal medium to demonstrate the difference between a series and writing serially.

The popular television program, M.A.S.H. aired for several years. Each episode involved a (generally) common cast of characters in scenes based upon a central premise: an Army field hospital during the Korean War. Although the episodes were produced in a set order, they were each independent of the others, and could be viewed in any sequence while retaining their original meaning for the viewers.

M.A.S.H. was a series of related stories, not the same story. Each episode had its own defined beginning, middle, and end. You could likely name several other similar television programs that followed this same concept, since these are among the most popular shows to end up in syndication after they have been cancelled.

Daily soap operas are an example of serially presenting a television program. Each episode is a division of the ongoing story arc, not a separate story, and is dependent upon those episodes that aired prior to it for viewer clarity and understanding. Viewing an episode out of order can leave significant plot and character development gaps. Other popular examples would be primetime programs such as DALLAS, or 24 HOURS. Television programs that require a specific sequencing or order to the airing of their episodes are not as popular in syndication.

What do you want to write?

Not to confuse things, but distinguishing a series of related stories from a serially written story isn't that clear-cut. Consider that in traditional publishing, there are hundreds of writers who have created a series of stories around a central character, and every one of those stories is written serially, in chapters. Mysteries such as "Nancy Drew" or the works of Janet Evanovich are examples that come to mind.

There are also several historical and recent instances where a writer had released their standalone chapter story in installments through a series of magazine articles, effectively creating a series out of their single work.

Some writers gravitate naturally to writing series, while others make a career out of writing standalone tales. Some of us do both. The story you want to tell will generally be the determining factor in whether you decide to write it as a series, or to write it serially. Do you want a small party every weekend, or do you want one big bash per year?

Imagine that you are writing a scenario where specific characters have certain adventures centered around a common theme, locale, or conflict, and then you write another scenario where maybe some different characters have related experiences as the first group, but at a different time or setting. If each scenario could stand on its own without the other, then you are writing a series.

If you want to tell a "one-and-done" tale about infidelity, murder, and revenge that builds from a tumultuous beginning, through raging conflict, and finding resolution after a lot of drama, then you would likely be writing serially, regardless of how many pieces you broke the story into when publishing.

Don't confuse how you create your story with how your story gets published. Know whether you are writing a series or writing serially. That understanding will guide everything else.

Some examples of writing a series

I will offer up as examples two of my own series published on Literotica.

In the first series, Before They Were Stars, each episode tells a distinct story about a famous woman involved in different sexual escapades prior to her becoming famous. The premise for each story remains the same, but the characters, settings, and plot scenarios are all different. I could equate this series to the television program, "Red Shoe Diaries".

My Uncle Sugar Daddy series, on the other hand, deals with the same main characters in different scenarios and at different times. The events occur in a defined order, but readers lose nothing by reading them out of sequence. A comparable television program with this approach might be something such as "Californication".

Every other story that I have published on Literotica was written serially and is published as a single file. Any of these could serve as an example for a "one-and-done", single submission of a standalone chapter story.

Some examples of writing serially

If the story is to remain essentially the same tale, with divisions placed within it to establish a flow, build conflict(s), introduce new scenarios, or employ different literary techniques as needed, then you will be writing serially, or what is commonly referred to as a chapter story.

A chapter story is written serially, but it doesn't have to be published all at once. I originally published all of my chapter stories serially, but later converted them to single submissions based on reader feedback. There are pros and cons to breaking up a larger story for publication on Literotica, but there is no "one way is best" approach.

One of the most popular stories on Literotica that was written and published serially is Lady in Red, by Harddaysknight. It was published in three parts over 65 chapters, and took over six years to complete. If a reader were to begin the journey with this story somewhere around the sixth or seventh chapter, they would find excellent writing and a compelling tale, but they would not see the stunning picture drawn for them in the previous chapters.

This story also illustrates another point, which is that once a chapter story has been published entirely for even just a few months, the submission strategy originally employed by the writer becomes a moot point. Harddaysknight may have experienced some prolonged exposure to his story as each new chapter was published, but now, seven years after the last installment, that benefit is nonexistent.

Explore the Universe

There is another method for creating an association between stories, which is to create a "Universe".

If you have several standalone stories that could be brought together into an all-encompassing world, typically rotating around a foundational tale, consider aligning them into your own universe.

The easiest example of this that I can present to you is the universe that I created with my "Brandt Family Adventures". I wrote the foundational story, His Daddy's Car as a standalone tale in 2014. Since 2023, I have written three other stories that "rotate" around the original tale. Each is a unique tale of its own, but held in orbit by the "gravitational influence" of the original story's core concept. There are three additional stories that I consider "satellites" to this universe due to their peripheral association with the other stories within it.

Many consider Tom Clancy's novels involving the character Jack Ryan to be another example of a universe of associated stories rather than following the traditional definition of a series, and I would tend to agree with them.

Selecting the right title(s)

I frequently see posts and comments from writers chagrined over the name that they chose for their first part, whether it is a series or a story being written serially.

I will discuss my advice on how to prevent this later, but for now, I will offer some advice on how to deal with the planning, execution, and how to remedy mis-named pieces of a story.

Ideally, you know prior to submitting your work for publishing whether it is 1) Complete, and 2) the first part of a series or serially written story. Let's assume that both are true.

My first advice is to remember the difference when selecting your naming strategy. You don't want to call the first installment in a planned series, "My Series - Chapter One", because it is not a chapter. That is misleading to readers. The same holds true for calling an installment "Part One", or similar. It is not only non-descriptive and lazy; it also implies a "chaptered" relationship that doesn't exist.

You can use a common name for all parts of your series, but distinguish each one in some fashion, such as "My Series - Night in Tokyo", followed by the next installment, "My Series - Night in Paris", and so on. This associates all the individual parts to each other while clearly demonstrating that each is unique.

Writing serially (chapters) can be easier from a naming perspective. Here, "My Story Ch 01", "My Story Ch 02", and so on make perfect sense. Readers can clearly see the divisions that you have created and the sequential association of each. It is perfectly acceptable to combine multiple chapters into parts when submitting them, where each part contains a defined number of chapters. If you tend to write shorter chapters, this approach feeds your readers more at a time. Avoid using both 'chapters' and 'parts' for the same story because this will look unprofessional and confuse readers.

If you have no clear idea how many chapters you might eventually end up with, be certain to start with enough number characters to cover yourself. For example, don't start out with "Ch 1", if there is any chance that you will have more than nine chapters. Start with "Ch 01" or even "Ch 001" to cover your bases.

Okay, so it wasn't until you had submitted the first part of your story that you received the inspiration to write more. How do you change your title to accommodate future installments?

The first, and most efficient method, is to submit an edit to your story that modifies just the title field.

Please review the FAQs on this subject:

https://www.literotica.com/faq/publishing/editing-published-work

followed by:

https://www.literotica.com/faq/publishing/change-published-work-title

There is a character limit for the title field, which can be very restrictive when trying to title a story, but especially a series. Understand this when selecting your title. If you do find yourself one or two characters short, a polite message to Laurel, the site administrator, can sometimes buy you some additional character grace.

Literotica's Series Manager

I believe there is nothing on this site that muddies the distinction between writing a series and writing serially more than the Series Manager feature.

Not that it isn't a helpful and frequently valuable feature if used correctly. Please do so.

From what I have seen, the Series Manager can be used to:

1. Allow a writer to manage the order of series stories to place installments in the correct order and indicate whether the series is "In Progress" or "Complete".
2. Allow a writer to manage a serially written story to ensure that chapters are in the correct sequence and indicate whether the story is "In Progress" or "Complete".
3. Allow the writer to associate an approved cover image with their series/serially written story.
4. Allow a writer to manage the association between stand-alone stories that might be part of a "universe".

I have seen some writers advocate for a series to be created in the Series Manager before submitting the first piece to be published. My own experience has always been to get the first installment published and then create the series after that. I don't know if this affects the time for a new series to be approved in the Series Manager, but I do know that I have never experienced any delays doing it as I described.

My position is, just because the Series Manager feature will allow you to treat a series of stories and a serially written story the same, it isn't always right to do that in other aspects, such as titling. It should be used as a tool that allows you to assist your readers in navigating your associated stories.

Some ancillary tips

I have been publishing in the real world, making money at it since 1974, and here for free on Literotica since 2014. What I will share with you is borne from this experience alone, and heavily influenced by traditional publishing versus what this site allows a writer to do.

Most of this advice can apply to all types of writing, but will influence series and serialized writing more deeply. Others will disagree, and that's fine too.

• Finish it before publishing any part of a story. I understand the desire to "publish as you go", both as motivation to keep writing and to garner more immediate feedback on what you have already written. I get it. However, consider what you lose by doing so. First, and most importantly, you lose control. You can no longer easily go back to what has already been published to make changes that any feedback indicates would have bettered your tale. You also tie your hands on future developments in your story, if including them negates or makes inconsistent those things that you have already published. There are dozens of free writer group sites on the Internet that will provide the feedback and motivation that you might achieve by publishing your work prematurely, while allowing you to maintain control of your work until the end. You can publish in pieces once it's done, but they will be pieces that you controlled from beginning to end.
• Patience pays its own dividends. Don't rush yourself or your story. It's not like you have an agent or publisher pushing you against some deadline (been there, done that). Take the time to share it with others (see writer groups above), take their advice, make needed changes, and edit until you're blue in the face.
• Know what you have. This relates a great deal to finishing the story first. There are a lot of categories on Literotica, and it isn't uncommon for different scenes within a story to possibly fit in multiple categories. Avoid category hopping with either series stories or those serially written. When the story is complete, it will typically be much clearer which single category it fits into best. Take an example from mainstream publishing; You won't find portions of a book ripped out and placed with the cookbooks shelf of a bookstore simply because a scene talks about a gourmet meal. If you struggle in trying to determine the best category for your story, try creating a brief synopsis of the type that you would send to an agent or publisher. If you can't figure out the genre of your story, how do you expect readers to do so?
• Take the right break. Few things impact the flow and pace of a story more than timely section and chapter breaks. Knowing the best place to set a break can be more challenging when publishing incomplete serialized works. Regardless of the length of a story, I always wait until the editing phase to permanently establish breaks of any kind.
• Wait? Who is that? A writer has it all in their head. If they go to any section of their story, they know who the relevant characters are, their backstory, descriptions, and why they are present. Remember this when writing your tale, especially if you are going to consider breaking the story up in some fashion when publishing. If you are writing a series, does each installment provide the necessary details for readers to comprehend what you want them to, or will they need to read previous installments to fully appreciate the new one? Readers tend to expect some gaps if they jump into a clearly titled chapter story (see "Lady in Red" above). They do not expect the same when starting the next installment in a series. Avoid being redundant, but provide the right details
• Keep things straight. Consistency and continuity within a story are two of the things that I see suffer most often when writers publish serials or serialized stories before completing them. Common examples are the same character names, changing from earlier parts of the story to later ones, and time frames or a sequence of events getting out of synch. These instances can occur with any story, but they are most likely to happen when time goes by between published pieces and a writer loses the same awareness that comes from writing until finished, and being able to review everything as a whole.
• Providing context. Beyond responding to reader feedback, another reason that I now submit full and complete stories exclusively is the improved odds that it gives me for story approval by the site administrator. There are several site policies and guidelines (underage characters, etc.) that can get a story rejected if the context in which the questionable content exists isn't clear and obvious during the review process. Even when I used to submit individual chapters, I submitted them all at the same time. If there was any question about something in Chapter One, for example, the admin had all the subsequent chapters available to properly gauge the intended context. In a similar vein, writers who have had portions of their stories published, only to have later portions flagged for suspected AI involvement, have had success when combining all their parts and submitting them as a single work.
• Emulate, imitate, and mimic. Model your writing on that of other successful authors who produce stories of the type that you aspire to write. Don't limit yourself to erotica, but find those in traditional publishing who have written successful series and study how they structured them. The same is true for those who write serialized, "one-and-done" stories. How do they keep the flow going? How would their standalone tales fare if published as a serial rather than all at once?

In conclusion

For those writers who have many common stories to tell, in different settings and time periods, with varying tones and structures, writing a series of unique episodes offers a chance to explore your plots, scenarios, and settings intimately, following your characters over time.

On the other hand, if what you envision in your mind is a "one-and-done" tale consisting of multiple segments, you and your readers are likely to be better served by you writing the story serially in interdependent chapters as a standalone project.

Put yourself in the place of your readers. Would you enjoy the story as much if you had to wait for portions of it to be published rather than being able to read it all at your leisure? Again, think back to television programs: Do you prefer to watch an episode each week or wait until all of them have aired, and then binge-watch them one after another? Which would your readers prefer?

You could produce the next great American novel, but if you present it to readers in a manner that they object to, or that confuses them, you will be facing a critical audience that you could have avoided with a little forethought and planning.