When I started The Hooper Mysteries, I had no idea that the individual books that I was writing would play such a big part in book seven. All I wanted to do was write a series that might keep people interested. I didn’t even realise my main character was a time traveller until I finished the first eBook.
Make notes. If you’re working on you current book and you have ideas that you can use in the future, write them down. You can never have too many notes and I find that if I don’t write them down, I forget. Remember, the tiniest idea – though it might be fleeting, can have a huge impact on your story and even if you never intended to head in a certain direction, you may find yourself changing paths.
I’ve touched on character mapping before and the way that I plan out my characters. Once again, make notes. There might be things that your character says or does that you need to use later in the series. This will save you time. As your world grows you forget things and they might lead to unforgivable errors that may ruin your story-line. So be thorough.
Once you have your idea, the work begins. When I start, I just begin with the basics. Once the bones are in place, you can beef it up. All you have to do is give it a try. Start with something short and publish it on a free website for writers. There are plenty of them around. One I particularly like is UKauthors.com. I’ve published a few stories on this site and received some favourable comments from other authors. But the internet is vast and there are so many good sites that welcome new writers and the not so new. So what are you waiting for – start writing!
Sandra Maggs 