An excellent question was emailed to us by Rachel. She asked, “I know that if I’m writing a stand alone book my character should overcome her internal flaw or lie by the end, but since I’m planning a series should I create another flaw or lie for the second book and so on until the end of the series?”

I was so excited to read this question, because in the last year, I’ve read multiple series where it felt the main character was struggling with the exact same issues in books two, three, or four, as she was in book one. It left me feeling frustrated, like the character had forgotten everything she supposedly learned in the first book.

While it’s natural for a character to have some residual baggage from that original lie they overcame in book one, readers don’t want to feel like that’s the primary issue in subsequent stories. Readers want to feel like book one has prepared the character for what lies ahead in book two. But how do we achieve that?

Consider what’s already there.

You’ve already baked some issues into this main character in book one, so it makes sense to start there. Say in book one, she was struggling with insecurity and had a hard time voicing her opinions. You rooted this in a lie she believed from her childhood, and you—savvy writer that you are—ended book one with her recognizing the lie and giving her victory over it. She’s now better at voicing her opinions and is on the road to overcoming her insecurity. Well done!

Now that it’s time for book two, you don’t want your character’s struggle to again be, “I don’t want to speak up,” because the reader has already experienced her journey with that issue. You could choose a totally different issue to focus on, or you can go deeper with the issue you already gave her. Here’s what “going deeper” could look like:

Because your main character previously had a tendency to be quiet and keep her thoughts to herself, she attracted a group of bossy, bulldozing friends. Now that your character is speaking out more, she’s going to experience some discomfort when those friends push back on her. It’s a sad truth that when we are changing, growing, and dreaming, there are often people around us who are trying to hold us down, who don’t want to see us change. So, as your main character carries on with life in book two, she can be dealing with this different facet of overcoming that flaw/lie in book one.

Should deepening the flaw from book one be your primary focus in book two? Probably not. You probably want to find something else he or she can be working on, but showing continued growth in their book one issues can be very rewarding for a reader, so long as it doesn’t feel like the character forgot the lessons of book one.

Whatever you choose, make this journey harder.

There was a business book that came out years ago called What Got You Here Won’t Get You There. I’ve never read it and I know hardly anything about it, yet the title has always stuck with me. I think about it often when I’ve reached a plateau. That phrase should be your mantra for crafting your main character’s development in subsequent books. What helped them be successful in book one shouldn’t by itself help them achieve success in the rest of the series.

In successful series that resonate with readers, you’ve maybe observed that the challenges get harder with each book. Consider Harry Potter and how much more capable he is by the end of book seven. The rising stakes along with the rising skill level of Harry and friends is one aspect of what keeps us interested. When the stakes climb higher with each book, readers keep turning the pages and pre-ordering the next release.

So, in our previous example, book one dealt with the main character learning how to use her voice. What if in book two, she’s having to advocate for someone to keep them safe? Here she’s barely learned how to speak up for herself, and now she has to figure out how to do it for somebody else when the stakes are even higher. The question, “What happens if my character fails?” is a very helpful question for making sure that you’re boosting those stakes.

Choose character growth words for each book.

Jill uses a technique called “character growth words” when she’s planning a series. The idea is that if you’re writing a stand alone novel, you might pick one word that embodies the main character’s view of self. In a series, you can use those words to show how they change and grow during the different books. Here’s the example Jill gave from her Kinsman Chronicles series:

Wilek is my protagonist. My first word for him is conflicted. He knows what is right, he wants to do it, but he doesn’t know how. He makes small steps forward, only to get knocked back time and again. But he will rise up and find his way, which will give him so much confidence that his second word is certain. This new belief will permeate everything he does to the point of legalism. And that will lead him to his third word, humbled.

Jill goes on to say:

Do you see the progression? Start out with a word that has a negative connotation. Then brainstorm ways your character might rise above that situation. Think it through and write down all the words that come to you. They might be complete opposites or extremes of the word you started with.

(You can read the full article here. You should, because it’s really good!)

Should you develop new lies for each book?

In her question, Rachel also talked about lies and how to handle those over the course of the series.

If you’re unfamiliar with the technique of giving your character a lie to believe, it’s pretty much exactly what it sounds like. Your character believes something that’s untrue (about themselves, about the world, etc.) because of something specific that happened to them (often called a lie origin scene) and by the end of the book, they’ve rejected the lie and embraced the truth.

What about if you’re writing a series? Do you need to identify a new lie for your character for every single book? I personally don’t think so. What will probably work better is to dig into what’s already there in book one and surprise us by flipping the tables on something your character “knows.” Your character thinks they have the full story, but it turns out that they don’t.

For example, in book one your character thought her father left and never tried to get in touch, but in book two she learns that he did and her mom kept her in the dark. Or in book one, your character knows the technology could be used for X, Y, and Z but in book two, he discovers this big, terrible way it can be used and now he’s being challenged in new and surprising ways. Guardians of the Galaxy Volume Two and Frozen 2 are both movies that use this technique well.

Here are a couple other posts on characters and planning a series that you might dig:

How To Write Soul-Deep Characters Part One and Part Two

Planning Out A Series

Do you prefer to read series or stand-alone books?

Stephanie Morrill writes books about girls who are on an adventure to discover their unique place in the world. She is the author of several contemporary young adult series, as well as two historical young adult novels, The Lost Girl of Astor Street and Within These Lines. Within These Lines was a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard selection, as well as a YALSA 2020 Best Fiction for Young Adults pick. Since 2010, Stephanie has been encouraging the next generation of writers at her website, GoTeenWriters.com, which has been on the Writer’s Digest Best Websites for Writers list since 2017. She lives in the Kansas City area, where she loves plotting big and small adventures to enjoy with her husband and three children. You can connect with Stephanie and learn more about her books at StephanieMorrill.com, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.