How much time have you spent planning your series?

Fuzed 2020-07-26 12:13:11 UTC #1

Hi, fellow novelists!

I've just started uploading my first novel last week. Even though there are only 10 episodes currently, I have more stockpiled and even more of them planned. I have been writing the series for over 4 months but I have been planning it for more than a year now.

So I'm curious to know, how long have you been planning your series for before you started writing and/or publishing and how much ahead have you planned?

If anyone would be interested, my series is about assassins but with a rather unique twist. So if you're into stealth missions, choreographed fights, and a somewhat futuristic setting then I think you might like it .

WolfUnderTheMoon89 2020-07-26 12:18:59 UTC #2

The characters themselves took 14years to develop.
The story plot about 6 months. After that I wrote book one in 5 months ending around 108k words and I'm working on book 2 now.
The original plot would be 5 books, but so much has come up that I now have everything for 6 books and maybe even 7.

Fuzed 2020-07-26 12:22:18 UTC #3

Did you start publishing periodically and once you finished what you considered to be Book 1, you compiled that and published it as a book somewhere? Or what was your process if you don't mind me asking?

I'm really curious about how different authors started out. It's something that you don't get to see a lot of the times.

Leverance 2020-07-26 12:23:26 UTC #4

Normally I plan the stories to varying degrees. Since I write in so many different genres the stories sometimes become shorter or longer depending on it.

His Obsession took me less than three months to plan and is less than thirty chapters long when completed. Compare it to Incarnation which took half a year to plan with ca 51 chapters in total (it will start publishing on Tapas once His Obsession is completed).

LostSpirit 2020-07-26 12:24:22 UTC #5

Since 2012-2013. It's morphed, grown, distorted to become what it is today. But I clung to this story with a passion. It's on its fourth rewrite currently. I'm going to do my best to not reach a fifth overhaul!

And I have a buffer in place to maintain my schedule in case of anything that might prevent me from keeping to said schedule.

Here's mine if you'd like to check it out! ^^

DasIstWunderblyat 2020-07-26 12:25:00 UTC #6

I find the most efficient planning time is when I write it.

My story is apparently a continuous remake, recycle, and development from what I have made 10 years ago. As the things are now very different and incomparable
by concept and character-wise, it is safe to say the older versions of this are not the same stories —although some concepts and the name of the main character remains the same (although his origin, personality, and even appearance aren't).

Just to think of it, every year it is given a rewrite.

Fuzed 2020-07-26 12:26:12 UTC #7

Have you published these books separately on Amazon Kindle or somewhere or just as chapters on Tapas? If not, do you ever plan to do so?

Fuzed 2020-07-26 12:27:32 UTC #8

That's really a lot of time. Have you been publishing the first 3 editions or just the fourth one? How do you deal with it if you need to rewrite something that you've already published?

And I'll take a look at it, if it happens to be down my alley, then I'll definitely read it

WolfUnderTheMoon89 2020-07-26 12:28:56 UTC #9

Well I started writing, wrote a chapter and published it on wattpad where I started posting it.
I came to tapas a while later and also started publishing it here.
The first book is finished, but still being uploaded at 4 parts a week.
On wattpad the book has been completely uploaded since Friday.
I'm planning on finishing uploading here and then after that I will start posting book 2.

While writing book 2, I am editing the first one. Which is now just a first draft.
I hope I can get it published in the end.... but well, I wanted to see how the world responded to it first

But it need a lot of revision and edits first before I publish it

Leverance 2020-07-26 12:29:09 UTC #10

What I will publish at the beginning on Tapas are fanfics before I move over to original work (which will need major rewrites before publishing on here). Though, I publish only on Wattpad, Inkitt, and Tapas at the moment.

I'm uncertain whatever I want to self-publish on Kindle or go the traditional publishing route.

Fuzed 2020-07-26 12:29:19 UTC #11

I see many people saying that they've done several rewrites over a longer period of time. Have you personally been publishing the earlier editions or only the last one? And if you ever happen to do a rewrite, what will you do with the published edition?

I'll take a look at the blurb and see if I find it to suit my tastes.

drcharlotterodricks 2020-07-26 12:29:42 UTC #12

https://tapas.io/series/You--Me

That is mine. Even though it looks so simple, it took me 7 weeks to draw and ink everything, this counting my brief slump in between.I currently have 70 episodes in total for Volume 1 following which I'l be on hiatus till I complete Volume 2.

Fuzed 2020-07-26 12:31:25 UTC #13

Will the revisions only be stylistic or will you also be changing the contents and the plot? I fear that once I publish something, there's not a lot of room for change. Plot-wise, I mean.

WolfUnderTheMoon89 2020-07-26 12:32:34 UTC #14

Just stylistic, grammar and flow, those thing. Plot will stay as it is, there isn't any change needed there. Just a few parts here and there that need a bit of change to fit the plot even better.

DasIstWunderblyat 2020-07-26 12:34:07 UTC #15

No but I am considering looking back at the earliest version and might polish it (even though that gonna be a hard work technically and emotionally, not to mention translating it).

There are more people than expected who hold on to an idea and develop it for years and even decades, for me it is kinda heartwarming and soulful. If you want to see how people develop, you can also look at the stories they have created

Thank you!

Fuzed 2020-07-26 12:35:05 UTC #16

I see. I also wanted to start publishing and hopefully accumulate some fanbase on the way. I feel like without publishing, I wouldn't be able to persevere and write a whole book. I fear that I would screw up right at the beginning and then the whole book would be a total waste of time. That's why I publish chapters regularly to see what people think.

Fuzed 2020-07-26 12:35:53 UTC #17

Interesting. I'll definitely check it out .

Fuzed 2020-07-26 12:37:03 UTC #18

That makes sense. I'm always unhappy with the way I write stuff. At the time of me writing it, I feel like I'm doing very well. But then I wake up the next morning, re-read what I've written and find out that it makes no sense. It's really frustrating.

And sometimes there are just those tiny things that you won't spot, but the reader will.

drcharlotterodricks 2020-07-26 12:38:06 UTC #19

As someone whose been reviewing comics here ever since I joined, I get what you mean.One of my readers spotted an important error in my comic that I had missed.

Leverance 2020-07-26 12:38:43 UTC #20

I've got a somewhat reader base I built up on Wattpad when I was a teenager. Though, many of them require much work before I move them to the next stage. I've also various stories in the planning process so I'm constantly working on something.

I've completed books before so that isn't a major issue for me -- I've never rewritten one of my stories priorly, though, so that will be new for me.

What could help for you is to have some readers give you regular input and you see what you need changed etc but take any feedback with a grain of salt. I don't see any books I've written as a waste of time, more as a way of learning what worked and what didn't.