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By Debbie Burke
Today I’m seeking advice from authors who write series fiction as well as people who enjoy reading series books.
Here’s the situation: I have an idea for the ninth book in the Tawny Lindholm Thriller series, but this new plot would reveal several surprise twists from prior books. These are major league spoilers.
Ideally, readers begin a series with #1 and read the books in order. They watch continuing characters grow and change with each succeeding book.
But as authors we can’t count on the series being read in order and must keep that in mind as we write.
Here’s some conventional wisdom about series writing:
- Treat each book as a standalone.
- If there are references to events that happen in earlier books, skirt around them to avoid giving away surprises.
- Include only enough backstory from earlier books so the reader isn’t confused.
- No spoilers.
Series contain one unavoidable spoiler: in each book, the lead character grapples with danger that is sure to kill them. But there are more books in the series so the lead must survive. As long as you keep readers up past their bedtime, they don’t mind that spoiler.
With a series, relationship arcs develop over multiple books.
In book #1, let’s say two characters dislike each other but must work together to overcome obstacles.
In book #2, their relationship has changed after being in the trenches together. Changes might be:
- They’re now allies and friends.
- One emerges as the lead while the other becomes the subordinate.
- Characters alternate positions. A secondary character in one book becomes the lead in another.
- They continue to clash with each other in a running conflict.
- They become lovers.
In book #3, the plot pushes them closer together with more shared adventures and lessons learned. The relationship grows deeper. More variations are possible:
- One is killed off, leading to new problems for the survivor.
- They are no longer personally connected but must still interact (e.g. on the job, as family members, sharing a child, etc.).
- One finds a new interest, which leads to conflict with the other.
And so on, and so on.
Like real life, interpersonal relationships in fiction are complicated by death, distance, illness, injury, divorce, children, new romances, blended families, and more.
A while back, I received an email from a someone who had read the first book in my series, Instrument of the Devil. In that story, Tawny Lindholm is the lead character who’s targeted by a terrorist. Soon she’s in insurmountable legal trouble and facing prison. In the last quarter of the book, a brilliant, arrogant attorney named Tillman Rosenbaum shows up to represent her. She desperately needs his help but can’t stand him.
Initially, Tillman was supposed to be a walk-on character, a one-off. However, he was so much fun to write that I couldn’t get rid of him. He demanded the role of male lead and I had no choice but to give it to him.
At the end of IOTD, Tillman gets Tawny out of legal trouble but she’s broke and desperate. He offers her a job which, despite her dislike for him, she reluctantly accepts.
In book #2, Stalking Midas, Tawny constantly worries Tillman is going to fire her because the job is over her head. She gradually learns reasons behind her boss’s harsh facade and recognizes why he’s so cynical. Tillman, who doesn’t trust anyone, discovers Tawny can be trusted and she becomes indispensable.
Spoiler alert: by the end, they break their own two cardinal rules:
- Don’t dip your pen in the company inkwell.
- Don’t sleep with the guy who signs your paycheck.
“What??? Really???”
Photo by Amber Kipp on Unsplash
Despite ups and downs, their relationship grows. Responding to the email from the new reader, I mentioned in passing that their wedding occurs in book #5. The incredulous reader wrote back, “Tawny marries Tillman????”
Oops. Let that cat out of the bag. Fortunately, the reader continued with the series.
Here’s my dilemma today: the potential plot for book #9 would require revealing crimes and the killer’s identity from book #3, Eyes in the Sky.
At this point, I haven’t written one word of #9. The new plot vaguely swirls in my imagination but it’s far from pinned down.
That’s why I figured now was a good time to ask for help from the intelligent, thoughtful community at TKZ.
If you write series fiction, have you ever given away spoilers from earlier books?
Do you think that helps or hinders the series?
Did you receive feedback from readers about spilling secrets? What did they think?
Did it affect their reaction to subsequent books in the series?
Were they disappointed?
If you’re a reader of series fiction, how important is it to you to be surprised?
Do you read series out of order?
Did spoilers from earlier books diminish your reading experience of a new one?
I’m interested in your thoughts, pro and con. Thanks for being my focus group!
~~~
Spoiler alert: the two main characters in the Tawny Lindholm Thriller series survive at the end of each book…so far!
Wow, this is tough.
The mainstream trilogy I’ve been working on for twenty-three years has two finished volumes, published, and I’m working on the final one.
This past week, for the very first time, a new reader mentioned that she is starting with the SECOND volume. Possibly, though we haven’t corresponded enough yet for me to be sure, it’s because the second volume has a big chunk set in India, where she lives.
But I thanked her, told her she was the first to do this (and it’s only been possible since the second volume came out in Sep. 2022!), but that it shouldn’t be TOO hard to figure out, and that would make the first volume an origin story, and I would love to hear how that worked out for her.
People with series have that in much higher complexity.
As a reader, I’ve never minded – books became available when they became available (in English, when I was growing up in Mexico and had no way to gather things in order), and the bits and pieces got assigned to the mental database as they became available because the AUTHOR knew the order and sequence and true total history. I was just hearing the story out of order, as might happen if you picked up pieces in life.
Some things I read in the chronological order – it is hard to imagine Dune or The Lord of the Rings not read linearly – but for many series, it really doesn’t matter, except for the little places where you find out something you don’t know quite what to do with. Those I tended to forget for now, and pick up again when I read that volume.
I prefer to WRITE chronologically, but am kind of liking my new reader’s style.
In other words: I think you can justify almost anything – do what makes you happy when you write, relax when you read – you are the most involved and knowledgeable person about your stories, and you can’t tell readers what to do anyway.
Alicia, those are really helpful observations. Thanks.
I don’t mind reading series out of order as long as prior events are explained enough so it’s not confusing. If there’s mention of a pivotal event from an earlier book, I’m likely to seek out the prior book to discover what happened.
What is most confusing are series with many continuing characters and complex relationships. I get confused–isn’t Suzy the sister of the coworker who used to be married to the main character’s ex, etc, etc.
So YOU don’t make YOURS confusing – because that annoyed you about some other writer’s work, and you don’t want to do that to your readers.
Honestly, I think half of what I do is for that reason. I know almost all of my interior formatting choices were made that way.
As you go, remind yourself periodically – and you’ll do it the way you would have liked.
As a reader, I prefer to be surprised, so I take some steps not to read spoilers – I always read series in order, I avoid reading interviews with the author which I suspect contain spoilers, etc. That said, I can only recall one time where reading a spoiler in advance upset me, and that wasn’t so much by spoiler itself as it was that I knew the person spoiling the book was doing it deliberately as a FU to the readers of a series he/she disapproved of. *That* ticked me off. I still enjoyed the book, though, and continued the series to the end. Most of the time, on a scale of 1 – 10, reading a spoiler rates about a 2.
Karen, someone else deliberately spoiling the book b/c of disapproval is crummy, all right. But glad to hear you didn’t let it ruin your enjoyment.
Thanks for adding to the discussion.
I try hard to avoid spoilers, so if I have to refer to a crime from an earlier book, I never mention the name of the culprit.
I recall getting a gift of a CJ Box book, the first I’d read. I think it was book 5 in the series. In it, Joe was reciting the names of his three daughters and wife to give him focus to carry on. I enjoyed the book, went back to the beginning, and in an earlier book one of the daughters had died. Huh? I did continue reading and discover what had really happened, but it was kind of a letdown knowing she had to be resurrected somehow.
In another case, I read a book 2 first, and there were so many recaps of the crime and killer in book 1 that I never went back to the first book.
If you can manage to work the required facts in without doing a replay, you should be all right.
Appreciate your input, Terry, esp. since you also write series. I agree that too much recapping is annoying and really slows the momentum.
Interesting about Box’s series. That’s why authors need to be VERY careful whom they kill off. Old TV soap operas regularly resurrected dead characters, to the point where viewers said, “Oh puh-leeze.”
Soaps – the best thing that could happen to your character was to die. You are going to come back in some fashion.
The worst thing? Sent to boarding school.
LOL, Alan!
Can’t be of much help from a writer standpoint because I’m only just now working on the first book of a series in the mystery genre. Anticipating how it might work out, I’m thinking I would not want to include spoilers to previous books, but, like Terry said, I may refer to a past crime or case but not reveal the name of the culprit.
As a reader, I do read series in order (unless for some reason I didn’t realize I was reading a book that was part of a series). As a person who struggles to remember what I had for dinner last week 😎 I don’t think I’d be terribly alarmed by reading spoilers–it would just make me curious to see how the character or story element reached that point. But as a reader I probably wouldn’t want there to be much more of a spoiler than necessary to move the new book’s story forward.
Tough call. Best wishes on figuring out what’s right for your new book.
BK, I can’t remember last night’s dinner either! Unless I’m binging on a series, I likely have forgotten most of what happened in prior books.
Like Terry, I sometimes refer obliquely to prior crimes w/o naming the villains. In the theoretical case, the character isn’t a villain but someone with a dark secret whose past would drastically affect their current career. That’s why I’m weighing whether it’s worth giving away the secret.
Thanks for your perspective as a reader.
As a series grows, it’s almost impossible to avoid spoilers. Here’s the thing: If a new reader picks up book 8 or 9 out of sequence, they may not realize it’s a spoiler. In my Mayhem Series, the killer in books 2-4 transforms into the antihero and mentor of the same protagonist he tried to murder in earlier books. I can’t avoid telling readers their history (their partnership is in the book descriptions), but it doesn’t matter.
By mentioning their relationship without revealing how they got to where they are today, it piques interest rather than spoiling the plots of earlier books.
In my Grafton County Series, I mentioned previous killers’ epithets, not their real names.
So, that’s my advice. Keep it vague. What you deem as a spoiler may differ from a new reader’s POV.
Sue, glad you chimed in. The transformation of Mr. Mayhem is really interesting and doesn’t seem to have chased away any readers.
“What you deem as a spoiler may differ from a new reader’s POV.” You’re right–it’s all in the reader’s POV.
Sue, glad you chimed in b/c of the intriguing transformation of Mr. Mayhem from villain to antihero.
“without revealing how they got to where they are today, it piques interest rather than spoiling the plots of earlier books.” That works for me as a reader. I often go backward in a series to learn how the characters reached that point. Thanks for the suggestions.
Good questions, Debbie. I’ll be interested in reading the responses today.
With my middle-grade fantasy series, each new book enters a new world. None of the main characters die, only the villain is exterminated. Thus, each new book, in a way, is not entangled with the circumstances from previous books.
The only feedback I’ve received on my series and background information is not having enough information, especially information about the main characters. I finally added a “series update” which I placed at the end of the book, and announced in a brief preface, giving the reader the choice whether or not to read it.
As a reader, I read series out of order. Spoilers don’t bother me, because often there is an extended period of time between reading the books.
I read the Tawny Lindholm series out of order. If there were any spoilers, I missed them. And for the dilemma with book #9, is there any way you could create a similar incident from the past (not revealed in any previous book), thus giving the reader of previous books some “bonus” information, and giving readers who read out of order some intrigue as they try to figure out what’s coming?
Great topic, Debbie! Have a great day!
Steve, your approach of an optional update/preface is a good idea, esp. with your series that has many characters.
As a reader, I appreciate “bonus info” that shows a new dimension to a familiar character. Good suggestion. Thanks!
I have read a fair number of series. For me, each book needs to stand alone enough to be enjoyable. If I can’t follow book 6 without reading the first 5, I am not a happy reader.
Sue is correct. By book 9 it is quite possible to pick up book 5 and decide if
I want to go back to the beginning, eagerly wait for book 6, or just call it a day.
If it fits with the story, I think you would be fine with the spoiler in book 9. It might be the nugget that sends someone to start from the beginning.
I still remember my disappointment at the end of The Hunger Games when it just ended w/o any resolution. After I realized it was a trilogy rather than a series, I bought the next two books. But it annoyed me.
“It might be the nugget that sends someone to start from the beginning.”
That’s encouraging, Alan, thanks.
I’ve fought this battle a few times. As a series ages, it happens. There are a couple of ways to handle it. First of all, remember that in the current book, the POV character works to your benefit.
In LETHAL GAME, Venice’s 14-year-old son, Roman, is still reeling from a kidnapping from which Jonathan Grave rescued him in STEALTH ATTACK. The very fact that he is in the subsequent book is a spoiler in its own right. One very specific set piece in STEALTH ATTACK involves a confrontation with a narco submarine (real things). Within the boundaries of his recall, he’s stunned that Mr. Jonathan and Mr. Boxers sunk a friggin’ submarine! In reality, that might work as a hook for readers to go back and find out what happened.
Gail Bonneville was severely injured in one of the early Grave books, so I had to explain why she moved uneasily and used a cane. Jonathan feels for her, but all the reader learns about the specific incident was that “something” happened, and the confrontation turned out way worse for the other guy.
I just read one of CJ Box’s latest books where he refers several times to people who were killed in “the shootout on the courthouse steps.” I missed the book where that happened, and now I’m intrigued to go back and read it.
Hey, Debbie and John!
I’m currently reading John’s Final Target, #9 in the Grave series.
I had actually started your JG series with Total Mayhem, then read 12, 13, and 14 in the series. I liked them so much, I went back and bought the prequel through 10. Sounds confusing, I know. And I’ve preordered #15, Harm’s Way. When I get to 10, I plan to re-read 11-14, then 15.
All this to say, as a reader, if I like the characters and the stories, I will read and re-read them. For me, I don’t like the *big* spoilers, but I’ll stick with a series no matter which order I read them.
Liking (or being interested in) the continuing characters also keeps me reading a series, Deb.
John must be happy to have you as a devoted fan.
Wow, Debbie! Thanks!
Thanks for that reassurance, John. “Something” happened is a great catchall basket that doesn’t bog down the momentum of the current story.
Great post, Debbie. I think the spoiler question all depends on the individual reader.
Like Sue mentioned, I don’t think you can avoid spoilers in later books in a series. For example, if someone picks up Tawny Lindholm book #7 and sees that Tawny and Tillman are married, does that spoil the story in book #1?
Actually, I think it may make the early books more interesting. The reader may feel like he/she has an inside track to understand how and why the story unfolded the way it did.
I’ll be very interested to see how you decide to handle this one! I hope you’ll let us know your decision here.
Giving the reader an “inside track” is a great way to engage them, Kay.
“It depends” is the answer to most difficult questions!
Debbie is getting hit by the DFTMA (denied for too many attempts) monster today. She will answer and respond to comments when she is able to get through.
Thanks for letting TKZers know, Steve. Fingers crossed I won’t get kicked off again.
As a reader, I would have lost all interest in that question after the next book unless the killer is lurking and doing bad things.
I treat series arcs the same way as I treat story arcs. For every question asked and answered, more questions are asked. I call this an interlocking series of questions. They are a chain that pulls the reader forward. So, as you end that bad guy’s arc, you can have another bad guy or group lurking behind the scenes. They may or may not have controlled the original killer. Or you could depend on the readers’ fondness for your characters to pull them into the next book.
“Interlocking series of questions. They are a chain that pulls the reader forward.” What a great description, Mariynn.
Thanks for the wise tidbit.
I don’t think you should worry about spoilers. I think, if you’re headed where I think you’re going, that you will reward your loyal readers by tying in other book elements. If it moves your series in a positive direction—go for it.
Questions: Is Tawney headed for character growth as a result? Is her nitwit son going to learn something valuable? Or what about Jonna—will he grow up? Is there a payoff that you think the readers want that needs the spoilers to be revealed? The spoiler idea is fine if there’s a payoff that is satisfying for those who are invested in your characters. If there’s no grand payoff, then I would vote no.
If you’d like to discuss more about this via email, I would be happy to lend an ear.
You got my email.
Thanks for the kind offer, Ben. But first you have to tell me where the heck I’m headed b/c I don’t have the slightest idea 😉
Oh, man. I thought you did!!! Perhaps it’s time to make a draft, my dear pantser.
As a reader, I would be stoked if a writer came up with a clever idea that called back to earlier novels in the series. While I understand the need to treat each novel as the potential first for a reader, there is something to be said for creating an immersive world for your characters. At some point, it’s natural that some aspect of their past will come back. IMO, the potential to create a layered experience for your longtime readers would outweigh the risk of spoiling something for a new one.
I prefer to read series in order, not only for this reason but in part. I expect characters and situations to evolve, so if I read Book 8 in a series before Book 1, any spoilers are on me. Jo Nesbo and Martha Grimes have handled the relationship scenario very well. Harry Hole’s relationship with his girlfriend is on-off like a light switch, so when a book starts with either scenario, it’s not a surprise. In another case, he refers to a character who died, but doesn’t say when or in what circumstances, so the reader would still be surprised when it happens.
Bill, thanks for your take on the spoiler discussion. Your keen observation of the “immersive world” and developments within it reassures me that maybe a spoiler isn’t the sin I thought it might be. Glad you stopped by TKZ!