How to Write a Trilogy: Book One

Writing a trilogy isn't easy work. If you thought trying to look at one book as a whole and remembering everything that happens in it, try doing that for three books simultaneously. You've got three full length novels of plot, cast, and more to arrange. It can make you want to rip your hair out.

I just finished drafting my first trilogy, and while I may not be the most qualified person to talk about this, I thought it might be helpful for me to share what I've learned. So for the next three Mondays, I'm going to be doing a three part series on writing a trilogy, one post per book. Today we're talking about book one, arguably one of the most important books in the whole series.

In Book One. . .

You have to introduce your characters, world, and major plot lines that will run throughout the trilogy. You have to create a main character that readers can and will root for and love for three books. You have to have a plot that will both stand on its own and set everything up for the books to follow. Is it a lot? Yes, but don't worry. I'm going to try to break it down into easier parts for you.

It helps for me to think of a trilogy somewhat in the three act structure of a normal novel. Act one is the first book, setting everything up for the next two acts. Act two is the more ambiguous one that's harder to pin down, but still important. And act three is the final book, where the biggest climaxes and action are.

You Will Need

• A compelling protagonist. Katniss Everdeen. Thomas. Frodo. Tris Prior. All of these characters, to varying degrees, had something in them that made us care about them enough to follow their journeys, the ups and downs, through three books and hundreds of thousands of words.

• A good villain. Sometimes this can be a person, a group, your character's own inner struggle, or even your world. But it has to be good. Think of President Snow, the Earth in the Maze Runner, or Sauron. Your villain will play a big part in all three books, so they need to be good. It can even be a combo of things or villains fighting the protagonist.

• A world. Whether it's our world or a fantastical one of your own creation, the world should be interesting enough to support your trilogy. The world can either help the protagonist, or more often, work against them. Sometimes it can even be a character in its own right.

• A basic idea of your trilogy. When I wrote my trilogy, the first thing I did was write a basic outline covering what was going to happen across all three books. Then I could keep in mind what I needed to build up to as the books progressed. It changed many times as I reworked my ideas, but having it helped a ton.

• A stand-alone plot. You might think, "but isn't a trilogy?". Take a look at most series out there and you'll find that the first book could be read without needing to read the rest. It sets up questions and answers them during the course of the narrative. Of course it leaves you with more questions for later books, but I always think that the first book should be able to stand alone without feeling like one of those films where they made the first movie that everyone hated, but had lots of unanswered stuff for a second movie.

• Secondary characters. These are highly important and must be well written in a trilogy. If there's a character everyone hates (unless they're supposed to be), then it will diminish the enjoyment of reading. People are going to be spending three books with these characters, so make them detailed. You can even give them their own plot-lines and arcs a lot of times.

• Excellent organization. Every time you have a thought about a later book, write it down. When you have an idea to improve this book, write it down. You're going to be taking a lot of notes as your trilogy develops, not to mention all the outlining, worldbuilding, character sketches, and more, so you need a way to keep organized. Whether that's a hundred sticky notes on a whiteboard or a Scrivener project or even just a Word document. Do what works for you.

Writing Book One

And now we get down to it. The actual writing part. To me, writing book one was easiest. There was the least to remember and think about. It still had a lot to do to set things up, but it was more like writing a normal novel.

Before you start, you need to have a solid outline for your story. No matter how you like to do it, you should have one. Trilogies require so much thought, you can't quite wing it as well as you might with other types of novels. You'll also need to think about things like worldbuilding and character arcs.

For me, figuring out how to create a three book character arc was the most challenging part of the whole thing. I still don't have a good grasp on it as I'm currently rethinking my main character's flaw. But this post from Sarah Dalziel Media is what I reference frequently, so I suggest you give it a read.

Most importantly, remember to have fun with it. Nothing is written in stone, so if it takes a different twist than you originally planned, that's okay. Play around with what could happen. I totally rewrote a lot of portions of my first book because I had better ideas for how it could work. And that's the great part about writing. It's like building with Lego. The only limits are your creativity. (And possibly if you want to be published, things like length and genre needs, but let's not be kill-joys.)

If there was anything I would have done differently, I think I would have done more pre-planning. Writing a trilogy takes more planning than you would believe. It would have helped to have more of an idea of where I was going and all that.

Next Monday we'll be taking a look at how to write book two and all its difficulties.

Have you ever written a trilogy? What do you think was the hardest part of book one? Tell me in the comments.

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