Structuring the Series: The Relay

We have discussed the Trilogy, and the Serial. This week, we look at the Relay. 

A Relay is similar to a serial and stays in the same story world, but switches protagonists for each book. A Relay is often used in Literary generational family or Historical sagas. It can be used in Mysteries, Fantasy, or SciFi.

A good example of the Mystery Relay is Tana French's Dublin murder squad series: In The Woods, The Likeness, and Faithful Place. The protagonists work for the same police division, but a different protagonist solves a new case in each book with different friends and foes. In a Relay mystery, the case is new even if you decide to utilize an undefeated mastermind or serial killer.

In a Historical or generational family saga, the challenge facing the protagonist may be the same story world imbalance or feud between clans. Philippa Gregory's historical novel series The Cousins' War (The White Queen, The Red Queen, and The Kingmaker's Daughter) is a good example of a Relay.

The Relay Romance follows a new couple as they struggle to connect. The new protagonist is a relative or friend or secondary character from the first book.

In my Mythikas Island series, this structure works as a tag team approach, handing off the overall challenge to a new character's POV.  Each character (Diana, Persephone, Aphrodite, then Athena) faces a "ghost" from their past in their book as the whole cast fights for survival to earn a seat on the ruling council of Mt. Olympus across the four-book series.

The antagonist is usually different in each book, though he could have a relationship to the previous antagonist, especially in multiple generational family or Historical sagas. There are several skirmishes that lead up to the final confrontation with the antagonist. The antagonist can be vanquished, reduced in circumstances, or killed off.

Friends and foes generally change with each story, though there can be an overlap of cast members. The parents could take a back seat to the children. The same court can have a new ruler. The original couple could be in the background in a Romance. Tertiary characters can become secondary characters. Historical characters, such as a king or queen, can remain in place but there is a different intrigue involving them.

The internal dilemma for the protagonist is unique to that character, whether it is a complication, internal struggle, or relationship. 

A Relay can be a fresh approach to an aging series. Anne Perry has extended her Thomas Pitt series with an offshoot featuring his son Daniel beginning with Triple Jeopardy.

An offshoot series is a form of Relay and many Trilogies utilize a relay for subsequent stories set in the same story world. Cassandra Clare's Mortal Instruments trilogy was followed by a step back in time with the Infernal Devices trilogy featuring the parents of the MI cast. She then skipped forward in time in the Dark Artifices trilogy using a new generation of Shadowhunters. The original cast makes an appearance.

I love finding a trilogy and long running series. It leads to a binge then a painful wait for the next installment. 

In the current publishing climate, the more books you produce, the more likely you are to stay visible in the vicious algorithm game. 

Next week, we'll look at related short stories and serialization of novels and novellas.

Related Topics:

Mystery Subgenres

Mystery Skeleton

Literary Subgenres

Literary Skeleton

Romance Subgenres

Romance Skeleton

Historical Subgenres Part One

Historical Subgenres Part Two

Historical Skeleton

Free tools and forms are available at www.dianahurwitz.com. You can also check out the Build A Plot Workbooks for Mystery, Literary Drama, Romance, and Historical.