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.

Why Do I Write?

As I turn 53 today, several recent events converged to make me examine why I write and whether I want to continue writing.

I wrote and published 8 books between 2007 and 2012. I have not written a book in a while and Create Space sent me an email asking if I was still writing.

I had lunch with a friend and we talked about my dry spell and she asked me what would make me passionate about writing again. I have suffered health crisis after health crisis since before I wrote Mythikas Island, which has resulted in a roller coaster of frenzied work and months living as a cat. Health woes certainly contribute to the ambivalence.  

I began writing poetry and journaling as a young girl. I did not attempt fiction until I was middle-aged. So as I explored the reasons why I started writing books in the first place, a theme developed.

I wrote the Mythikas Island series (I: Diana, II: Persephone, III: Aphrodite, and IV: Athena) for my daughter Anna. She was a teenager and was sick of love triangles in YA books. She said some girls wanted stories that didn’t revolve around guys. Ideas for stories about goddesses and girl power had been percolating for a while and that became the impetus for the Mythikas Island series. Four girls are groomed to be leaders and must save themselves and fight for their future.

I wrote the Story Building Blocks (I: The Four Layers of Conflict, II: Crafting Believable Conflict, III: The Revision Layers, IV: Build A Cast Workbook) because I couldn’t find them anywhere when I needed them. I was tired of reading about the story arc and all those motivational tomes. I wanted nuts and bolts and tools for developing plots and characters. I wanted advanced craft lessons. I also wanted to centralize all of my notes on revision, editing, and proofreading. So, I spent several years learning, reading, dissecting stories, and researching. I developed a story architecture theory that made sense to me. This blog, Game On, is an extension of the desire to share what I learn. I also guest post on The Blood Red Pencil, another blog devoted to the craft of writing.

I have studied interior formatting, cover design, and website building. Although far from expert, I have added those skills to my tool kit.

Then I was blindsided with the misdiagnosis of a mystery muscle disease. That led to a year of research and another year of developing that research into a website for the rare disease, Stiff Person Syndrome, which became The Tin Man. It not only has up-to-date information on SPS, but a large section on how to cope with debilitating diseases and resources for patients with rare diseases. Again, things I couldn't find that I needed.

While I haven’t been entirely slothful, there was no book at the end of those two-plus years. Create Space had no way of knowing that, hence the gentle reminder.

It turns out, I am motivated by writing things that benefit other people. It is the sharing information and helping that bring me joy. If I inspired one teenager, helped one writer, or educated one patient, I consider all that time well spent.

I’ve always joked to my critique group that my biggest problem is that I don’t need the money and I don’t want to be famous. I admit to being turned off by the business and promotional aspect of publishing, as necessary as it is to being a lucrative independent author. It is an area I would need to research and I’d have to overcome my natural resistance to being in the spotlight and sales promotion. I would also have to work around my physical limitations. I’d much rather sit in a room churning out work and let others worry about what to do with the end product. Alas, successful writer-preneurs are not built that way. So, I have to decide if that is the way I want to spend time.

I attended a funeral yesterday for a friend that made me ponder what I want to do with my remaining time. He died during the adventure of a lifetime, checking off a big item on his bucket list. This led me to examine what I am still capable of and prioritizing my bucket list. The hubs is going to retire next year in August. After our relocation from Windyana to Adult Disneyland, I don’t know what my days will be like. All those long hours I spent working or sleeping while he was at the hospital will now be filled with different things.

My muses still visit and my characters still chime in with ideas of where they'd like to go, especially my goddess girls. I have more ideas for the Story Building Blocks series. I have a draft of a YA story, and first chapters of many others that I call my Widows & Orphans file including a mystery called The Wicked Stage.

But will they ever see print? Who knows? Once the reno nightmare of the new house and trauma of moving are over, I may put fingers back to keyboard. If for no other reason than to free the characters that haunt me like trapped ghosts seeking the light.