Your Book Series

There’s nothing nicer than finishing a great book and then realizing that it’s part of a series. You know that you’ve got so many more books to read — yay! But what is it that’s holding that series together?

There are different types of series: those where there’s one story that lasts for many books, and those that are many different stories with one common element tying them together. In romance, series are usually the later since each book has to have a happily ever after to be considered a romance.

An example of a romance series is Bridgerton which readers of historical romance have loved for years and now the rest of the world has gotten in on the secret. It’s the story of one family with eight children. Each book is the story of one of the children as they find love and marry.

But think about the Harry Potter series. Clearly, it’s not a romance, but each book is a satisfying story in and of itself. At the higher level, the series as a whole also has a story that is carried over from book to book slowly developing throughout the series and culminating in the last book.

Can an author do that with a romance series as well?

If Julia Quinn, author of the Bridgerton series had, for example, introduced a character at some point — ideally, in the first book — to become the love-interest of Violet Bridgerton, the…