Do you dream of your book becoming a beloved series? Are you working on one now?
As she works on book 3 in her Miss Austen Investigates mystery series, my client Jess Bull is preparing to release book 2 – A Fortune Most Fatal into the world on March 25. We have been excitedly following and supporting her journey as this series is being published in 18 languages around the world.
Jess has long been a huge supporter of this Inspired Writing community, and in celebration of Book 2’s launch (go grab the preorder here to support Jess!) she wrote these tips on writing a series for you, her writing community.
Enjoy this rare glimpse into a writer’s process as she creates her series!
Jess Bull’s 5 Tips on Writing a Series
1. Find a story you absolutely must tell
I always wanted to be a novelist but, after I had my two daughters, I found it difficult to find time to write and lost some of my confidence. In 2020, I turned to my love of Austen for comfort, and it was realising how hard she struggled to get published that encouraged me to start writing fiction again. I felt I had a vivid impression of Austen’s character and I really wanted to portray the vibrant, witty, and joyfully irreverent woman I believe she was. I was also compelled to tell her story because it’s tempting to conflate Austen with her more privileged heroines and imagine her path to success was easy, whereas the truth is far more inspiring.
2. Write, even when you don’t want to
I don’t think many of us can afford to wait until the mood strikes before we sit down and write. There are so many demands on our time, we must take the opportunity whenever we can. If I’m not feeling the creative urge, I trick myself by committing to a sixty-minute session. Often, by the time the hour has passed, I’ve found my rhythm and don’t want to stop. For, as Austen put it in a letter to her sister Cassandra, in October 1813:
I am not at all in a humour for writing; I must write on till I am.
3. Have faith in your story
I always envisaged Miss Austen Investigates as a series, as there was so much I wanted to say about Austen’s life and work. Before I even started writing the first instalment, I drafted the pitches for all 6 novels I wanted to write (Austen wrote 6, and each of mine are tributes to hers). Then, while I was querying the first, I dived straight into writing the second. Everyone advised me not to do this as, if the first book didn’t sell it might be construed as a waste of time. But this was the story of my heart, and even if I never received a publishing deal, I’d have found satisfaction in writing it anyway.
4. Develop your main character throughout
I wanted to explore Austen as one of her own heroines, and, therefore, my Jane is a young woman learning to navigate the world. Miss Austen Investigates (Book 1 in the series) was very much inspired by Northanger Abbey, and, like Catherine Morland, Jane had good instincts, but her naivety and tendency to fling accusations about without proof caused her some toe-curling mortification.
In A Fortune Most Fatal (Book 2), she is slightly more mature and, as this is my tribute to Sense and Sensibility, subject to similar faults as Elinor Dashwood. Throughout the novel, Jane desperately wants to save her brother’s inheritance by resolving the mystery of a young woman claiming to be a foreign princess who has been taken in by his adoptive mother, rather than asking friends and family for help. As Austen put it, ‘pictures of perfection… make me sick’ and it is young Jane, the exuberant author of Lady Susan, rather than the wise and mature narrator of Pride And Prejudice, who takes centre stage in this series.
5. Keep drawing on new sources of inspiration
As well as Austen’s life and works, this second instalment is very much inspired by the true story of Mary Baker, who, in 1817, persuaded a Gloucester magistrate and his wife she was Princess Caraboo of the fictional island of Javasu in the Indian Ocean, and that she had been captured by pirates and escaped by jumping overboard in the Bristol Channel and swimming ashore. Her ruse lasted two months before she was discovered as a runaway servant. Everyone who knew Mary said she loved to tell stories. It made me wonder, if Mary had been born into the class of women who were fortunate enough to receive an education, would she be remembered as another Austen?
These tips are great inspiration, thanks Jess!
Want to read the series to see why Jess’ books get so much attention? (HINT: They are fabulous reads!)
Grab Book 2 (Preorder – Releases March 25th) Here
As always, I’m here to cheer you on and lift you up as you chase your writing dreams (and Jess is, too!),