If you are planning or thinking about writing a book series, I want to spare you from the difficulties I have come across, and help you better prepare for your journey.

1. Always write down any character names. You don’t know when you’ll need them again. (And I mean any names.)

2. If your series skips years, keep track of how many years and how old people were before. (Important.)

3. You don’t have to write the full series at once. (Even if your readers think you should.)

4. Writing down animal names could be helpful later on. (You never know when a character will refer to a previous animal.)

5. Be prepared for some readers to like certain books better than others. And for other readers to like other books better. (They ain’t gonna like ’em all the same.)

And there you have it. You might have thought I would have learned all those things with my first series (Triple Creek Ranch), but while I did learn some things, I didn’t think about all these things.

Have you every written a book series before? If so, what tips do you have for writing a series? Do you plan to write a book series?