Writing a series of books can be one of the most exciting and challenging projects. Finding the connections and carrying them to fruition is fulfilling on an incredible level. But it can also be a slog.

A series can include a number of books of varying lengths plus editing, marketing, publishing and all the other fun activities in the mix. Years can disappear in the blink of an eye.

So what can you do to stay in the moment? To stay fresh and feeling jazzed about sitting down at the keyboard to work on your epic?

How about some fun writing exercises?

Writing exercises – a necessary distraction.

Living in a single world can be constraining. You can feel boxed in, limited in what you can do, in the type of stories you are able to tell. There are rules with any series and being constricting by them while working on a multi-year project can take some of the fun away from the work.

So why not step away every once in awhile?

I do it. I have to and most of the time I don’t even realize I’m doing it. It will come in a dream or while I’m doodling outlines for blog posts…(I mean working diligently at all times… definitely not doodling…)

I’ll remember an idea from years ago and run with it for an hour or two to see where it leads. Usually it goes nowhere. A couple notes here or there. A character sketch or three. Some plot points but nothing coherent.

And then back to work.

Will it become something down the line? Hopefully. But for now it is enough to work through the thoughts – and keep COPIOUS NOTES (ALWAYS!) – and then buckle down to the draft, edit, marketing you’re actually meant to be working on.

Writing Prompts

What happens when I’m feeling burned out and don’t have the lightning strike on another series, script, project, etc.?

I find one.

This is a fun exercise. If you’ve ever done any screenwriting you’re probably aware of the need for spec scripts. These are scripts based on a currently or previously popular television programs.

They are also an interesting challenge and a way to stretch your writing muscles. Any chance to step out of the box created by a long running project and rejuvenate those creative juices is a welcome one.

Take a favorite show. Any show you love.

Write down every trope about the show. Characters. Overarching plot points. Find the inherent rules of the show.

An example is Phineas and Ferb (don’t judge me…)

There are rules within the show. Three separate plots are built in each show. A Phineas and Ferb plot involving some crazy invention. A Perry plot handling the maniacal Dr. Doofenshmirtz’s latest scheme to take over the tri-state area. And a Candace plot to rat out her brothers’ wacky adventure of the day.

Each one may appear separate at first but they all have to come together at the end.

Rules are rules. You have them in your own work and each show follows suit. Learning them and then working within them is a challenge.

In The X-Files there is the obligatory cold opening before the credits where the threat shows up and claims a victim. There is also the dubious, open-ended closing of the episode showing the audience that nothing is ever truly solved with the show.

If you look deeper into the show’s formula you start to see the pattern.

Learn the rules, and then you can stretch them and see what works for you and why.

Other mediums.

Television is only one avenue to take. Don’t feel limited to it.

Personally, I turn to comic books (shocker, I know) for a way to distract from my work on Greystone. Once or twice a month, when I’m feeling slightly burned out Soriya and Loren’s adventures I take a day to play in a different sandbox.

Lately, I’ve been on a DC Comics trip. I’ll take a character like Superman, or a team like the Legion of Super-Heroes, and sketch out what I feel are the strengths and weakness of the book/current direction. From there I might dig into their history and see where they’ve been. Where was the book the strongest in the character’s history and why?

I ask enough questions until I can see a pattern, or at least the start of what makes the property work or connect with the audience.

Then I come up with ten to fifteen ideas of my own. Building arcs, growing tales, using these characters.

Some evolve into full blown scripts, some get scratched at the outline phase.

But the exercise is the key.

Benefits of writing exercises

They are necessary. Living with one story can feel too confining and can make you resent the incredible journey you’re undertaking. Rather than allow that to happen, step back.

Take a day and write anything else. Play in a different world, even if nothing comes of it.

Then get back to work.

Thanks for reading.