Let’s say that you have yourself an amazing series online that you’ve been writing for an extended period of time now, and you can’t help but to have a blast working on it. You get excited sitting down at your keyboard with your juice or your coffee or your ‘miscellaneous’ cocktail of choice, and you’re ready to dive back into that world and continue the adventures of your readers’ favorite characters, ummm...’Slappy’ and ‘Hammy’! Hehehe!

How can you go wrong? It’s the most popular series that you’ve ever written, right? Everybody is probably waiting with baited breath to see what’s going to happen next, and you can’t go wrong by reigniting interest in your work by blessing the internet with another Slappy and Hammy adventure.

Actually...you can. In fact, one of the biggest let downs of any big series is having it slowly wind down, only to fade away with a whimper instead of being completed in the way that it was intended. No matter how popular or well beloved a fictional series may be...an author can ruin the emotional effect and lessen its overall impact if they’re not careful, and that’s going to waste soooo much of your previous hard work and all the time you put in to make it something special. It’s something we all have to look out for sometimes as writers, and it’s better to stick to the plan and go out on a high note then to just let the batteries run down and have everything grind to a halt while you try to figure out ways to make it seem like that’s what you meant to do all along. I believe, from time to time, it’s important to revisit a list of things that could potentially ruin a series. Just so we can always remember to keep it in the back of our minds for when we feel ourselves going astray. It’s a good thing.

I can remember having a talk with some of my friends at work a few years ago...and we were trying to come up with movie trilogies that actually worked all the way through. Even if some of them came back with a fourth one later on and stumbled...we were only counting the first three. And you...it was extremely difficult to come up with more than a handful of options. The first one was great, the second one was great...and then third part of the trilogy just...ugh! Like, what the hell happened? Now there were SOME decent candidates that made the list, even though there were a few disputes here and there. The original “Star Wars” trilogy, “Indiana Jones”, “The Bourne Identity”, “Back To The Future”, “John Wick”...But there were some of my all time favorites that just could not get three solid movies together without somehow getting things messed up and practically taking away from the two movies that came before it. Not “X-Men”, not “Terminator”, not “The Matrix”, Not “The Godfather”, not “Jurassic Park”...it’s like...a curse. You know? How hard could this possibly be? Geez! You couldn’t have a better set up than the one you were given...what happened?

Thinking back on those conversations, I realized that it might actually be a lot harder than it looks if you don’t know what to look out for, what to avoid, and what to be honest about when it comes to your own work. It’s a bit of a challenge, and not ever series makes it all the way to the end. Granted, Hollywood’s main goal is to make money, and that might be a part of the failing process...but that doesn’t mean that your stories have to fall into that same pit of murky quicksand. What my bit of studying has shown me over the years, and what I’ve been trying to stick to ever since, has been broken down in to five basic rules here for you all so that you can keep your best successes from turning into utter disasters just before truly realizing your potential and using it before those murky waters come to seek you out. Five rules that I’m trying my best to abide by, and hopefully you will to.

Here they are...

#1 – DON’T try to outdo the earlier chapters of your own story! Please don’t. That’s a no no. Hehehe! Now, as rule number one...this may sound like a weird way for us to get started. Because you’re supposedly building up to a big ‘climax’ in your writing, right? It seems counterproductive for me to tell you to not raise the stakes with every chapter leading to that big moment that everybody has been waiting for. But, listen to me...attempting to constantly build on the chapters that you’ve already used to set up a strong foundation for your story to stand on and use them as a comparison for what’s going on ‘now’ can eventually get tiresome for your readers. Sounds crazy, right? But it’s true.

Now, writing romantic gay teen fiction for this many years, I’ve seen a lot of other writers go down this path to excess...and it almost always ends in disaster in the end. It simply doesn’t work beyond a certain point. They have a really sweet ‘boy meets boy’ story happening in the beginning, and then add a few conflicts, and then some increased sexual content...and then the chapters keep coming. Then you have a break up. Ok, it happens. Then you have them get back together. Alright. That works for the story. I’m with ya. Then there’s a need to ramp up even further on the naughty parts. Then a third party gets involved. Now you’ve got a threesome. Then somebody gets killed off. Then somebody gets...cancer or something. And then...and then...and then...it just keeps going until you find yourself with such a tightly packed and convoluted plot that by the time you’ve reached the intended climax of your original story, it seems kind of lackluster in comparison. And that’s considering that people have continued to read through death and melodrama and enemas and boy orgies. Stop it. Take a moment and remember what the center of your story is, and stay focused. You can’t just keep coming up with bigger and bigger events until the whole series begins to feel cartoonish and out of line. If every event is a BIG event...then what is a big event worth? Every fight can’t end the relationship. Every intimate moment can’t be THE most intimate moment ever. Writing as though you have to somehow ‘one-up’ the previous chapter every single time you sit down at your keyboard has consequences that will begin to show themselves further on down the road. So try to pull back a little bit and build up to your major events with context and character depth as if they were all parts of their own story. Not just as an escalation of the earlier chapters that came before it. Use emotions to surround these moments and trust that they’ll have the proper impact when presented to your readers. If your last big event was at a ten...don’t keep trying to reach for an eleven...and then a twelve...and then a thirteen. It becomes exhausting, and some readers will lose interest before hitting the end of your series. Save the big sucker punches for your climax, and wind down from there.

#2 – Don’t overstay your welcome. I can’t stress how important this is when it comes to writing a series. I know that you love your characters, and I definitely love mine too...in fact, go back and read my “Neverending Story” article on this. But there comes a time when you simply have nothing else left to say involving these characters and what they’ve been through. Do yourself and your audience a favor...and let them go. If you’re dragging a series out for the sake of familiarity...chances are that your entire narrative is going to end up fizzling out like a defective firecracker, and I’m pretty sure that’s not what you had in mind when you started.

You’ll know when your series is beginning to lose steam. Either because you’ll begin repeating older conflicts that you had before, you’ll go searching for new characters or situations that will continue the narrative while adding nothing to the actual series itself, or you’ll simply find yourself not knowing where else you can take these characters in a new direction that will breathe new life into the story that you had originally intended. This is why having an ending in mind, even if you take a lot of spontaneous twists and turns and liberties along the way. It’s so you have a compass to lead you in a certain direction that will help you figure out exactly where you want your main characters to be when the story is over and done with. Seriously...look at your own work, and no matter how much you may love it, or how much you might fear having to start over with another story and set of characters from scratch...you’ve got to be brutally honest with yourself and know when it’s time to bow out gracefully. Wrap it up, and let the story exist as a moment in time before future lackluster chapters begin to sap the strength of the genius you initially created.

#3 – Don’t go astray or lose sight of your vision! This is something that I’ve seen a lot of in some of the fiction that I’ve read in the past. Also, I’ve seen it in movies like, “28 Days Later”. This was a movie that I was really into for the first half, or maybe even the first 2/3rds, as I was watching...and without giving away any spoilers, everything sort of took a massive detour from what the movie was originally supposed to be about, and I was lost. More than that...I was disappointed. Like...WTF? Yeah, if you’re writing a story about a certain relationship, a theme, a vibe...don’t suddenly pull a bait and switch and throw your audience off and try to make it about something else. I am seriously not a fan of that at all.

Reader/Writer trust is a must when it comes to investing emotions into the stories that we’re all trying to tell, right? Trust. If you start out getting your audience entangled with characters, themes, and storylines, that you set out for them...only to break everything apart and go a completely different way with it? Some may see that as being edgy or super creative or whatever...but to me, personally, it’s a broken promise. I came looking for one thing, and you lured me in with the bait of that promise...but then you just changed your mind and decided not to do that anymore? No way. That can end up being the total destruction of a series if not done carefully, and not as a part of the original plan. So be super cautious with this one. It can ruin an entire series in a single chapter or two if you’re not.

#4 – A sudden stop. Now...I understand that in some narratives, this can be a really effective of a series, even a long running series, if done right. But if you’re going to take this approach, then it had better be one hell of a shocking finale. You have to not only build up to it throughout the entire series, almost from the very beginning...but you have to make sure that all of your loose ends are all tied up and everything has been dealt with in a way that comes full circle and makes that abrupt stop in your fiction a satisfying ending for your readers and for your characters as well.

Don’t bring up a bunch of issues, leave a bunch of open ended questions, and then have your main character suddenly drive off of a cliff for no reason. Like...’Boom’...done! What is that? If that’s the ending that you have in mind, then you’d better spend a majority of your story building up to that point, with your protagonist talking about how he’s going to do exactly that...and how he just wants to leave the rest of the world behind. That still doesn’t mean that it’ll be a satisfying ending for your audience, but at least it won’t feel random and weird. Like the ‘writer’ (Yes, that’s you) just got tired of writing the story and needed a quick way out. Chances are, you’re going to piss off a lot of people. Remember, your readers are spending time, effort, and energy, in getting used to these characters. They’re embracing the people that you write about and want to involve themselves in their lives. So cutting the off without warning without so much as a ‘happily ever after’ ending? I’m just saying...it’s kinda rude.

And ending without an ending is NOT an ending. Don’t pretend that it is.

#5 – Don’t be caught off guard. Meaning...when you started this story, based on a solid idea...you actually did have an ending in mind, right? We talked about this! Hehehe, readers can actually feel you wandering aimlessly when you’re not exactly sure of where you want to go. You know, like...when you’re driving around in circles and looking at street names out of the front window, and thee person next to you is like, “You’re lost, aren’t you?” You may think you’re fooling your audience, but you’re probably not. Hehehe! Trust me, I’ve tried with a few chapters of my own. It doesn’t work.

I totally understand the practice of just writing what you feel and seeing where it leads you, and that’s awesome. But at some point, as your story morphs and changes and begins to take on a more solid shape...you need to start thinking about where all of this is going and how you’re planning to bring it all to a close in the long run. Otherwise, your prose is just going to come off as driftwood in the river. Just gliding along without any real direction or destination outside of where the waters decides to take it. This is snatching the control as a writer right out of your hands and setting it adrift. Never a good practice. Take a moment to take some notes, figure out what your goals are, and guide the story down that path. No one is going to be entertained for very long, watching you flail about with nothing to look forward to. Not having direction is another way to take your fun and creative series and its characters...and crush them down into the mud. So always remember to ask yourself if you’re on the right track, and try not to stray too far from the master plan here. K?

So...those are my top five advice tips that I hope will help you guys avoid the pitfalls of ruining a series that you’ve worked so hard on for so long. Keep things ‘in the pocket’, and remember what your goals are. It’s just that simple. If you find yourself drifting off to the side...do what you can to pull yourselves back to the path you started on. And when your story is over...no matter how short or how long it might be...let it be over. Box it up, wrap it up with a shiny bow and a heartfelt card to say ‘thanks’, and then let it go. There will be other stories, and other characters. Other successes and other failures. But passion and challenge is forever intertwined, right? So you can’t help but to love it!

That’s it for this go round! Enjoy, folks! And stay beautiful!