How to write your own epic trilogy novels.
planning out all three storylines. focusing on the main storyline and characters.
You want to create your very own J.R.R Tolkien’s “Lord of the Rings” trilogy. You’ve always wanted to, It can be done, but it’s hard work.
In this blog here are a few tips on How to write your own epic trilogy novels.…
HOW TO WRITE YOUR OWN EPIC TRILOGY NOVELS
Table of Contents
Start off by having 3 storylines. The first main story will run the course of the three books from start to finish. This is where the theme will be found. This storyline will have the greatest tension, rising from the first book until the last chapter of the third book. In this storyline, the main characters will be on a journey, physically and mentally. This will be the backbone of the novel’s success. The obstacles (psychical and mental) must be the largest. Everything must be on the line in this storyline. Don’t hold back when introducing stakes and raising them. Life and death are on the line. And the reader should worry the good guy may not automatically win.
The second storyline will involve secondary characters and will run through the three books as well. However, they will not take center stage. They will come and go throughout the three books, breaking up the main storyline, but resolving before the main storyline comes to an end. The storyline will have tension but not as serious as the first. This storyline will be more internal and personal to the secondary characters. A touch of humour can be added to this storyline to break up the tension of the first. This storyline will come to an end in the third novel about halfway through. Leaving all eyes focusing on the main storyline until the completion.
MAKE EACH BOOK FEEL LIKE A NOVEL ONTO ITSELF
The third storyline will be short storylines that start and finish in each of the 3 books. Where you will have an introduction, rising tension, and conclusion in each one. Where each storyline doesn’t carry over to the next novel. Making each book feel like a novel onto itself.
The trilogy cannot be one storyline. it’s too much for the reader to stay with one story from start to finish. Have smaller stories with minor characters as well. This will break up the flow.
HAVE MAXIMUM RISKS FOR THE PROTAGONIST
However, make sure your main storyline is the one the reader cares about the most. Having the maximum risks for the protagonist.
The adventure the protagonist is on has to be their biggest personal journey. The reader should sense right away this will be big. the “problem” they’re dealing with is not minor it has to be massive. The reader should feel the tension from page to page.
THEY HAVE TO FACE TRIALS
The protagonist (either alone or with others) has to face trials, massive obstacles (the bigger, the better the story). What they learn from those trials throughout the three books will come into play at the end when finally dealing with the antagonist. Without facing the obstacles and learning from them they should not be able to succeed.
Don’t have a passive protagonist. You don’t want your hero through three books not doing anything, not learning. Make them active at all times. You don’t want others doing all the work. They have to overcome their own self-doubt. You want them to succeed and fail at times and becoming a different person for it. So in the end they will be tested and succeed.
THEY HAVE TO CONTAIN THE BIGGEST THREATS
Your biggest storyline has to have the biggest threats. If the hero fails the stop the antagonist bad things will happen. The reader has to know what the negative outcome will be if the hero fails. The reader should also know who the bad guy is and what the bad guy wants. What their plans are. And the goals cannot be minor, it has to be threatening to all. Something that will scare the reader.
Have your main characters relatable. No matter how much a fantasy or science fiction your writing it should always be about the human condition. Look at “Star Wars,” it takes place in a galaxy far away, but everything the main characters go through we can relate to. Yes it has action, but the human drama must always be front and center. Or you run the risk of creating a novel with great detail but with nothing for the reader to connect with.
THE MORE YOU WORRY THE FASTER YOU TURN THE PAGE
Your lead character cannot be indestructible. No one cares about a character whose’s super powerful. The reader will know from page one the protagonist will win. The protagonist needs faults to a point where the reader wonders if the protagonist can win. Their faults might cause them to lose. The reader has to always worry the hero may not succeed in their journey. The more you worry for the hero the more you want to turn the page.
The negative traits can be anything, from fear, drinking, drugs, anger, shame. But they need to encounter trails along their journey that help them overcome their negative traits so they are strong at the end to defeat the villain. You cannot have the protagonist defeat the villain because it’s convent for the story. That type of victory is hollow. The reader will sense it and not like the ending. And the ending is everything. If the protagonist overcomes their negatives traits to win, the reader will respect the novel.
NEVER FORGET YOU’RE TELLING A STORY
Don’t have a ton of description of the locations, backstories and history overtake the storytelling. Never forget you’re telling a story. People want to know what’s going to happen next. The reader cares about the characters more than location description. If you focus too much on details it will slow the story down. If the reader sees you’re spending too much time describing all the little details in the first book they may not what to read the other two.
The main antagonist cannot be a cardboard cutout boring character. The more we know of the villain the more real they’ll be to the reader. We have to know what they’re after and why. The more menacing they are the more memorable they’ll be. They have to be smarter and more clever than the hero.
THE BAD GUY HAS TO BE BIGGER THAN THE HERO
The bad guy has to be bigger and stronger than the hero. Have more resources. Making the reader believe the villain’s goal can become a reality. You don’t want a villain who daydreams about taking over the world and not able to do so.
The story has to have heart. It cannot be an action story from start to finish with long descriptions of landscapes and people engaged in small talk. We need to connect and relate to them. Feel their emotions and feel as though they could be real.
THE READER CONNECTS WITH EMOTION
Make it about emotion, not action. Action is nice to read but doesn’t connect with the reader. It’s the human drama we connect with.
Remember, the reader will daydream themselves into your book. When they read of the struggles of your character it will be them in the book facing the struggles.
THE MORE YOU PLAN THE BETTER
When writing a trilogy don’t make up it up as you go along. It’s too much for a long trilogy. The story can get away from you too quickly. Making you want to quit. Most writers who set out ot write a trilogy give up because the story got away from them.
The more you plan the novels the better. If you know the ending it’s even better, now you have something to move towards. All great stories are like an arrow shooting forward, not letting the story wander around. You don’t have to know every little detail before writing, but having an idea of what will happen in all three books is necessary. You don’t want to be solving your main storyline too early and have nothing left for the third book.
DON’T LET THE READER GUESS THE ENDING
Create a complex mystery. If your readers can guess the full storyline an ending halfway through the first book they’ll have no motivation to finish reading the other two books. But if you can twist the story where they cannot guess the next chapter it will lead them to read on. Leading up to an amazing ending. And don’t make your ending weak. You asked readers to read three full books, the ending has to be worth it. Writing the ending should take as long as the other two books combined.
When starting out you can literally draw a long line on paper. That line will be your main storyline. Under it will be a slightly shorter line, that will be the secondary storyline. Then below that will be a series of shorter lines. Those short lines will be minor stories found in each of the three books. This will give you a visual idea of the trilogy for you to place your ideas onto.
WHAT IS THE INNER GOAL OF THE HERO
By knowing your theme and knowing the inner goal of your protagonist and antagonist will guide you through the writing of the three novels.
When you’re taught how to write a novel you learn how each scene has a beginning, middle, and end. Well, the same rule applies to all three books overall. Each book will act as a beginning, middle, and end. the first book will be your “beginning.” This is where you introduce your main characters and main problem. Where the tension begins to build. Where the quest begins.
THE PROBLEMS ARE NOW AT THEIR WORST
In the second book acts as the “middle“. This is where the problems are at their worst. Where it looks like the bad guy is going to win. The heroes are at their lowest point. The ending should be dark.
The third book acts as the “end“. This is where it all comes together. The biggest battles. The good guy meeting the bad guy. Where the reader wonders, “How is this going to end?” “Will the hero be strong enough to defeat the bad guy?” “What will happen if the bad guy wins?” When all seems lost the good guy rises up and wins the day.
WHAT IS THE MAIN OVERALL QUESTION
However, each book should feel complete onto itself whereas if someone only read the first and didn’t want to read the second or third book it will feel finished. Each book will introduce questions in which the majority of the questions will be answered at the end of each book. However, the main overall story’s question will be answered in the final third book.
You need to raise the stakes as each book goes on. Like a fireworks show the explosion get bigger throughout the show. And the biggest fireworks go off at the end. In an action movie the biggest explosion happens at the end.
THE THREE BOOKS
In Tolkien’s “Lord of the Rings” the biggest battles happened in “The Return of the King“, the second biggest battle happened in “The Two Towers“, the smallest of the battles happen in the fist, “The Fellowship of the Ring.” You do not have the biggest battle in the first novel.
In Tolkien’s novels, we know what the goal is right away. We are flat out told it. Gandalf tells Frodo he must take the ring to mount doom and throw it where it was forged. Imagine reading “The Lord of Rings” and halfway through “The Two Towers” you have no idea what the plot is. If Tolkien hadn’t created a plot by then you would not have finished the first book much less get halfway through the second.
DO NOT INTRODUCE SOMEONE IN THE FINAL ACT
Remember to introduce the main characters in the first book. Don’t introduce major characters halfway through the last novel. We do not have time to get to know them. However, you can introduce new characters for subplots in each of the books as Tolkien does.
If you decide to have your characters on a long journey throughout your books let the reader know where they are, how far they traveled. How far to go. Where each city and town is in relation to each other. No one likes reading a long book series where they have no idea where anyone is. Give everyone and all places names. So the reader can make sense of where everyone is. They have a map in their heads as they read. Never let the reader be confused or they’ll stop reading.
CHANGE THE LOCATIONS
Try to change the locations throughout the story. Try not to have all three books take place in the same location. Mix it up from deserts, oceans, mountains, caves, forests, cities.
Each character has to have an inner journey as well. Obstacles to overcome, a character arc, self-doubt. Having to face large and small obstacles along the way. The character has to face a physical journey but a mental one as well.
IT’S ABOUT SELF DISCOVERY
A journey is not about characters walking to complete a task, it’s about self-discovery, learning, facing fears. The more obstacles you place in front of a character the better. The more they have to look within to overcome them makes for a better story.
As a writer, you should know your characters inside and out. Don’t change their personalities to help move the scene along. The reader will spot this a mile away, making for a weaker story. They must stay true to who they are from start to finish. Your reader will connect with the personalities of your characters be them funny, mean, nervous, brave.
MAKE EVERYONE UNIQUE
Don’t have everyone in the trilogy the same. This will make them boring. It will confuse the reader because everyone will sound, look and act the same. The more they differ the better. And it will be easier for you to write. Each one should have their own backstory, wants, fears, goals, It will slow you down as a writer if everyone is the same, leading to writer’s block. What is the theme? If you know it going in it will help guide you to write all three books.
REMEMBER THE GOLDEN RULE
Always remember the golden rule, it’s not about action, it’s not about world-building or description, what will sell your book is the human drama. The things the reader can relate to. Emotion and character will sell any genre. Put the characters front and center. Don’t make your characters secondary at any time. Let us know what they’re thinking and feeling. See through their eyes. Let the reader know theirs fears, strong points. Mix it up from dialogue, to inner thoughts and feelings and description of the world you have created. it’s the plot that will attract the reader, but it’s the characters that make us turn the page. we connect through character, not plot. Any novel can have a plot but it’s the character we remember.
Other authors have made the mistake when writing their own trilogy to focus way too much on describing the setting and locations, ignoring character and dialogue. Leaving the reader feeling empty, not wanting to read on. Tolkien did a great job describing the Shire, but what sold the books were the characters we cared about. We still read “Lord of the Rings” to this day to see how mortal characters finds inner strength to succeed against great odds to defeat evil, not the description of the world Tolkien created.
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