Cuz Breaking Up is Hard To Do: The Demons and Delights of Series Writing
By Guest | January 17, 2016 |
Our guest today is Daphne Uviller, the author of the Zephyr Zuckerman Series—Wife of the Day, Hotel No Tell, and Super in the City—optioned for television by Paramount Pictures and Silver Lake Entertainment. She is also the co-editor of the anthology Only Child: Writers on the Singular Joys and Solitary Sorrows of Growing Up Solo. She is a former Books and Poetry editor at Time Out New York, and her reviews, profiles, and articles have been published in The Washington Post, The New York Times, Newsday, The Forward, New York Magazine, Oxygen, Allure, and Self, for which she wrote an ethics column. She lives with one husband, one dog and two children, and divides her time between the Hudson Valley and New York City.
You know how some people have a five-year plan? I tend to fly by the seat of my pants, and my writing is reassurance that this is working for me. I never set out to write mysteries – I’m still surprised that my books are considered mysteries — let alone a mystery series. The fact that I have three Zephyr Zuckerman books out reminds me that my biggest successes have been utterly unplanned.
Connect with Daphne on Twitter and Facebook.
Cuz Breaking Up is Hard To Do: The demons and delights of series writing
After my first novel came out, I was so over my main character. We were done. I loved Zephyr Zuckerman, but I had no intentions of being a literary monogamist. I had a contract for a second book, and it could be about anything I wanted, and what I wanted was to roam free, sow my oats. I mean, I considered continuing our relationship – I owed that much to her – but really, wasn’t there something a little presumptuous, a little unimaginative, even lazy, about writing a sequel? You’re assuming that readers enjoyed your characters enough the first time that they want to spend more time with them. And even if they assure you they liked or even loved your characters, it still risks being too much of a good thing. And then, of course, there’s the niggling sense that maybe you’re writing a sequel because you’ve only got one character in you, and she’s already all set up, with an insta-background and the legwork done.
Well, Zephyr had the last laugh, because I wrote that sequel. And then she had the last last laugh when those sequels morphed into a trilogy.
How did my heroine know what she and I needed better than I did?
Writing a novel, for me, is like making a savory stew in a crockpot out of otherwise unsavory leftovers. 
Whatever I’m working through in my mind or my life can be tossed in and, hopefully, made into something useful, tasty and tasteful, and entertaining. Although my books are hyper, high-octane kooky capers that are shamelessly besotted with New York City and Greenwich Village in particular, I actually am trying to explore certain universal themes through comedy: the struggle for professional identity, the question of why we have kids, and in my most recent book, how much place figures into identity. In other words, how much of where we are is a part of who we are?
Despite my attempts to break up with Zephyr, she has been the shiniest and most efficient vehicle through which to explore these themes. As is evidenced by my publishing timeline – a brisk two years between my first two books (I’ll produce a book every two years, said I, cocksure, to myself) and then a sluggish five years until the third – I put up more of a fight with this last one.
First, I decided I would write Serious Literature. Happening upon a small town’s historical society, I learned about the role of the traveling seamstress in 19th century New England. She’d stay with a wealthy family for a few weeks, sew their clothing for the season, and move on. Think of the steady flow of new situations, of the constant introduction of new characters! Delicious. I worked on that for about six weeks before I remembered that I loathe research and can’t be bothered to confirm factual accuracy. It’s a great idea and one of you should write it. I look forward to reading it!
In the meantime, what I’d come to call my geographic identity crisis was reaching its zenith. My husband and I had moved to the Hudson Valley from New York City and I didn’t know who I was if I wasn’t a New Yorker. Cry me a river, right? A friend who’s a literature professor offered to put me on her Writers in Exile syllabus, right under Salman Rushdie.
Zephyr lives in New York City, a block from where I grew up, where she continues to live the unencumbered city life that I left behind. Plot lines kept bubbling up unbidden and finally I caved. (I’d moved on from the seamstress and was trying to write a book inspired by an organization for which I volunteer, but I’d come to hate one of the characters so much that I dreaded sitting down with her every day.) I was getting steadily more upset by the takeover of New York City by drugstores, banks, and billionaire foreigners, and I needed someone to vent to, a shoulder to cry on, someone who would help me shout about how much I missed the place I knew. And look who was there when I needed her most, ready to jump in, her sense of humor ready to go, her energy pumped for a new escapade.
Every relationship is different, but I can share a few guiding questions for you and your fictional partner about whether you should continue or break it off:
- Do you love this character or are you doing this because you’re afraid a new character will just be her in disguise? It turns out this isn’t such a terrible outcome; after all, the literature students studying your oeuvre will be better able to write papers about the similarities among your protagonists.
- Is your character aging from book to book? If so, how are her traits evolving? What is she outgrowing, but what is still fundamentally her? And what is a new development, yet still her? For Zephyr, part of that five-year delay was due to me trying to gauge what were lovable quirks and what were becoming annoying and arrested-development traits. When does cute become tiresome? When does hapless become just plain stupid?
- Are you ready to spend a few more years with your character? In real life, you commit to your partner for better and worse, thick and thin, frizzy and oily, etc. If s/he annoys you, you can’t make someone change. (Or so I’m told.) The brilliant thing about your protagonist is that…tada! You can make her change.
Zephyr and I, although we thought we’d broken it off, couldn’t resist running back to each other. Is it because we’re scared to move on to new relationships, because we know each other so well? Although that was my fear, I’ve realized that I love her and I love being with her and that there’s so much more I can still learn about her and from her.
I think this might be the continuation of a beautiful relationship.
Have you written or considered writing a series? What made you decide to continue (or break it off)?
Many thanks to today’s guest.
You can read more WU guest posts by visiting this link.
Daphne, I’ve already made the commitment to go steady with my main character for at least four books, unless she dumps me first. But I have asked myself some of the questions you raise here, especially the ones about aging and changing. Each book has an arc, but then there’s that overarching one where MC has to gain some wisdom, or at least some belly fat. The other thing I relate to is the sense of place. My MC is a dyed-in-the-wool Jersey girl, and the NJ of 1978 is a setting filled with things-could-go-either-way portent. The character is helping me explore themes that are close to my heart, like small-town cohesiveness vs. over-development and loss of rural landscape. Like corporate takeover and too many strip malls and the loss of a certain kind magic. But I also love the idea of watching this kid grow up and decide what to toss, and what to keep. Thanks for a though-provoking and funny post!
Susan,
Thanks for this wonderful feedback. Your book sounds right up my alley. (The 1970s are no stranger to me!) And it’s hugely comforting to know that other writers are struggling with the same issues, and also writing about place. For my epigraph for Wife of the Day, I quote a line from Mary Gordon’s superb collection, Seeing Through Places: Essays on Geography and Identity, which I recommend.
Good morning, Daphne:
Congratulations on the option. May it free you, not restrict you, in precisely the ways you so feared might happen (but so far have not — yahoo!).
I think the personal growth aspect of the main character in mystery/crime is often overlooked, and unfortunately so. Lawrence Block made a point of providing a distinct arc to Scudder’s life over the course of the novels he intended to write in that series. It gave them a heft many such series lack. (He didn’t restrict himself in his more comic Bernie Rhodenbarr novels or the more episodic Keller books.) Good for you for even considering it, let alone making it work so well.
I’d add two additional points on a series:
1. Starting a series with one publisher will tie you to that publisher in many ways. Most agents state flatly that they can’t sell the second (or third) book in a series to a new publisher. So if you write one, make sure the publisher you accept is one you want to stick with.
2. Since the “will to justice” is the deep inexhaustible need that motivates the mystery series character — even if comic in tone, the hero must feel compelled to solve the crime(s) — make sure to explore this aspect of your series protagonist (who will be the “brand” of the series).
I often teach my students to think of the mystery hero as Sisyphus, who feels a deep-seated yearning for a more just world, and who seeks to bring the world that much closer to such a state in every book. But, as we know, the world is an unjust place, the stone rolls back down the hill, and Sisyphus must begin again. (Combining this with the growth element can make for a truly fascinating, compelling hero.)
I look forward to hearing much, much more about Zephyr and her exploits. Best of luck with her in all formats. And thanks for joining us here on a quiet Sunday morn.
P.S. My wife and I were married in the Hudson Valley — Cold Spring — and we have many friends there, spread out from Woodstock to Reinbeck to Garrison to Beacon to Croton-on-Hudson. Wonderful area, magical. That said, the exiled writer/artist meme is no joke, and our friends still in the city wrestle with it every day, wondering: should we move?
My wife and I live in northern California now, which is perhaps “beyond exile.” We caper about with the unicorns, would-be screenwriters, and other mythical creatures.
David,
I’m so moved by your deeply thoughtful and generous response. Your students are very lucky! I think Zephyr (my main squeeze, I mean character) does satisfy the Sisyphus test, or lens, and it’s a MARVELOUS way to think about it. That metaphor will serve me well in the future, so thank you.
And as for the constant should-we, shouldn’t-we move out of the city, yes it’s part of city thinking. Coincidentally, I was married in Rhinebeck, never expecting to one day live 20 minutes from my wedding site!
Hope California is treating you well.
I’m seriously considering a sequel for my book, “Into the Lives of Others.” I have a notebook full of research and already written material that I pulled out when I (prematurely, as it turned out) submitted the book to a publisher, per word count guidelines.
Marina, as a social work supervisor, has a lot left to experience and learn, even though she already went through so much in my first book. Even better, her relationship with her boyfriend is new, so there’s lots of territory to explore there. They both have children from their first marriages—even more material, angst and situations to write about!
As you mentioned, I need to have a sit-down with Marina over some chai lattes and discuss what she’s learned and how her experiences changed her. Given how busy she is with members of her social work team and cases (and how busy I am with “work” writing), we still need to schedule that meeting.
Don’t delay that date with Marina! I look forward to seeing how she’s grown. :)
So the publisher said, “Yep. We’ll publish it.” (I can’t reveal details yet.)
So as far as I was concerned, I was going to move on (back to?) WWII and do the epic I was working on (in the research phase) when I discovered the story that is now going to be published.
I had simply mentioned to my editor that there are possibly other story lines for the main character of my to-be published novel. Then, one day, I get an e-mail. The publisher wanted two one-pagers of my next two stories in the series because he would like to show them to a producer he knows. Gulp. I hadn’t even THOUGHT about the next story in a possible series, much less two. So I dashed two one-pagers in a couple of days.
We’ll see what happens. But I fear that WWII may end before I get to write about it.
Jim,
That’s FABULOUS!!! Congrats and good luck!
Zephyr; “I’ve realized that I love her and I love being with her and that there’s so much more I can still learn about her and from her.”
You sold me with that, but more, I think the love you’re talking about is what brings alive not only a series character but any character.
Thanks!
Thank YOU! I really appreciate that.
Thank you for this humorous and helpful look at your experience! I was especially encouraged by how you approached each book and the time you took between books to make them the best they could be.
Thanks, Denise! It means a lot to hear a reader and (presumably?) fellow writer say that it was a good thing I took the time to think this through. So often, it felt like this third novel was NEVER gonna happen!
I’m about to find out. LOL. I switched genres (YA to Adult Romance) and I’m going to start writing about 6 male dancers who work undercover for an organization that rescues children from sex traffickers. Each book will be about a different dancer, a different trafficking situation, but there’ll be crossover. I’m going the serial fiction route (website only, no ebooks or print) once I my site is revamped. This whole journey–adult romance and serial fiction–are new to me so I’m hoping that I won’t get sick of or want to dropkick my characters. LOL If I do (sex trafficking of children is a pretty heavy topic), I have other series ideas that I want to work on, so that will provide a little break. I like where you said that you fly by the seat of your pants and your writing is reassurance that its working for you. LOL I’m a pantser myself (when I was writing YA anyway) and I’m hoping the serial format (writing in real life time, not posting an already-completed story in parts) will work for me and my pantslessness.