
I’ve been thinking about how one manages character development in a series after some of my writing buddies talked about how they’ve stopped reading an author they love because the protagonist doesn’t seem to learn from the past. It’s not a trivial question, because I am as guilty as the next reader of wanting my favorite characters to change, learn, and grow – but not too much. I still want to recognize the protagonist, even as I’m cheering for the character to evolve. Ann Anastasio and I never intended our first book, Death By Chenille, to become a series, but here we are writing our fourth novel with the same characters. We started out with characters who were flawed, yes, but essentially grounded. We wanted to tell the story of normal people in an unusual situation (saving the world from aliens who disguise themselves as bolts of beige fabric). As each new book in the Chenille series unfolded, we tried to keep our characters essentially who they were, but let them learn enough to solve the next problem. Is that enough to satisfy our readers? I’m not sure, but I’d welcome your input if you care to read the books (you can get them for your reader on Smashwords.com, for a few bucks).
Now that the shameless self-promotion is out of the way, here are a few possibilities for character development in a series:
- You can start with a character that has a boatload of problems, and solve them one novel at a time.
- You can start with a character at a specific age (younger is better), and trace her evolution in real(ish) time.
- You can write entirely plot-driven novels where the protagonist has to learn something new in each novel or die. That also solves the problem of how to end a series when you are bored writing about the same characters.
Only you can decide how much change is enough for your character, and how much of a reset you are going to do in each novel to maintain the loyalty of your readers. For me, I’m going to try changing one thing at a time. My goal will be to maintain the core values of my characters, but give them a little wiggle room to surprise me.

Luck and wisdom!