Writing a Whole Series in One Project

A series is easiest to keep straight when every book lives in the same place. In Deckle that means one project for the whole series: a Part for each book, each one marked as a separate book so its chapters are numbered on their own, and one Codex that every book shares. Planning the series itself, from the series question to each book's own ending, is covered in how to write a book series.

What You'll Need

• A Deckle project for the series, with each book's chapters in the Draft (or ready to add).

Step-by-Step

1. Add a Part for each book. In the Binder, use Add to Draft and choose Part. Name each one after its book, then put that book's chapters inside it.
2. Make each Part a separate book. Right-click the Part and choose Make This a Separate Book. Its chapter numbers start again at 1, and it uses its own title for its running heads, so Book Two opens on chapter 1, not on the chapter after Book One's last.
3. Keep one Codex for the series. Characters, places and lore go in the project's Codex once. Each entry's Mentions list shows every chapter that names it, in every book, so a detail from Book One is a click away while you write Book Three.
4. Export one book at a time. In Export, open the Contents tab, turn off Export the whole Draft, choose None, then tick the book you want. Only that book goes into the file. This choice applies to that export only.

Common Mistakes

• Leaving a book's Part unmarked. Without Make This a Separate Book, the chapters carry on numbering from the book before.
• Starting a new project for every book when the books share a world. Separate projects each get their own Codex, so the series bible would have to be kept up to date in several places. If you do want one project per book, start each new book from a series template so the Codex and styling come with it.
• Exporting the whole Draft to publish one book. Turn off Export the whole Draft and tick just that book, or the file holds the entire series.