Young Writers Society

First I'd like to ask, do I make too many forum posts? I feel like I make too many, too frequently.
Okay, so everyone knows of the Marvel franchise correct? So the way they connect all of their characters through one way or another (more so in games and TV shows) would anyone recommend doing that with books?
Right now, I'm writing about an immortal, well ageless spy, and I want to follow his story, make an entire series out if his long life etc etc.
But at the same time, an idea of a space bound soldier, who has been genetically alerted, and physically, who must travel into space to meet other alien races (after a single race lands on Earth)
Sorry for rambling a bit there.
Anyway, I want to have this soldier be funded by the same agency that my immortal spy works for. (if you're still understanding then carry on otherwise I'm sorry for not making sense)
So later on, when I write other things, I want to sorta have all of my characters be connected one way or another, kind of like how Marvel has their heroes connected even by small connections. What does everyone think?
(Sorry for rambling, and if I don't make sense) I can answer any questions, and any comments are appreciated.

First question- Never too many! Ever! Ask as many questions as you need.

That would be just fine.

I've read another author who does this— Tamora Pierce. She has two main worlds and follows either the same protagonists or different ones and they all end up meeting up at one point or another. I actually plan on doing my own novel's world that way, with multiple characters in the same environment.

The one thing to keep in mind is, Marvel has the freedom to retcon and rejig and reboot anything they want at any point they want. Get a new group of writers who don't like what's going on? They redo everything.

You won't really have that freedom.

Keep absolutely religious notes on what's going on in all the world, what you've written down as established, and add to it every time you create something new. Your world will be very fleshed out, and you don't want to counter anything you've already written without very good reason.

First off, I agree with Rosey. No such thing as too many forum posts.

Secondly, I think this is very doable. Another example is Terry Pratchett's Discworld series, which you should read because they're awesome. All the books are set on the same planet, but each one focuses on specific characters or parts of the world.

I think Rosey has good advice about being detailed in your world-building. This could be really cool! Good luck!

Thank you guys! Rosey, I really appreciate the hint of heavy notes, as I have been trying to do so, but have been unsure if it is a good idea. I haven't read either of those, but next time I go to the library I'll be sure to look for them! I really do appreciate the hints and such though, they just really helped me build confidence in my idea.

-Vinnie

Also, do you have any more tips for note taking? How extensive should they be? Do I only do it for the characters I already have planned, or should I plan out as many characters asI can? Sorry for all the questions, I'm just new rio the whole note taking experience.

It's not a case of "how extensive should the notes be" but more "keeping track of everything established."

I actually don't have very many notes (by my standards) at the beginning of my project. I usually start with stuff like:

1- Character and personality
2- Socioeconomic status of the character
3- Geographic location (including any sort of base culture I'm pulling from)
4- Skills

And half of those aren't written down in any detail at all.

I'll work out what that means, like if that personality is valued or hated, what sort of resources they have access to, what sort of climate they live in, what they're required to know for what they do in day to day life and what they like knowing.

Then things get messy and that's exactly how I like them.

As the plot happens, I figure out worldbuilding as I go. For example I hadn't actually figured out religious beliefs till years into writing the novel. But I was writing out a wedding and realized I needed to figure that out. I now have notes on religious symbolism I didn't have before.

I had far more notes on the political system, because my novel is primarily political. Sometimes I come across something really cool I want to work in (stuff like... different types of weapons, or I see more information on something I had in the story already but not fleshed out) so I add that in immediately.

The main goal of note taking is to avoid little things like, say, having one character funded by the same organization as another, but forgetting that so adding them into the funding later when they'd already had it. Or changing a character's eye colour (don't laugh. I've seen it happen in published books).

The short answer to your question, then, is as detailed as you need to keep track of the world! That can be superdetailed and contain everything you've ever written that hints at worldbuilding, or that can be general vague things in broadstrokes, like what the organizations are and who the character reports to.

Rosey, I must say, I love you. You always go into such depth explaining things, making them way to understand, its just great, thank you.I think I have a much better perspective on note taking now, I honestly thought I'd have to plan out everything in the beginning. Si thank you

Have a little faith in yourself. Sometimes these are questions that everyone is asking, (or ideas that people like but haven't had the confidence to incorporate.) They're beautiful things, sometimes even moreso than the answers, so always ask.

Personally I love series of novels where the characters tread over eachothers tracks once in a while. I don't know many books but I've read a few graphic novels where one scene will be playing out in the front of the panel, and in the background there will be a very subtle image of a scene from a different comic playing out in the background.

Being able to link the two together is a big buzz when you're part of the fanbase.

For me it just kind of happens naturally. In fact I once started writing a novel and 3/4 of the way through I realised that my MC was developing into the evil overlord of my main series of novels, which added a whole new dimension to him.

Some things you might need to remember though;

Consistency
I would say what's probably the key thing to remember is consistency in the universes. With Marvel they're all based on earth but with fantasy elements. If there is a universal war going on in one story, it can't be in the same location and timeline as a bad guy who is trying to start a universal war. If a technology has been invented in one novel you'll need a reason if it's not available in the other.

Re-introducing
Oh, and it has to make sense, too, for people who pick one novel up without reading the other you'll have to remember to introduce the cross-over character in a different way, otherwise a frequent reader will be bored of the same introductions or a new reader will be confused to what's going on.

Plot comes first!
Don't forget to start from basics and work your way up. You need a good plot and then you can do cross-overs, but if you try to work your plot around the cross overs and end up with a patchwork plot, people might not enjoy it enough to read your other novels and realise the cleverness of what you've done.

Thanks Tenyo! I now see how complicated it would be to mix the story-lines together, though I still desire to do so. I try to be more confident in my questions, though I always feel as though I'm a bother to others by asking.
Honestly, I had gotten the idea after watching Arrow, and something from Batman was mentioned constantly through one of the episodes, so I thought it would be a great idea, as it really gave me quite the buzz making the connection!
To help with consistency, I'll be taking extensive notes as everything plays out, but I haven't a clue how to keep up with new introductions? Do you have any ideas for that? I get the feeling that I wouldn't know how to re-introduce someone for the third time without a frequent reader getting bored of it. But thank you again, you've helped me notice some flaws within my writing, such as me trying to develop my plot around my cross overs :p

Short mentions each time you bring them on.

Make them side characters, don't give their whole backstory each time. Giving a long introduction is bad form in all writing, in my personal opinion, so only having a line saying "this is [name] from [organization]" then moving on with the story is plenty.

Characters shouldn't be introduced in depth, because then there's nothing left to show. When it comes to how a character behaves, their personality, their tendencies... you don't really tell us that. It can be a nice worldbuilding consistency to have one character who knows the other to say "Oh, be careful with her, she's got a temper", but that near literally means nothing if that temper doesn't get shown within five scenes. If you say that person has a temper, and it's from a character who knows the person, then that's an inside joke for readers who've read their story. However, that means their temper is going to come up a lot, so you have to show it soon.

My personal preference is not mentioning traits until they show up, then showing the differences in reactions between people who know the character and people who don't. The person who's used to this woman's temper will be expecting it, the person who isn't won't be. Now this isn't to say they will be chill about it— they'll simply have known it was coming.