Readers love book series like “Harry Potter,” “The Hunger Games” and the Jack Reacher thrillers because of the connection to the characters and their worlds. But writing them is another matter.
Holly Bebernitz, the author of “The Magnolia Arms Chronicles,” a six-book series, will explore the process of writing a series at the next meeting of the Ponte Vedra Writers, at 11 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 25, at the Ponte Vedra Beach Branch Library.
Bebernitz tells us that a rock and a spelling list awakened a lifelong yearning to write, eventually leading to her series. She’ll share her successes, lessons learned, ways to tap into readers’ preferences and advice in her presentation “Writing a Series: If a Little Bit’s Good, a Lot’s Better.”
After 30 years of teaching speech, English and history on the secondary and college levels, Bebernitz retired from classroom instruction to become a full-time grandmother. The change in schedule allowed the time needed to complete the novel she had begun writing in 1998.
When “Trevorode the Defender,” which became “Part I of The Magnolia Arms Chronicles,” was published in March 2013, the indie author realized the story of the Magnolia Arms was not yet complete. Five books followed: “Road to Briarwood” (2015), “Tea at Kimball Pines” (2017), and “The Moores, the Merriers” (2019), “Lawson Payne” (2022), and “Aylesbury Dreams” (2024). Part VII, “Dear Mrs. Pontefract,” is currently underway.
A drawing for a complete set of “The Magnolia Arms Chronicles” will be held at the meeting, which is free and open to the public.