One More Time, Times Three (Series Writing)

I begin 2013, with the first drafts of the first two books in my five book Young Adult series completed, by starting the planning and plotting of Book #3 of the series. The stakes for my characters are higher and the conflicts greater. Which, with a series, is as it should be.

Question: Is writing a series like writing one big book, divided into smaller parts?

Answer: Yes and No. There is the overall story of the series, yet each book is a stand-alone story within itself. Each book tells a story, then together they make up the full story of the series.

Book #3 is leaning toward depicting a world gone wrong, as well as bad. Together, the children provide support for one another. Perhaps it's time, as the ruthless author, to tear them apart, to separate them, and let them fend for themselves the best they can in an even more hostile world? Or, is it time for them to first band together to bond even more closely? To only be separated a little later on?

Time to get out Cathy Yardley's Rock Your Plot Workbook (Highly Recommend Rock Your Plot!) and begin, one more time!