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One of the biggest perks about writing/reading romance is the Happily Ever After ending. No matter how much angst our characters go through, we know in the end, even when it seems impossible, everything will be overcome and true love will win out. Our hero and heroine get to walk into the sunset and begin their life together.
After the book closes, however, I kind of want to know more. Oh, I don't want to know if the hero and heroine face any more trials and tribulations, I just want a peek into their lives after the HEA. I want to check in to make sure they're still happy as life goes on. I want to see into the future.
This is where a series comes in handy. In fact, this was part of my motivation for writing one. When I wrote my first book (This Time for Always), I included a secondary cast of characters to be used later on in books of their own. Zach got his story in This Can't Be Love, and I'm in the process of revising Jake's story: "This Feels Like Home".
And while it was definitely fun giving Zach and Jake their own stories, it was just as much fun to peek into my earlier characters' lives in each subsequent story. In Always, (spoilers here!) Logan and Sharlie are unable to have children, but they mention possibly adopting. In Love, I was able to show them in the future with their first adopted child. In Love, Jessica declares her love for Zach, but isn't quite ready to get married. In "Home", I included Zach and Jessica's wedding in one scene. (And we also see Logan and Sharlie with a second child.)
In real life, I don't want to know what the future holds, but for my characters, it's fun to get to peek and see where they wind up after the Happily Ever After.
Until next time,
Happy Reading!
Debra
www.debrastjohnromance.com
A Christmas to Remember - available now.
Agree it's satisfying to see again the characters whose story you've read in one book and find out what's happened to them.
ReplyDeleteI've thought about doing a follow-up, using one of the secondary characters from 'His Leading Lady' or maybe using the same village where I set 'Fragrance of Violets' =- or maybe a combination of both :-)
I love when authors do that! I'm trying to set up a series now, and it's a lot harder than I expected, since I will want the story to be consistent. I have to pay a lot more attention to the secondary characters than I thought I did!
ReplyDeleteYou just explained the justification for a romance series for me, Debra. I've gotten the historical saga, but the contemporary has eluded me. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteI notice you favor J-named heroes. Any special reason?
I recently read book 2 of a series and the heroines in books one and two both had names that started with N. I found that confusing.
Paula, using the same village would be a great kick-off for another story.
ReplyDeleteJennifer, since I had in mind to write stories for my other characters from the beginning, I knew I had to pay special attention to them right off the bat!
Ana, Actually, I think I have only one J hero: Jake...the others are Logan, Zach, Noah, Sam, and Ethan in my published stories. (Oh, actually my WIP has a J name, Joe!) I do have a heroine, Jessica though.
Might think about that 'same village' idea, Debra! I love that village in the Lake District, it's one I know well.
ReplyDeleteThe names we choose for our characters are interesting - hmm, maybe a good topic for when we get to N - LOL