Debra likes to read and write books that are part of a series.
I am a big fan of series. Both reading them and writing them. When I sat down to actually write my very first romance, I always envisioned it as the first of a three book series. It still thrills me to no end to have had that particular dream come true. My Corral series even spawned a sub-series (so to say) because I loved the setting so much I wasn't ready to let it go after three novels.
Floating around in the back of my brain are ideas for two more series. One about a trio of brothers from a small town and another based on my cruise travels around the Caribbean. My problem these days is that there is plenty going on in the 'big idea' arena, but not enough time to get down to the nitty-gritty details and get any writing done.
I have what I thought was going to be a stand-alone book in my to-be-worked-on file, but now it's nudging me to create more books set in this particular town and do a series.
When I read for pleasure, my go to books are nearly always series ones. Sometimes it's one hero and heroine that continue throughout all of the books (This is especially true of cozy mysteries), but sometimes it different main characters in the same setting or place that make a series.
Why do I like series so much? Because I love that when I get to know a particular characters (or a group of characters) I don't have to say good-bye to them at the end of a book. I know I'll meet up with them again in the next installment.
Series are also great for building a following. If a reader enjoys one of your books, having more to offer within the same series can lead to more sales. They might even look forward to the next installment. (I know I'm the nerd who writes release dates for books in my favorite series down in my planner so I can grab them the day they hit the shelves.)
I do read (and write) stand-alones from time to time, but my go-to books of choice are definitely those that are part of a series.
Until next time,
Happy Reading!
Debra
www.debrastjohnromance.com
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Showing posts with label series. Show all posts
Showing posts with label series. Show all posts
Thursday, November 10, 2016
Thursday, January 21, 2016
C is for Calloway Corners
Debra remembers the first romance series she ever read.
Back in 1988 a friend loaned me one of her Harlequin Superromance books. (I have to confess...I never gave it back.) The book was called Mariah (by Sandra Canfield) and it was labeled as Calloway Corners: Book One. I immediately fell in love with the book, and it remains probably my favorite 'line' romance of all time. I still page through it from time to time, and it's extremely tattered and torn. For whatever reason, the storyline spoke to me. I've read it so many times (sometimes in its entirety, sometimes just passages here and there) that I have many of its lines memorized.
Not only did I love the principal storyline and the hero and heroine, but I loved that secondary characters were introduced who would eventually star in their own books. As the series proceeds, we get glimpses of prior characters as they are woven through the new stories. The series features four books, each by a different author. Each book is named for a Calloway sister: Mariah, Jo, Tess, and Eden. All of the sisters and their future love interests (Even if they don't know it at the time.) are introduced and have bit parts in the first book, so we get to know a little about them before we delve into their individual stories. And although I've read the other books in the series, Mariah remains by far my favorite and the only one I've read multiple times. There's just something about it: the phrasing, the voice, the storyline, and for me it has exactly the right amount of sensuality for my taste. (Although it's been a while since I've read the others. It might be time to revisit them...)
It was the interaction between the books that inspired me to write my own series. (I'd decided long before then that I wanted to write a romance 'someday'.) I loved how the books were stand alone, yet connected. I loved that after Mariah's story ended, I still got to hear more about her and how her HEA was going. I modeled my Corral series after this format. Each book can stand alone, yet the characters' lives are woven together, and we get those peeks into what happened after I wrote 'the end' at the conclusion of each story.
For that, Mariah and the rest of the sisters at Calloway Corners will always hold a special place in my heart.
Until next time,
Happy Reading!
Debra
www.debrastjohnromance.com
P.S. As I was scoping Amazon for a cover to post, I found four more books labeled "Return to Calloway Corners". It seems like each original author penned a new book (Well, back in the 90s) using the same setting but now named for a male lead. Interesting. Other than mentioning the original sisters in the 'teaser', there doesn't seem to be a connection, other than the setting, to the original stories. But I guess I'd need to read them to know for sure.
Back in 1988 a friend loaned me one of her Harlequin Superromance books. (I have to confess...I never gave it back.) The book was called Mariah (by Sandra Canfield) and it was labeled as Calloway Corners: Book One. I immediately fell in love with the book, and it remains probably my favorite 'line' romance of all time. I still page through it from time to time, and it's extremely tattered and torn. For whatever reason, the storyline spoke to me. I've read it so many times (sometimes in its entirety, sometimes just passages here and there) that I have many of its lines memorized.
Not only did I love the principal storyline and the hero and heroine, but I loved that secondary characters were introduced who would eventually star in their own books. As the series proceeds, we get glimpses of prior characters as they are woven through the new stories. The series features four books, each by a different author. Each book is named for a Calloway sister: Mariah, Jo, Tess, and Eden. All of the sisters and their future love interests (Even if they don't know it at the time.) are introduced and have bit parts in the first book, so we get to know a little about them before we delve into their individual stories. And although I've read the other books in the series, Mariah remains by far my favorite and the only one I've read multiple times. There's just something about it: the phrasing, the voice, the storyline, and for me it has exactly the right amount of sensuality for my taste. (Although it's been a while since I've read the others. It might be time to revisit them...)
It was the interaction between the books that inspired me to write my own series. (I'd decided long before then that I wanted to write a romance 'someday'.) I loved how the books were stand alone, yet connected. I loved that after Mariah's story ended, I still got to hear more about her and how her HEA was going. I modeled my Corral series after this format. Each book can stand alone, yet the characters' lives are woven together, and we get those peeks into what happened after I wrote 'the end' at the conclusion of each story.
For that, Mariah and the rest of the sisters at Calloway Corners will always hold a special place in my heart.
Until next time,
Happy Reading!
Debra
www.debrastjohnromance.com
P.S. As I was scoping Amazon for a cover to post, I found four more books labeled "Return to Calloway Corners". It seems like each original author penned a new book (Well, back in the 90s) using the same setting but now named for a male lead. Interesting. Other than mentioning the original sisters in the 'teaser', there doesn't seem to be a connection, other than the setting, to the original stories. But I guess I'd need to read them to know for sure.
Thursday, August 21, 2014
A New Series
Debra contemplates beginning a new series.
Last week if you remember I was lamenting my lack of foresight in giving my minor characters better names now that I was considering using them as main characters in stories of their own. These thoughts are still wandering around in my head, but I found in the last week they've been pushed a bit out of the limelight as new ideas and thoughts are whirling around in there.
I'm thinking about starting a new series. Because I have time to work on three books now that school has started again, right?
I've had the idea in my head for years to write a story about a rock star. Now that my music taste has evolved, he'll probably be a country star, but the idea will remain generally the same. In my early musings it had always been a stand alone book. But recently, the idea has morphed and grown and now I'm thinking the country star book should be the first in a new series of three. I'm sure it all stems from my love of reading series, and the fun and success I had writing my Corral series. I'm still working on a name for the series, but I've got the main characters thought out. Each book will focus on a different brother from the same family. At one time I thought about two brothers and a sister, but that seemed a bit similar to the format of my first series, so I thought I'd shake it up a bit. I've even thought about the love interests for each of the guys. And, I've written the teaser blurb for each of the stories.
Now I'd love for these to be print books, just because it's more fun for me, not necessarily better sales, but I like having actual books on my shelf. If they are print books, each needs to be a certain word count. For a while TWRP was going to print for books 65,000 and over, but I think they've dropped that count down a bit. But any way you look at it, that's a lot of words. And right now I have no time to write them.
School is back in full swing and right now it's all about getting a new set of students used to routines, schedules, and procedures. Which means I'm tired by the end of the day.
But I'm hoping my ill-timed muse will hang around until things get running a bit more smoothly...and then I can really put pen to paper, or more accurately, fingers to the keyboard, and get going with these stories.
In the meantime, I'm working with TWRP on getting my Corral series into a boxed set and waiting to hear back on the mss I submitted to my editor at the end of last month. So for me, lots of goings on in the writing side of life.
Until next time,
Happy Reading!
Debra
www.debrastjohnromance.com
Last week if you remember I was lamenting my lack of foresight in giving my minor characters better names now that I was considering using them as main characters in stories of their own. These thoughts are still wandering around in my head, but I found in the last week they've been pushed a bit out of the limelight as new ideas and thoughts are whirling around in there.
I'm thinking about starting a new series. Because I have time to work on three books now that school has started again, right?
I've had the idea in my head for years to write a story about a rock star. Now that my music taste has evolved, he'll probably be a country star, but the idea will remain generally the same. In my early musings it had always been a stand alone book. But recently, the idea has morphed and grown and now I'm thinking the country star book should be the first in a new series of three. I'm sure it all stems from my love of reading series, and the fun and success I had writing my Corral series. I'm still working on a name for the series, but I've got the main characters thought out. Each book will focus on a different brother from the same family. At one time I thought about two brothers and a sister, but that seemed a bit similar to the format of my first series, so I thought I'd shake it up a bit. I've even thought about the love interests for each of the guys. And, I've written the teaser blurb for each of the stories.
Now I'd love for these to be print books, just because it's more fun for me, not necessarily better sales, but I like having actual books on my shelf. If they are print books, each needs to be a certain word count. For a while TWRP was going to print for books 65,000 and over, but I think they've dropped that count down a bit. But any way you look at it, that's a lot of words. And right now I have no time to write them.
School is back in full swing and right now it's all about getting a new set of students used to routines, schedules, and procedures. Which means I'm tired by the end of the day.
But I'm hoping my ill-timed muse will hang around until things get running a bit more smoothly...and then I can really put pen to paper, or more accurately, fingers to the keyboard, and get going with these stories.
In the meantime, I'm working with TWRP on getting my Corral series into a boxed set and waiting to hear back on the mss I submitted to my editor at the end of last month. So for me, lots of goings on in the writing side of life.
Until next time,
Happy Reading!
Debra
www.debrastjohnromance.com
Thursday, August 14, 2014
Books of Their Own - The Name Game
Debra is attempting to use minor characters from her series in books of their own.
When I set out to write my first book, I purposely included a cast of secondary characters who would, one day, get their own stories. And while these characters naturally weren't as up front in the spotlight as the hero and heroine, they did play an integral role in the story. I gave them unique traits and voices in order to set up their future stories. I even gave them names that would one day be fitting for the heroes in other books.
Now that the series is done, I've found I'm not quite ready to leave the world I created. So, I got it into my head to do a few 'spin off' stories. The Corral would be featured, but we really wouldn't hear too much about the main couples from the three books in the series except in passing. They won't have dialogue or any major interaction with the new characters. My plan was to take minor characters I'd mentioned in the main books and use them as my heros and/or heroines.
Which is all fine and good, but at the time I never thought about using them as a main characters, so I didn't put a lot of thought into their names. Now this is turning into a bit of a problem as I try to go forward with my plan. It's not that I've given them bad names. Just...ordinary names. Ones that purposely faded into the background as to not take away from the main hero and heroine.
For me, naming my characters is a huge deal. Usually I have one pretty much set from the start, and then I try to 'match up' a name for the love interest. Usually I have a character in mind, and I choose a name to go with that type of character. Now I'm trying to do the opposite. I have a list of names and need to create characters around them. It's proving to be quite tricky.
Right now I have a story I started where I'm using one of the waitresses from The Corral as the heroine. Waitresses I've named in previous books are: Pam, Tina, Darla. The hero's name is Tyler (And I've already grown familiar with him, so I'm not changing it.) so Tina is out. Tina and Tyler? Nope. Not gonna fly. Pam is a lovely name, it just doesn't seem to work for a heroine. For me. Do I extend it? Go with Pamela? Darla could work, but in the third book in the series I referred to her as the 'new' waitress...do I then need to worry about an exact time line and how these stories fit chronologically into the main series? Is anyone but me going to really care or notice if the timing is a bit off? Especially since the stories aren't related at all?
Maybe I need to dig back into the books and see if I listed anymore waitress names.
I guess in the future I need to be more careful about choosing minor character names in my stories...just in case, right?
Until next time,
Happy Reading!
Debra
www.debrastjohnromance.com
Family Secrets - Now Available for Kindle and in paperback
When I set out to write my first book, I purposely included a cast of secondary characters who would, one day, get their own stories. And while these characters naturally weren't as up front in the spotlight as the hero and heroine, they did play an integral role in the story. I gave them unique traits and voices in order to set up their future stories. I even gave them names that would one day be fitting for the heroes in other books.
Now that the series is done, I've found I'm not quite ready to leave the world I created. So, I got it into my head to do a few 'spin off' stories. The Corral would be featured, but we really wouldn't hear too much about the main couples from the three books in the series except in passing. They won't have dialogue or any major interaction with the new characters. My plan was to take minor characters I'd mentioned in the main books and use them as my heros and/or heroines.
Which is all fine and good, but at the time I never thought about using them as a main characters, so I didn't put a lot of thought into their names. Now this is turning into a bit of a problem as I try to go forward with my plan. It's not that I've given them bad names. Just...ordinary names. Ones that purposely faded into the background as to not take away from the main hero and heroine.
For me, naming my characters is a huge deal. Usually I have one pretty much set from the start, and then I try to 'match up' a name for the love interest. Usually I have a character in mind, and I choose a name to go with that type of character. Now I'm trying to do the opposite. I have a list of names and need to create characters around them. It's proving to be quite tricky.
Right now I have a story I started where I'm using one of the waitresses from The Corral as the heroine. Waitresses I've named in previous books are: Pam, Tina, Darla. The hero's name is Tyler (And I've already grown familiar with him, so I'm not changing it.) so Tina is out. Tina and Tyler? Nope. Not gonna fly. Pam is a lovely name, it just doesn't seem to work for a heroine. For me. Do I extend it? Go with Pamela? Darla could work, but in the third book in the series I referred to her as the 'new' waitress...do I then need to worry about an exact time line and how these stories fit chronologically into the main series? Is anyone but me going to really care or notice if the timing is a bit off? Especially since the stories aren't related at all?
Maybe I need to dig back into the books and see if I listed anymore waitress names.
I guess in the future I need to be more careful about choosing minor character names in my stories...just in case, right?
Until next time,
Happy Reading!
Debra
www.debrastjohnromance.com
Family Secrets - Now Available for Kindle and in paperback
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