Saturday, March 22, 2014

Writing A Series

by Jennifer Conner

I have at least eight series that I am currently involved in or have completed. Writing a series can be just as much fun for the readers as it is for the writers. As a reader, I love books that don’t end when you turn the last page. My favorites often continue with the same characters. My favorites are Clarie and Jamie from the Outlander books or Eve and Roarke from Nora Roberts In Death Series. Both married couples who argue, make mistakes and are madly in love after MANY books.

I may not have started with the concept of making a story a series, but as I wrote, I started to think of story lines with brothers, sisters, or best-friends who were introduced. What was there story? Was it worth telling?
For the first time, I am involved in three different series this year. Where as in the past I have written all the books in a series, this time, I will only write one.

With my new release, The Empress of Ireland, in the Places to See series, Laila Byrne made a final promise to her friend. She will travel more and work less.
After sticking a pin in a map of the world, she heads off to Ireland. This is my story, the other four authors will take the same concept and take their girls there for an adventure.

I’m working on the first in a series called, Uncorked and In Love, about a small wine shop in Eastern Washington. These series have been a kick to write with other authors. You don’t know how fun something is until you try it!

Sometimes my stories are stand-alone with the thread being a concept. With my Dog Tails series the characters in the various stories are not related, but have a common thread, they are all dog owners. Book one, Central Bark at Christmas addresses abandoned pets and shelters, Book two, Christmas Gift that Keeps Wagging, covers trained seizure dogs and a single dad with a special need little boy. Book three, Dog Tags, will be an Army man with a dog he is trying to get home that he rescues in Afghanistan.

But in my Regimental Heroes series, they are all friends who suffer from PTSD in Victorian England. Best-friends, and then his brother and another friend with dyslexia. All brought together by the common thread of war and the era that does not understand what they are going through.

What do you like to read? Stand-alone stories or if you enjoy it, do you want it to go on and on like I do?

The Empress of Ireland is available in Ebook-Paperback and soon in Audio Book.
Find out more about Jennifer Conner by visiting her
Author Page at BooksToGoNow.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jennifer.conner2




6 comments:

Diana McCollum said...

Hi, Jennifer,

I enjoy reading both stand alone and series. I'd say about 50/50. Your books sound good. Wishing you many sales!

Judith Ashley said...

I like to read spin-offs if I really like the secondary characters but that is not always easy for an author to figure out. I do enjoy series books more than stand-alone although I've certainly read my share of them. However, looking at my book shelves - series are what I see.

Judith Ashley said...

Thanks for joining us today, Jennifer! You've done double duty for RTG this month and we truly do appreciate it.

Sarah Raplee said...

What a fun approach to series writing!

I love the premise of Empress of Ireland - Fate + Free Will = Happily Ever After.

Unknown said...

Hey, is Jennifer's website down? I keep getting a "buy this domain" message when I click the link.

Judith Ashley said...

Thanks for pointing that out, Wendy. I didn't check the link Jenni sent. I've made a change and now the link is to her author page at Books To Go Now.