Overlapping Series

If you missed the post on my author blog on Monday, it was about how I got into writing a series. When I first began working on THE LADY'S MASQUERADE, it was suposed to be a simple love story between Penny and Will. As the story progressed, other characters naturally evolved and because they were Will's friends, I found myself with three other single male characters who had to find brides but didn't want to. Hence, The Reluctant Grooms Series was born.

However, because I'm a pantster, I began writing these books without rhyme or reason, doing the research into the era as I went along. The stories were supposed to be in succession, each man finding his bride a year after the other. At one point, however, I hit a giant snag. One of my characters had to be in London for the Parliamental session. I dove into my research and found, Parliament wasn't in session for that month. Nor, for the remainder of the year in fact.

I had three books begun, each with about 40K words each. And now, each of the these stories wouldn't work. I'm a stickler for accuracy in my facts, (I hate it when reading an historical and there's a mistake.) I didn't know what to do. I couldn't throw away all these books and start over. I needed to find a way to make them work.

And so I decided to make them wrap-around each other, or overlap, if you will. For those of you who remember THE LADY'S MASQUERADE, this is the story which began it all. We have William, Robert, Richard, and Ellis.

THE LADY'S MASQUERADE --

March 1810 -- September 1810.

William requires help finding out who is after Penny. Robert and Richard play significant roles. Ellis has two small scenes.

THE LADY'S FATE -

May 1810 -- June 1811

Robert plays a significant role for Ellis in helping him aquire the hand of Violet.

THE CAPTAIN'S LADY --

September 1810 -- February 1811

Robert and William help Richard fight for Amanda.

THE DUKE'S DIVORCE --

March 1811 -- July 1811

Ellis and William seem to be able to help Robert with his bride Fiona.

THE EARL'S ENIGMA --

May 1811 -- October 1811

I haven't quite figured out this story yet. Rory is still new to me. But he still overlaps with the others somewhat.







Now, writing the stories this way solved several problems at once; allowed me to combine characters and storylines from one book into another, kept me from having to do uncessary research (and therefore allowed me to write more), and kept all the characters fresh in my mind. They're all friends and friends lives do tend to overlap

However, the biggest drawback to writing a series in this way is keeping all the characters where they're supposed to be in all the other books. For example, at one point in THE LADY'S FATE, Violet is waiting to hear from Ellis. He explains, he was in Trilling for the nuptials of his brother William. Because in THE LADY'S MASQUERADE, Ellis does indeed show up for the wedding. In THE CAPTAIN'S LADY, Robert needs to be single as the villain mistakenly identifies him as his wife's new lover, and William needs to be married, because Penny and Amanda both need to be pregnant at the same time. And somewhere in THE EARL'S ENIGMA, all the characters from all the books need to be at the Prince Regent's grand party in June of 1811.

Yes, I have a lot of notes.

But I'm loving the way it's turning out.

Tell me -- Do you read series novels? Do they overlap or are they progressive?

Stay tuned next week when I discuss overlapping characters... especially these two.

In Their Own Words -- Anne

Hi everyone, I just wanted to say thank you very much for stopping by and reading this series. It was a lot of fun and I liked the way it turned out.

I felt it was important to do this. My characters are ALWAYS talking to me. Sometimes, I think I'm possessed. And because I can't show you all of the book, I thought it might be nice for you to meet them, in person, so you could hear the way they really sound.

For anyone who wants to do this, on your own, or on the blog (which would be really cool), I think it helps to have a clear definition of what your character looks like first. Which is the reason for the pictures. Not only do they help you picture your characters in your mind's eye, they help with the clarity of their voices as well.

Now, some people can "see" their characters right from the get-go. I could only see Genna when I started. I knew she looked like Jessica Alba, and for the longest time Tony was a young John Travolta (from Saturday Night Fever actually.) This was also at the beginning and I was trying to write a true romance.

But as the story began to take shape and I knew I wasn't writing romance anymore, but women's fiction, I knew that my Tony wouldn't work for me through the long haul. And then one day Dylan McDermott magically appeared on my tv screen and wah-la, the real Tony was born.

When I posted my pictures of the characters a few weeks ago, some of you didn't really like Jessica Alba as my Genna. You said she was too young, her hair wasn't dark enough. I agreed. I really liked Jessica, but I always knew she was too young, hence, the finding of the new Genna. I like my new Genna, she fits the story, as well as my character description, and she's just absolutely beautifully perfectly Italian. Even though she's Irish.

Once I had everyones faces, I could also "hear" their voices. My writing became a whole lot easier after that. Kind of like a blind date: your friends can tell you everything about that person, but until you meet them, or see them in person, you have no clue. Sure they "sound great on paper", but until you know they don't look like Ronald McDonald, they're just a blur in your mind.

When the lovely and very talented E.Elle did this series on her blog, I was in total awe of her. I was jealous of her. I lamented that I couldn't do it, I couldn't try it, I couldn't figure out HOW. And then, once I got the pictures, for some reason, it all became clear. I could see them and hear them, found their mannerisms and their quirks. Uncle Sally's Italian. Angie's, 'I mean's', Aunt Fortuna repeating herself. We all speak differently as people, so should your characters. I'm sure if this ever gets picked up I'll be in revision hell for all my -- what'd'ya', coulda', I've got, and eh.'s

Don't get me wrong, this was fun but it wasn't easy. I worked on each of these sketches endlessly, sometimes right up until they posted, just to get their 'voices' right for you. (I'm a perfectionist that way.) I wanted you to hear what I hear when they talk to me. I hope I did a good job.

So here are the three things I've learned from doing this --

1) It's easier if you have pictures. And good pictures, not just stock photos. It took me 2 days to find Minnie Driver dressed like a "cousin at the christening" instead of a moviestar.

2) Voices don't fully form until at least half way through the book. They haven't done enough in the beginning, they're still flailing around, trying to decide if they want to be good or bad or mischievous. They change their minds and their attitudes. By 50K they've finally settled into who they're supposed to be.

3) And writing is truly a subjective business. Some of the comments you left really surprised me -- especially about Tony and Genna. Especially from the men. I guess this just proved to me why some people (agents) love what they read and some don't.

So thanks everyone for stopping by. It was great having you and I really enjoyed hearing what you thought about "my people". I really hope you all try this. It's not only great fun, but you really do learn so much more about your characters.

Have a great weekend.

A New Series

Good Monday morning. I hope your weekends' were filled with fun, frolic and family.
It rained here all weekend so I got lots and lots of work done. Yay me!

Thank you all who decided to throw your hats into the ring to beta read for me. I appreciate it. Truly, more than you'll ever know.

And for all of you who want to kill me for letting Genna & Pete's date end on a bad note, HA! you were punked. Of course I can't tell you what happens but what I can tell you is Pete will have his own words put up right here on this little blog of mine.

I'm taking a page out of the lovely E.Elle's blog and doing a series of character sketches called IN THEIR OWN WORDS. (I hope you don't mind I stole your title Darling, it was just so perfect.)

Pete, Tony, Uncle Sally, Aunt Fortuna, Genna, maybe even Robby and Angie will show up and tell you their story and how it involves Genna. I hope you all stop by and take a look. I'm starting this Wednesday with Pete and will continue to post on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I've enjoyed writing it.

Happy Monday!