Saturday, July 20, 2019

What Are You Working On?

First I must apologize to my fellow bloggers for having been MIA in June. I was behindhand all month due to working on what is now my latest book, so July's topic is particularly pertinent.

This month the question is: what book (or type of book) are you currently working on? Do you have ideas for future books?

  
I have just typed THE END on Book 3 in my Berkeley Square Regency romance series. When I started writing Book 1, I had no idea that it would expand beyond that. It wasn’t even Book 1 at that point, just an idea for a Regency romance that wouldn’t go away, but that’s what happens when characters almost jump off the page and demand their own books.

Okay, okay. Not literally, of course. It’s just one of those quirky turns of phrase that writers tend to bandy about. Non-writers just don’t get the concept of having people wandering around in your head and whispering in your ear from the inside out. My heroine in Book 1, His Dark Enchantress is Emmeline Devereux, whose best friend is Lady Juliana Clifton. Juliana intruded so much while I was writing His Dark Enchantress that I gave her a book of her own, Book 2, His Ocean Vixen.

Believing I had done with those characters, I started thinking about what else I could write, but a reader query asking if Lady Rosemary Darnley, the villainess in Book 1, ever got her comeuppance, started me on another path which led to Book 3, His Unexpected Muse. This involves the unexpected (as the title suggests) romance between Lady Olivia Darnley (Rosemary’s daughter) and Lord Peter Skeffington, both characters from Book 1. You’ll have to read the book, which will be launched next month, to find out what happens to Lady Darnley.

So what comes next? I have an idea for a new series on Regency belles (hmm, now that could work as a series title) and already have a rough outline for Book 1. It will mean more research, but that is the part I really like. Plus, why let all the research I have already done go to waste?

Take a look at what my fellow Round Robin authors have in the works by clicking on their links.





10 comments:

  1. More to add to my reading list... Yes, Victoria, I've had characters from one book invade my mind and the only way to get rid of them was to write their story. Writing fiction can have strange side effects.

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    1. The reading lists get longer, but I've promised myself that August is going to be a reading month. Hopefully I can catch up on some of those TBR titles.

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  2. I just love it when my characters come into their own and start demanding attention.

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    1. And if they do, you don't then have to create them up which, I think, leads to much more organic characterization.

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  3. Ideas from readers are great. I like that you took one and ran with it. I, too, like it when my characters start really talking to me and telling me their stories. Doesn't always happen, but when it does, it is wonderful. Nice post. :)

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    1. Yes, that comment really got me going! There was no way I could make all that happen in the first book, but I think she's had a suitable demise in the third. I will send a complimentary copy to that reader when the book is released as a thank you for putting my little grey cells to work.

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  4. I identify with characters demanding to be liberated from head into computer. :) Mine do that all the time.

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    1. Thanks, Dr. Bob. I think most writers are blessed/afflicted (pick whichever applies) with the voices in the head syndrome!

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  5. Comeuppance. There is always a character in a series I wish would get what he/she deserves. I savor a story line where it plays out. :)

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  6. I look at it this way: the characters come to life by invading my mind. I type their stories, then they can come alive in the minds of the readers. What a marvelous symmetry! Also, once I type "the end" in one book, those characters are usually pretty quiet. But that's when the best friends, or some other side characters, start demanding their stories be told also. I never set out to write a series. But it often happens.

    I could see "Regency belles" as a name for a line of fashion. Empire-style dresses and tops look good on almost any female body shape.

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