And So It Grows

With the exception of the first two books I wrote (one a YA which is collecting dust and the other a western which will be dusted off, revised and published eventually), I have always written in series. I don’t mean to. For instance, when I wrote THE OUTLAW BRIDE a billion years ago, it was only meant to be a ‘one of’. Then again, perhaps subconsciously I had other plans given that I did put two other mail order brides on that train…

But regardless, even when I start out with what I think will be a 3 book series, it has a tendency to grow beyond the confines I set out for it. The Brides of Fatal Bluff Series eventually expanded beyond THE OUTLAW BRIDE to encompass the other two mail order brides on the train. But that was it. No more! Except, after the release of THE OUTLAW BRIDE, one reader wrote to ask me what the saloon keeper, Garrett Bentley’s story was, and then another reader said she wanted to read bounty hunter Ed Devers story. Soon I started wondering too and the next thing I knew, my three book series had morphed into five. Although, if you’re looking, THE OUTLAW BRIDE is the only one currently available, but I promise the others will be written soon.

The same issue cropped up when I wrote SALVATION IN THE RANCHER’S ARMS. It was a ‘one-of’. Get in, get out. No fuss, no muss. Except…then there was this sheriff in the story and, well, SALVATION IN THE SHERIFF’S KISS will be out in February 2015. But then I’m done! Except…as I was writing that one this other guy showed up… Kincaid’s story is slotted to be written next year.

So when I sat down to write AN INVITATION TO SCANDAL I suspected I was in trouble when Nicholas’s friends showed up on the page. “Well fine,” I muttered as these characters insisted on having their own stories. “But it’s only going to be a trilogy and that’s it!”  Except that left Abigail’s brother Benedict with no happy ending. “Fine. One more then, but then I’m done!” (SURRENDER TO SCANDAL 2015). Except…then I started wondering what happened to a certain courtesan who showed up in AN INVITATION TO SCANDAL. “Fine,” I huffed. “But you are only getting a novella.” (SINS OF A SOLDIER 2015)

Except…then my imagination wandered over to Miss Eugenie Caldwell from AN INVITATION TO SCANDAL. You know, that poor girl has two younger sisters and no male heir to inherit their father’s rather dismally small fortune and title. I gritted my teeth. I suppose I could  give them their own series…(THE MAYFAIR MISSES 2015/16).

But that was it! Finito! Except yesterday, as I was writing A SINFUL TEMPTATION, Book 3 in the SINS & SCANDALS SERIES, a certain Miss Cosgrove entered the picture and heavens…this woman has a story too!

So what should have only been a few of a books has now morphed into enough series and off-shoots to keep me busy well into 2017. It has also led me to the realization that there is no such thing as just ‘one-of’ where my brain is concerned.

~ Kelly