Have you ever wished a book would go on past The End?
Series titles make that wish come true.
Good things about series
- Readers appreciate knowing more about "what happened next"
- Readers will be pre-disposed toward subsequent titles in series
- Series can be written by one author or many
- They can feature the same lead characters in each title
- Or be tied together by settings or events
- Characters can remain the same age or grow up
Examples.
1. CIRCLE C ADVENTURES series, features 12-year-old "Andi" Carter, who lives on a CA cattle ranch in the 1880s. Andi attracts trouble the way her palomino horse, Taffy, attracts flies on a hot summer day. Readers fell in love with Andi and were able to watch her grow from child to woman with CIRCLE C BEGINNINGS, CIRCLE C STEPPING STONES, and CIRCLE C MILESTONES.
2. Mystery and the Minister's Wife [Kate] is a delightful 27-title series, one of my favorites. The same characters are featured in all the stories, but unlike the "Andi" books, the series is written by many different authors. Each picks up on life in charming Copper Mill, Tennessee, and introduces new characters and mysteries.
I love writing series books. Having created characters, settings, etc., for the first title gives me a head-start on following titles.
Word of warning: Keep extensive charts. While writing my 6-title JULI SCOTT MYSTERY series, I had several pages describing Juli, her friends, her home, town, likes and dislikes, etc. Ditto for my 4-title ROMANCE QUARTET western series.
I'd seen too many books where the blue-eyed hero in the first book showed up with brown eyes in the next title. Or a black horse became a horse of another color. Such glaring discrepancies destroy author credibility.
ROMANCE BOUQUET historical series now available
From Ireland and Boston to Washington Territory
From Seattle and Illinois to Arizona
From the East Coast to the wilds of Alaska
From the deep South to an Alaskan village
Join four couples who encounter mountain-size boulders on life's rugged road. Each title is complete in itself, but when read as a set, they become a tapestry of life on which God sets His fingerprints.
Flower of Seattle: Brian and Heather flee from starvation and tyranny.Flower of the West: Daisy and John search for meaning.
Flower of the North: Bern and Sasha serve God in a remote village
Flower of Alaska: Inga and Arthur's paths cross aboard a sailing ship
This series offers hours of inspirational, exciting reading.
ROMANCE BOUQUET TITLES AT
5 comments:
I can’t wait. Finally, a historical romance that has an Illinois character in it.
I enjoyed today's post, Colleen. As a reader, it's fun to become familiar with a setting -- a small town, a neighborhood -- and get to know the inhabitants. Or sometimes a series will feature different members of a family and tie their stories together. Your readers will definitely enjoy the Romance Bouquet Series novels with their shared theme.
Time to pick a new boquet of flowers!
I buy books for the covers as much as for the stories inside. These look like a win-win.
Thanks, everyone. Yes, Kayla, the hero in Flower of the West is from Illinois.
Sandy, sounds as if you like series as well as I do. My shelves have a bunch of them=, starting with my childhood Five Little Peppers.
Renee, As usual, I loved designing these covers and of course then Cynthia works her magic!
Interesting post, Colleen! Spending time with favorite characters again and again is like spending time with good friends. You can't get enough. There are several series that I have enjoyed for many years. You create characters whose company your readers enjoy and are happy to visit again.
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