How A Serial Series Writer Makes It Work
Before we begin, I’d like to thank Nikki at Storm Goddess Book Reviews for letting me pop in to talk about my latest release, SAVAGE ANGEL and The Earth Angels paranormal romance series!
Though I’ve only recently been published, I’ve been writing novels since I was fourteen. Believe it or not, almost all of these projects have been connected in some way. I’ve always thought of it as “my world”, a place where anything can happen, and one person’s story always leads to another, and another, and another.
The Earth Angels series, my latest from Carina Press, is no different in that regard. But since I knew I wanted the story arc to have a defined beginning, middle and end, it had to be much tighter in focus. How I started: first I had the idea of what it would be like to be a modern-day descendant of the Nephilim, an ancient race of human-angel hybrids. Second, I wanted to take familiar paranormal themes—a superhero, a wounded loss-of-powers warrior, a lover-turned-fighter and a soldier—and display these characters within the series. And lastly I needed a common foe to tie it all together.
What would a common foe be for a band of almost-human super-powered beings with hints of angelic DNA? A demonic apocalypse, of course. ;)
All of this needed a TON of research, so I started with character outlines. The heroine of SAVAGE ANGEL was the first character that came to mind. All the modern-day Nephilim have special abilities, but I wanted Sara (currently the only woman with angelic DNA in the series) to be the ultimate super soldier. Right away she appeared in my mind as being calmly capable in any battle situation, but her social skills are nonexistent. She’s awkward and self-conscious, and almost painfully shy around the man who makes her tremble, Gideon Mandeville. To have a character like this brought to her knees through the force of love was a ton of fun to write!
Once I had outlined all the protagonists for the four Earth Angels books, I went in search of an appropriate villain. Ack, there were so many demons to choose from! But I finally settled on a reaaaaallllllly terrible spawn of hell who has some of the sneakiest—and most insidiously terrifying—powers I’ve come across. The big reveal of who their ultimate foe is will be revealed later, so I can’t talk about it now, but trust me—this demon can threaten an apocalypse like nobody’s business, and in such a way you’ll never see it coming. He’s deliciously evil. >:)
There’s no right or wrong way to build a series, but for me it’s all about the characters. Unless the series is open-ended—and I have one of those coming out with Carina Press later this year—it was important to have a clear path of where I wanted this four-part story to go. It might be time-consuming in the beginning, but it’s so worth it when you reach the end and have a tight, organized series that has absolute resolution.
Question: Do you like a series that you know is 1.) finished, 2.) open-ended or 3.) has a finite amount of books to it, but is not yet complete?
Savage
Angel
by
Stacy Gail
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BLURB:
Feel
nothing. Sara Savitch's personal mantra has been hard to live by ever
since her torrid one-night stand with army doctor Gideon Mandeville.
Descended from the Seraphim, angels known as heaven's soldiers, Sara
may be an expert fighter, but she's an amateur when it comes to
relationships.
Physically
unharmed, but still battle-scarred, Gideon has returned to Dallas in
the hopes of regaining his faith in humanity—and in himself.
Instead he's walked into a nightmare. His father is on a serial
killer's hit list, and has hired a personal bodyguard—the very
woman who has haunted Gideon's dreams for a year.
As Sara
works to build an impenetrable fortress around her client, she yearns
to tear down the one around Gideon's heart. With his bitter rejection
of warriors, will he ever be able to accept her true nature? Sara
must find a way to trust Gideon with her secret as the killer closes
in…
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Excerpt:
“Let’s
make this quick,” she announced without preamble, heading over to
the desk and gesturing an invitation toward the chairs on the
opposite side of it. “I have a meeting waiting for me, along with
about a fifty other things that need to get done before noon. And in
future, I’d appreciate it if you would call and make an appointment
the next time you want a face-to-face.”
“An
appointment? For me?” Refusing to even look at the chairs she’d
indicated, Gideon kept his distance and stayed by the windows, his
expression so remote he looked as unapproachable as the moon. “Do
you insist all your lovers do that, or is it just me?”
She
hoped her swift intake of breath was something only she heard.
“You’ve made it apparent we don’t have that kind of
relationship and after yesterday, I’m forced to agree with you.
You’re not my lover, or boyfriend, or even acquaintance. We’re
strangers, and I have no problem keeping it that way.”
“Except
for the small fact that strangers don’t usually have mind-blowing
sex up against the garage wall, do they?”
Her
fingers curled into her palms, and she wondered if her face looked as
neon-red as it felt. “And here I was, thinking you’d forgotten
about that.”
“Something
that hot is hard to forget.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AUTHOR
Bio and Links:
A
competitive figure skater from the age of eight, Stacy Gail began
writing stories in between events to pass the time. By the age of
fourteen, she told her parents she was either going to be a figure
skating coach who was also a published romance writer, or a romance
writer who was also a skating pro. Now with a day job of playing on
the ice with her students, and writing everything from steampunk to
cyberpunk, contemporary to paranormal at night, both dreams have come
true.
Stacy
Gail –Website: http://stacygail.blogspot.com/
Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/stacy.gailauthor
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Stacy_Gail_
Buy
Links for SAVAGE ANGEL:
eBooks .
com: http://www.ebooks.com/1077115/savage-angel/gail-stacy/
Thank you for hosting today.
ReplyDeleteHmm Interesting question. When a series has a definite ending before I start, I tend to rush through the books and not enjoy myself as much as I could...but I absolutely HATE when an author runs out of ideas for a series and keeps churning out books because they can...so...I don't know? lol
ReplyDeleteandralynn7@gmail.com
Andra, I think we readers can sense when a series has died but the writer keeps going. That's why I wanted to keep my first official series, The Earth Angels, to a finite number while telling a specific story arc. :)
DeleteGood guest post and question - I like open ended series because I want the writer to be able to continue writing stories as long as she is inspired to write them - I don't want it to have to be about a book contract and all that. Thanks for the excerpt - sounds good!
ReplyDeleteThe open-ended series I'm starting in July has to do with the citizens in a small town in Texas--basically there's a story behind every door. ;) That kind of series is easy to keep open-ended, but as it grows it's soooo hard to keep track of the world you've created. :)
DeleteWhen I read a really good story, I hate for it to end. I love having open end series.
ReplyDeleteOh, I agree. When I was a kid, my first "series" was one from Nora Roberts, called The O'Hurleys (I think). I hated to see it end!
DeleteI like to know that a series is finished.
ReplyDeleteshadowrunner1987 at gmail dot com
If a book ends on a cliffhanger, I darned well want to know the next book is already written and in the publishing pipeline! That's why I made sure The Earth Angels series was pretty much done before submitting the first book. There are one or two cliffhangers, you see, and I didn't want people to wait. :)
DeleteGood question, when I start a series, I usually don't know if I would end up liking it or all the characters, so the series doesn't neccessary has to be finished, if it just features the stories of different characters.
ReplyDeletelennascloud AT gmail DOT com
What I usually do, if it's a series, is wait until the first two book are out, and then go on a reading binge. If I'm eager to get the next one, I know it's a good series. ;)
DeleteAre there times when you don't have any inspiration but a deadline is close?
ReplyDeletegalaschick78 AT gmail Dot com
Great question, Gala! So far that hasn't happened *knocks on wood* But then I'm pretty much the only one who imposes specific deadlines on myself, so that I'm producing a completed project every couple of months. I don't want my editors to think I'm getting lazy! :)
DeleteI do like a series to be a set number of books that comes to a satisfactory conclusion.
ReplyDeletemarypres(AT)gmail(DOT)com
this book sounds great, thank you for hosting :)
ReplyDeletesunshine_pinkystar(at)yahoo(dot)com