Easter's Lilly

Friday, August 5, 2011

The popularity of the series. Will there be a book two? How do you Decide?


When I first started writing Easter’s Lilly, I wasn’t thinking to myself, I must produce a series, it just sort of happened that way. I have become so attached to my characters that I didn’t want to let them go. Even though book four doesn’t “star” Lilly, so to speak, the people that we learn to love and watch grow up, while reading of Lilly’s turbulent life, still live on. I have been unable to end it thus far and am not sure when and even if I will. In the mean time, however, I have decided to try something different and write a book that stands on its own. So far, no series is planned for this one. But will it stay that way? Only time will tell.

I just finished reading a book called “Between Morning and Midnight” by Cindy Gerard and I was sad to actually finish the book. I would have liked to read a “book two.” I got totally caught up in the romance and the characters and wanted more. Now I see how the series is born. How do you decide if you want to continue on or simply let your book stand alone? I would love to hear your thoughts.

7 comments:

  1. This post comes from a writer named Savvy Thorne. She had trouble posting her comment and asked me to post it for her.

    I write historical fiction, so sequels are hard to come by--people tend to DIE, you see. :) So I have only ever begun one sequel. (Of course, book 1 hasn't sold yet, so who knows if I will ever complete book #2).

    Book 1 is the true, historical (read: NO VAMPIRES!) story of Vlad the Impaler, called "Dracula." He dies, his wife dies, pretty much everybody dies.

    But not his son. His son grows up in an idle court in Hungary, swearing vengeance, and returns to Romania to wreak havoc, going down in history as "Miihnea the Bad."

    What a tale! I fell in love with little Mihnea. The tale of a prince raised in foreign lands goes back to ancient Greek times, if not before. So I am engaged. It might be a better book than the original.

    Good luck with Easter's Lily! I can't wait to see what's next for you.

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  2. Hey Judy! Great post...I love "next books" when the story calls for such. While writing Maycly, the idea came to me for the following 5 novels. I take the attitude that I'm writing these stories to keep my creativity pushing the limits. I'm sure there has to be someone out there who will want to read my stories, how many? I don't know - but writing for me is mostly about releasing my imagination since I am not physically able to hold down a job...I guess it gives me a "purpose" in life, plus I want to see what happens after Maycly myself. ;-)

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  3. Can't wait to learn more about your standalone, Judy! I think doing both is really ideal.

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  4. Thanks Janet and Jenny for taking the time to comment. My imagination gets the best of me when I'm finishing a book and usually I decide that the one I'm writing will be the last one of the series and then a cliff hanger will attach itself to me. So far Easter's Lilly has five books plus a young adult spin off. The fifth book ends on a cliff hanger, so I'm sure there will be one to follow. This new idea, so far has no sequel. However, just can't be sure.

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  5. I would say unless you are planning from the beginning to write a series, then don't worry about a sequel. If your work grows to a point where fans and yourself want to read more then its a bonus. However I would always try to have a bit of something in there that would let you continue the story. One never knows what will take off.

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