Series Fever!
By Anna Campbell
If any of you have even a passing acquaintance with romance novels,
you’ll know that the series is king. Aussie romance writer Stephanie Laurens
really launched the craze with her books featuring the tempestuous Cynster
family, starting with Devil’s Bride in 1998. This series is still going
strong with 20 bestselling novels so far.
I have a good friend currently doing a PhD on series in genre fiction
and he finds romance such an anomaly when it comes to how each story links with
the others. In romance fiction, most series are made up of several self-contained
love stories, usually at least three, sometimes many more, with a guaranteed
happy ending for that story’s principal couple at the end of each book.
How is this a series, you ask. Well, the stories usually take place in
a unified world and the characters are linked in some way. Often they’re family
members. Sometimes they’re linked as friends or colleagues. In my Sons of Sin
series, for example, three of the four heroes are friends from Eton where scandal
relating to their births made them targets for bullying.
Romance readers want a satisfying end to their love stories, so each
book focuses on a particular couple and their journey to happiness. There may
be an overarching issue that links all stories – something like finding a
missing heiress, or whether the demons massing against our protagonists conquer
the world, or who murdered Mr. X – but each story contains a complete plot arc
with a happy ending.
One of the joys of series is that characters who star in other stories
wander in and out. Readers love an update on how beloved characters get on
after “their” book finishes. When you get involved in a series, reading each
book is a bit like going to a party full of great friends you haven’t seen for
a while. The party might celebrate Fred and Nora’s engagement, but you also get
a chance to catch up with Murgatroyd and Wilhelmina. “How are the kids?” “Where
are you living now?” “Did you end up getting that promotion?”
I sold my first book to HarperCollins back in 2006 and even then, very
few standalone romance novels were being published. Having said that, my first
six books were standalones (although there’s a loose link between Claiming
the Courtesan, Tempt the Devil, and My Reckless Surrender). When I
moved to Hachette for the Sons of Sin books, my editor was determined that I
was going to write a series, although Seven Nights in a Rogue’s Bed had
been submitted to her as another standalone story.
Sons of Sin ended up being accepted as a trilogy, except…
And this is what I want to talk about today. The trouble with series!
Sons of Sin ended up being six books: four full-length historical
romances and two novellas. Not the original plan at all! When you spend so long
immersed in a series, you keep coming up with great ideas that fit the
landscape. You also meet characters who
are screaming out to have their own stories – and readers are screaming for the
stories too.
So what is a girl to do but keep writing more books in the series?
When I decided to become an independent author, I knew enough to know
that writing series was the way to make a career. So I started out with a
trilogy about three Regency widows who decide to put aside the sadness of their
past and take society by storm.
Do you note I said trilogy? The Dashing Widows ended up being seven
books, with the possibility of future spin-offs featuring the next generation.
When I got to the end of the sixth book, I said, “That is quite enough.” Except
there was this one character who hadn’t had a happy ending and he really deserved
one, not to mention he was hero material. Voilà Lord Garson’s Bride which
came out early last year.
Currently I’m working on a series about three roguish Highlanders
called The Lairds Most Likely. Again, note I said three! Book 1, The Laird’s
Willful Lass, came out as planned and introduced Fergus Mackinnon and his friends
Diarmid Mactavish and Hamish Douglas. So far, so good, until I needed to write
a Christmas story last year. Suddenly Book 2 wasn’t The Highlander’s Lost
Lady, Diarmid’s story, it was The Highlander’s Christmas Kiss
featuring a couple of cousins. Lost Lady came out in April as Book 3.
I’m currently finalising Book 4, The Highlander’s Defiant Captive,
which I’ll be back to talk about next month. Then there’s this year’s Christmas
story, The Highlander’s Christmas Quest. Poor old Hamish will have to wait
for his happy ending until 2020 and Book 6, with another book and a Christmas
story planned to end the series.
Saying “end the series” provokes a hollow laugh. Because if there’s one
thing I’ve learned over the years, it’s that series grow like Topsy! Stay
tuned!
The Laird’s Willful Lass
The Lairds Most Likely Book 1
By Anna Campbell
An untamed
man as immovable as a Highland mountain…
Fergus
Mackinnon, autocratic Laird of Achnasheen, likes to be in charge. When he was
little more than a lad, he became master of his Scottish estate, and he’s
learned to rely on his own unfailing judgment. So has everyone else in his corner
of the world. He sees no reason for his bride—when he finds her—to be any
different.
A headstrong
woman from the warm and passionate south…
Marina
Luchetti knows all about fighting her way through a wall of masculine
arrogance. In her native Florence, she’s become a successful artist, no easy
feat for a woman. Now a commission to paint a series of Highland scenes
promises to spread her fame far and wide. When a carriage accident strands her
at Achnasheen for a few weeks, it’s a mixed blessing. The magnificent landscape
offers everything her artistic soul could desire. If only she can resist the
impulse to smash her easel across the laird’s obstinate head.
When two
fiery souls come together, a conflagration flares.
Marina is
Fergus’s worst nightmare—a woman who defies a man’s guidance. Fergus challenges
everything Marina believes about a woman’s right to choose her path. No two
people could be less suited. But when irresistible passion enters the equation,
good sense soon jumps into the loch.
Will the
desire between Fergus and Marina blaze hot, then fade to ashes? Or will the
imperious laird and his willful lass discover that their differences aren’t
insurmountable after all, but the spice that will flavour a lifetime of
happiness?
Giveaway
*Giveaway is now closed.
*Giveaway is now closed.
Anna Campbell is giving away one Kindle download copy of
her fabulous book
The
Laird’s Willful Lass.
All you need to do is
answer this question:
Do you have a favourite series, if so, what is
it?
Leave your answer in
the comments at the
bottom of this post.
Giveaway Rules
• Leave your answer
in the comments at the bottom of this post.
• Giveaway ends at
11:59pm BST on October 8th .
You must be 18 or
older to enter.
• Giveaway is only
open Internationally.
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household.
• All giveaway
entrants agree to be honest and not cheat the systems; any suspect of fraud is
decided upon by blog/site owner and the sponsor, and entrants may be
disqualified at our discretion.
•Winners will be
announced in the comments.
• Winner has 48 hours
to claim prize or new winner is chosen.
Pick up your copy of
The Laird’s Willful Lass
Anna Campbell
ANNA CAMPBELL has written 10 award-winning
historical romances for Grand Central Publishing and Avon HarperCollins and her
work is published in 22 languages. She has also written 23 bestselling
independently published romances. Anna has won numerous awards for her
Regency-set stories including Romantic Times Reviewers
Choice, the Booksellers Best, the Golden Quill (three times), the Heart of
Excellence (twice), the Write Touch, the Aspen Gold (twice) and the Australian
Romance Readers Association’s favorite historical romance (five times). Anna is
currently engaged in writing the Lairds Most Likely series which starts
with The Laird’s Willful Lass (2018).
When she’s not travelling the world seeking inspiration for her stories, she
lives on the beautiful east coast of Australia.
Connect with
Anna: Website • Facebook • Twitter • BookBub • Goodreads.
