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| Mary Davis |
Hey writers! Annette here. Have you ever written a series? Or maybe you've considered it, but haven't known where to begin. Our guest today, Mary Davis, has some great tips for getting started with that all-important foundation. Read on!
FOUNDATION OF A NOVEL
SERIES
By Mary Davis
Oh, series. How do I create thee? Let me count the ways.
The
foundation of a series is that “something” that connects the stories. In
general, these connections fall into three main categories: character/s,
locations, and themes.
CHARACTERS
◆
A single character (or small group) who has different experiences.
◆
A family where each story focuses on a different member.
◆
A group of friends or a club.
LOCATIONS
◆
A community, a town, a state/region, a shop, a church, island, etc.
THEMES
◆
A theme can be knitting, gold rush, cooking, Pony Express, Texas Rangers,
mail-order brides, Amish, events, etc.
◆
As well as various other aspects that can connect stories from book to
book.
◆
Sometimes, a publisher comes up with a series. These are often theme
connected. The theme could be as simple as similar titles, and other times a
common story element.
This last
one is how my current The Quilting Circle series came to be. A publishing house
started a series of both contemporary and historical stories to be written by
various authors where a quilt played prominently in the story. My agent asked
me if I’d like to submit something.
Oh, boy, would I! I love quilts and have made several. This was a perfect fit for me.
Whenever
I’m asked if I have any stories with a particular element—such as quilts—or if
I’d like to submit to a series with a particular theme, my imagination goes WILD!
BONKERS! The ideas tumble and roll around in my head, spilling out
faster than I can write them down. I no sooner get one story idea partially
scratched out when the next one urges me to jot it down so it’s not forgotten.
Then the next one, and on and on.
I quickly
came up with three historical and two contemporary ideas, as well as one
generational idea. Sadly, none were contracted. But in the shell game of
changing agents, my new agent said I had enough ideas I could create a quilting
series of my own.
Ooh. I liked
that idea.
Unfortunately,
my collection of stories wouldn’t fit smoothly together into a single series.
Oh, I could’ve forced them, but that would have been a disservice to both my stories
as well as my readers. However, one of the ideas stood out as making a great
backdrop for a series, The Quilting
Circle. As the series title suggests, the quilting circle and the
ladies who populate it connect the stories, with Aunt Henny, the matriarch of
the group, at the helm.
Though it
took a while, it did finally get contracted. It’s not my first series. I’ve
created others that centered around families, places, friends, and themes.
I like
series, both to write and to read, because once I get to know the people in the
first story, I already have a jumpstart for the next one and the next.
Sometimes, side characters demand to have their stories told. They can be such
prima donnas, but fun.
Once the
foundation is determined, the stories can vary greatly as long as they keep
that connection.
~~~~~
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| The Widow's Plight by Mary Davis |
A sweet historical
romance that will tug at your heart. This is book 1 in the Quilting Circle
series. Washington State, 1893
When Lily Lexington Bremmer
arrives in Kamola with her young son, she’s reluctant to join the social center
of her new community, the quilting circle, but the friendly ladies pull her in.
She begins piecing a sunshine and shadows quilt because it mirrors her life.
She has a secret that lurks in the shadows and hopes it doesn’t come out into
the light. Dark places in her past are best forgotten, but her new life is full
of sunshine. Will her secrets cast shadows on her bright future?
Widower Edric Hammond and
his father are doing their best to raise his two young daughters. He meets Lily
and her son when they arrive in town and helps her find a job and a place to
live. Lily resists Edric’s charms at first but finds herself falling in love
with this kind, gentle man and his two darling daughters. Lily has stolen his
heart with her first warm smile, but he’s cautious about bringing another woman
into his girls’ lives due to the harshness of their own mother. Can Edric
forgive Lily her past to take hold of a promising chance at love?
THE WIDOW'S PLIGHT released in ebook on July 1, and is already out
in paperback.
~~~~~
MARY DAVIS is a bestselling, award-winning novelist
of over two dozen titles in both historical and contemporary themes. She has
five titles releasing in 2018: "Holly & Ivy" in A Bouquet of Brides Collection in January, Courting Her
Amish Heart in March, The Widow’s Plight in July, Courting Her Secret Heart September, & “Zola’s
Cross-Country Adventure” in MISSAdventure
Brides Collection in December. She’s a member of ACFW and active in
critique groups. Mary lives in the
Pacific Northwest with her husband of over thirty-three years and two cats. She
has three adult children and two incredibly adorable grandchildren.
