A couple of years ago, it’s hard to believe I’m saying that. Even more hard to comprehend that the book I’m about to talk about will be ten years old this year. 

Many of you may remember I did something a few people questioned. I published a title a month for a year. Looking back on it, I have mixed emotions. Was it insane? Possibly. Did I fully understand what I was doing? No. Would I ever do it again? Depends. 

The challenge set the stage for a healthy backlist, which I don’t regret. However, because I wasn’t fully aware of what I was doing, it left me with a few loose ends…cliffhangers. 

I think I only have two books left on the cliff. I also have the end of a series I’ve been putting off. Technically, the series that needs an ending could stand as it is. However, I won’t do that, because there are some things that really need to be finished. I know one of the reasons I’m hesitant to end that series, is because it’s the first one I wrote. I’m very attached to those characters, but I know I need to give them a proper finish.

Back to the book this post is about, UNEXPECTED LOVE. Read the previous post at the bottom.That book in its inception, was supposed to be about a woman and her multiple husbands. Instead, it became the story of a woman and her deceitful husband. I thought it was going to be a standalone with a hard cliffhanger. In my defense, it ended with a cliffhanger because someone told me that’s what readers liked. They forgot to tell me, readers also wanted an HEA at some point. I have been putting off the continuation of this story for a while. 

Last year or possibly, the end of 2024, I started writing the continuation of the story. OMG! I have to admit I can tell the difference in my writing. The follow-up to this book is insane. I love the direction and the plot. Since I wrote the first book, I’ve been involved in a few anthologies requiring novellas or short stories. In one of the anthologies, I wrote a short story. Recently, I needed a novella and was clueless on what to write. I took the short story and expanded it into a novella. Once I got in to the story, I discovered I was able to tie it into the UNEXPECTED LOVE follow-up. So, what was originally a multi-book series, converted to a standalone, is now a three full-length novels and three novella series. 

I never saw this happening. I was also able to implement world building. I talked about world building in a previous post. The characters in this series tie into characters from some of my other series: The Alex Chronicles; Generational Curse; A Southern Gentleman and Miss Match. 

When I stated earlier that I had no idea what I was doing ten years ago, this is what I meant. Had I known about world building and series writing, I would have done a lot better with that challenge. 

To sum up. Always listen to your characters. 

Previous post on UNEXPECTED LOVE

I apologize if I’ve already told the story about my upcoming release, “UNEXPECTED LOVE.” My relationship with this story goes back several years. When I first became an Indie Writer, I had quite a few stories dancing around in my mind. I had this idea for a series about a woman and the many men in her life. More like all the men she’d married.

When I set out to write the series, the task seemed a little daunting. I don’t know about anyone else, but I easily get attached to my characters. But if I don’t feel a connection, it’s difficult for me to tell their story.

When I got the idea for this story, I imagined it as a five book series. I had all the husbands mapped out. However, when I started writing, it felt very forced. I was so overwhelmed trying to tell this woman’s story. I abandoned the series and thought I would tell it as a standalone. Summarizing each of the husbands and focusing on the one she really loved.

I picked up the pages I’d started, made a few changes, and set out to write. I liked where this story was going, but as I got more involved with the characters, the story changed. It was no longer a story about a bitter divorcee, but a liberated divorcee who finds love in an unexpected source, her ex-husband’s ex-best friend, who just happens to be her divorce attorney. That’s either a mouthful or a blurb.

The more involved I got with Fiona’s story, the more I liked her. But I also felt sorry for her. She’s a sweetheart, searching for her voice. In a nutshell, she married her college crush, who later deceived her. Once she decided to divorce him, she found her voice. I love her transition, although it’s not without its ups and downs. One of which is the change in her relationship with her attorney and her self-esteem.

Last year, when I set out to write twelve titles in a year, I had this title on the schedule as a short story. However, I didn’t think there was enough story for a book. So I resolved myself to make it a short story. I cleaned up the first chapter and started writing. But when I started writing, the story took a turn. It was no longer about Fiona and her husband, but Fiona and her attorney.

I continued writing, thinking I could tell the story in novella length. As I got closer to what would be maximum novella length, the characters kept talking. No matter how hard I fought to end the story, they kept talking, so I kept writing. I really enjoyed the direction the story was going. Then I wrote myself into a hole. Crap! I didn’t see a way out, so I introduced another character, thinking she would help me. Instead, she led me to a wall, and the only way around the wall was another character. Hold on, it gets better. When I introduced this character, he brought his own storyline in addition to tearing down the wall.

So here I was with a full-length novel. But here’s the kicker. When I introduced Fiona’s brother (aka “the wall”) into the mix, the story took another turn and led me to a place I never would have imagined being, “Cliffhanger Boulevard.”

Yep, my five book series originally titled, “My Five Husbands” was changed to a standalone novel. Then it got a title switch to “UNEXPECTED LOVE.” Then it became a short story, that grew into a novella that reverted to a full-length standalone, which is now book one in a new series. Talk about unexpected.

So what’s the lesson learned? Never throw out an idea. Instead, put it aside and, when the time is right, revisit it. You might be surprised what story you can tell.