Writing Series books and the character who become True Friends.
Don’t hate us because our gardens are green. Florida and exotic island paradises are favorite spots in popular novels. But our Northern readers might not relate to a garden that is always green. Northerners say things like, “There are no seasons in Florida, that’s what I hate about Florida.” It’s not true. Yes, things are always green and something is always blooming, which make allergy suffers go crazy but we do have seasons, their just more subtle.
The writer’s job is to paint a visual picture in the reader’s mind of something that is beyond their normal life experience. Murder, psychopaths, and exotic places might build suspense but they must have a touch of the ordinary, too. One of the ordinary things in Florida are seasons. They are somewhat different than the northern seasons but nevertheless, we have seasons. In spring, Floridians have tasks, like pruning and cutting back plants, which have made it through the winter but still need attention. Our novels provide an escape from ordinary daily tasks, but to pique a reader’s interest, they must tap into our dreams of the not-so-ordinary experiences. Still, stories must be believable and have “that could happen to me” element. Writing about interesting and daring people who we all dream about being, plus, making them have ordinary feelings is a monumental task. A character might be a mother worrying about a daughter growing up (Stephen King’s, Carrie) or a widow baking a cake for her four-year-old daughter’s birthday party, when her life is threatened and danger comes to her and her daughter after she goes outside to help the sick man in her front yard (Sandra Brown’s, Lethal).
Blending the fantasy, super character with the ordinary is what we do but we have to paint the picture so you can understand the not-so-ordinary parts, like seasons in Florida, for the person who has to shovel snow in the winter. Here’s a character “Sneak Peek” from my novel Secrets of Havenridge. Stephanie Oliver married her high school sweetheart. She is a stay-at-mom who bakes cupcakes for the school bake sales until her life comes crashing down. Her life had been ordinarily boring and perfect, until all things changed. How does she deal with divorce and her life turning upside down? Now, she is single, living alone in an empty house, and going a little crazy so she decides to move to Havenridge, Georgia where she can keep her past a secret. The new edition to this novel added a mystery element and was re-released in 2017.
I found after re-writing Secrets of Havenridge that a second book called out to me, hence, the Havenridge Mystery series was born. Book two is called, Finding Jacob. I never started out to write series novels but my characters had become like good friends that I couldn’t stop at only one book. My series books are what are called a "standalone series," which means you can read one or all, and you can read them in any order. Because I write character driven stories, you probably will fall in love with the people in the series, too, and will want to read all of them.
