Happy Tuesday, friends!
Today we have a guest blogger. Erica Vetsch is hosting a takeover and talking about the challenges of writing a continuation series. Grab a cup of tea (or coffee) and chat with her!
Three Challenges to Writing a Continuation Series
Thank you, Toni, for hosting me on your blog! I’m thrilled to be here.
As I recently discussed with Toni, I am in full on deadline mode for my next book. I have just over a week to pull this story together, and I have several edits to make, a smash-bang finish to write, and one final readthrough if there’s time. (So of course, I’m writing blog posts and making graphics on Canva instead of working on the book!)
The story I’m writing is called Children of the Shadows, and it’s the third book in the Thorndike & Swann Regency Mystery series. There have been several challenges to writing this series, things that are different from other three-book series I’ve written as this is a continuation series, my first!
This is the first time I’ve written a series where the main characters are the same through three books. Usually, in a series, the main characters change, while there may be cross-over characters, or a shared setting or theme that ties the series together, but in this one, Daniel and Juliette are the main characters for all three stories.
Building a romance over three books isn’t easy! The romance has to be a slow build, so you don’t use all your ammunition in the first story and then have nowhere to go with the love story in subsequent books. You also can’t tell all the characters’ secrets right away. Readers still need to be surprised and the characters still need to change and grow over the three books.
In addition, these are my first true “whodunit” novels. I’ve written stories with a hint of mystery to them before, but these are cozy mysteries for sure. Setting them in the Regency Era has provided extra challenges, since the use of forensics and crime solving techniques were in their infancy. Building a credible puzzle and a credible way of solving it has had me staring at my plot board and scratching my head quite often.
Yet, I’ve loved the process of bringing these ideas and characters to the page. Even when I’m procrastinating. There have been so many challenges, new things to learn, and plot twists I didn’t see coming. I would do it all over again if I could.
Do you like challenging yourself? Do you like learning new things?
About the Book
Regency London’s detective duo is back on a new case–and this one is going to be a killer
Caught in the explosion of the Hammersmith Mill in London, Bow Street Runner Daniel Swann rushes to help any survivors only to find the mill’s owner dead of an apparent gunshot.
Even though the owner’s daughter, Agatha Montgomery, mourns his death, it seems there are more than a few people with motive for murder. But Daniel can’t take this investigation slow and steady. Instead, he must dig through all the suspects as quickly as he can, because the clock is ticking until his mysterious patronage–and his job as a runner–comes to an abrupt and painful end. It seems to Daniel that, like his earthly father, his heavenly Father has abandoned him to the fates.
Lady Juliette Thorndike is Agatha’s bosom friend and has the inside knowledge of the wealthy London ton to be invaluable to Daniel. She should be in a perfect position to help with the case. Still, her instructor in the art of spy craft orders her to stay out of the investigation. But circumstances intervene, dropping her into the middle of the deadly pursuit.
When a dreadful accident ends in another death on the mill floor, Daniel discovers a connection to his murder case–and to his own secret past. Now he and Juliette are in a race to find the killer before his time runs out.
https://bakerbookhouse.com/products/469449 (Buy Link)
Pre order Millstone of Doubt before 9/20 from Baker Book House and receive 25% off, free shipping on orders over $50, and a thank you gift from me: custom paper dolls of Daniel and Juliette, a signed book plate, and some bookmarks!
About the Author
Best-selling, award-winning author Erica Vetsch loves Jesus, history, romance, and sports. When she’s not writing fiction, she’s planning her next trip to a history museum and cheering on her Kansas Jayhawks and New Zealand All Blacks. You can connect with her at her website, where you can read about her books and sign up for her newsletter, and you can find her online at Facebook where she spends way too much time!
Toni Shiloh 