Author: Cindy

SERIES: LOVE THEM OR HATE THEM?

Hi Cindy and everyone! Thanks for having me on the Muse Interrupted blog. I’m excited to be here and look forward to a good discussion. Since RESCUE ME, the first book in my back-to-back trilogy just came out a couple of weeks ago, and the second book, RETURN TO ME, comes out on May 19 and the third one, RUN TO ME, is out on June 23, I thought I’d blog about series. Why we love them or hate them. I have to admit, I’m more in the ‘love’ category. And not just because that’s what I’m writing, though that does help.

Here are the reasons I love them:

1. The continuity of a storyline or theme: If it’s a storyline I love, I want to know what happens next. If the series revolves around one particular person, I love sharing their adventures. Or if there are different characters each time but have some kind of link, I love the familiarity of knowing other characters and their storylines. It’s like a good television series. You get close to a character or characters and want to visit them frequently. You can do that in a series.

2. Secondary Characters: I don’t know how many times I’ve read a book and have fallen in love with a secondary character and wished I could read his or her story. Creating characters can be hard work and making them interesting and likeable even harder. So when an author creates a secondary character that captures my attention, I feel a bit cheated when I don’t get another story.

1. 3. Saying goodbye hurts: I have to admit, when I love a book and its characters, I often don’t want to let them go. That’s one of the reasons I love epilogues. I want to extend my happy ending as long as possible. I don’t have epilogues in any of my upcoming books, but I think that’s because most of my characters make an appearance in the next book in the series. If they weren’t so closely connected, I’m sure I’d be tempted to write an epilogue. It’s just so hard to say goodbye, but with a series, you don’t always have to.

4. Predictability: And I mean that in a good way. When I read an author I’ve read before, I have certain expectations of what the book will be like. I recognize the author’s voice and know what type of book they write, so I’m rarely surprised by a completely different kind of story. However, with a series, there’s no doubt. If the book is connected, whether it’s through a relationship, an event or in my case, an organization with a common purpose, you have an assurance that even though it will be a different story, there will be similarities to the previous books. If you liked one, more than likely, you’ll like the others.

5. The anticipation: This kind of goes back to the first point of falling in love with secondary characters. I love looking forward to a book of a secondary character I’ve liked. There’s just something about the excitement it generates. Will it be as good as the book before it? Will it be better? Will it live up to your expectations? Will you be glad that character got their own story? Will you be happy with who the character ended up with? And if it’s by one of your favorite authors, the anticipation blooms even bigger.

6. Back-to-Back Trilogy: Okay, I admit, this one’s a bit different, but it does often apply. More and more publishers are putting out back-to-back trilogies. And I love that they are. Of course, since that’s what I’m doing, I’ll admit I’m a bit biased. However, I love reading back-to-back from other authors and here’s why. Almost immediate gratification. How often have you read a book you’ve loved and found out that indeed there’s another one coming out in the series but you have to wait months, perhaps a year or more to read it? The wait can be agonizing! That’s the great thing about back-to-back releases. Almost no waiting. How cool is that?

So what about you? Do you love or hate them? Why do you feel that way? What are some series that you absolutely adore? What are some upcoming series books you’re anticipating?

Thanks again, everyone. Now let’s talk series!

***

Please leave a comment to enter to win a copy of Christy’s RESCUE ME. Entries accepted until midnight PST.

To read Christy’s bio and the back cover for RESCUE ME, please see yesterday’s post. To learn more about Christy and her books, please visit her website.