Writing a New Series

So I’m writing the first book of a new series, Texas-set, and plotting the other books. I think it will be at least four books. I’ve been listening to a lot of Red Dirt music (kinda newish country), and last week we went to see Hayes Carll, a singer-songwriter who I adore. He writes the best songs, very inspirational for characters, like this one:

I’ve also been listening to Slacker Radio in the car, and I tap the heart when I hear a song I like. I don’t take the time to read the artist, because, well, I’m driving. Turns out I like the Eli Young Band and Kenny Chesney. And there are a LOT of country singers named Josh. But I really like country music because it’s rich with character ideas.

So is it any surprise that I want to write another country singer in this new series?

Which leads to a big problem when I’m writing another small-town series–not having repeating characters. In Bluestone, I have a reporter and a counselor, a waitress and a country singer, a bar owner who is a former soldier and a woman who runs pretty much everything.

In Boomtown, I have a waitress and a former soldier (oops), a bar owner (oops again) and a country singer (maybe), a mayor and a beauty salon owner, a banker and a contractor, and a rancher and…not sure yet. I think I need to make the overall trope so different that the stories aren’t the same.

But then–in Bluestone I had the one who wants to stay and the one who wants to leave, the reunion romance, and the friends-to-lovers thing.

In Boomtown, I have the one who wants to stay and the one who wants to leave, the good boy/bad girl, the opposite sides of the tracks and….not sure yet.

Then there’s the other series I want to write, which has a maid who sings at the local place on the weekends, another maid who falls for a returning soldier…

I think because I write a lot of blue-collar romance, I tend to hit the same types again and again. Plus, jobs like waitresses are easy to write, not a lot of research, and it can put the characters together easily. Same with a bartender. I think I can make the stories different enough, because who wants to read the same story? Heck, who wants to write the same story?