Planning Out What To Write Next

I’m probably about 1/4 into the last book in the Enchanted Galaxy Series, and already, I’m thinking over what to work on.  Here’s what I finally narrowed it down to.  Since I do best with three works-in-progress at a time, I decided on these:

1. Wagon Trail Bride (Pioneer Series: Book 1)

I’m going to pick back up writing this one.  I remember exactly where I left off, and sadly, I’m still stumped on where to go from that place.  Hopefully, I’ll think of something as I go along.  I know where I want to be, but there has to be something to bridge the gap.  Often I think of a story as hills and valleys.  You have your intense moments where emotions are running high then that’s the lull where the characters are granted a chance to catch their breath (so to speak) before they are forced to through another emotionally intense scene.

So I need to figure out what the lull after a particularly intense scene should be.  If I have to jump ahead, I will.  I don’t often do that except when I know exactly where the book is heading.  I did it in His Convenient Wife and Boaz’s Wager.  It looks like this will be another one of those books.

I already have characters set for book 2, and they play a role in Wagon Trail Bride.  For those of you who like a more serious story (such as Eye of the Beholder or Bid for a Bride), this will be for you.  It has some serious moments in it, but above all else, it is romance so there is a happy ending.

2.  His Wicked Lady (Marriage by Arrangement: Book 1)

I think those who appreciated the humor in Ruined by the Earl will get a kick out of this one.  Ruined by the Earl featured Logan and Melissa, and if you’ll recall, Melissa had an uptight brother named Malcolm.  What Malcolm needs is a lady who isn’t afraid to laugh in the face of scandal.  Only then will he be happy.  Oh, I could pair him up with a nice, demure lady, but there would be absolutely no plot.  Part of writing is pairing up the right type of people.  And in comedy (at least as I write it), it’s best when the most unlikely couple are forced to get married.

This series will have the doctor who delivered Chloe’s baby in The Earl’s Stolen Wife.  (I can’t remember his name at the moment.)  I’m going to kill off his brother so he gets the title and has to get an heir.  I don’t know which book he’ll be the hero in, though. Since that’s the case, I’ll try to wiggle him in somewhere into this book.

3. The Convenient Mail Order Bride

This was the hard one to pick.  I have so many to write, but since I do best with three at a time, I forced the list to three main books. This was the one that made the final cut.  This is probably going to be a standalone book.  From time to time, I like to do standalones because it’s nice to take a break from the series.

Series are great, too, because they allow you to weave a theme or two in more than one book, and it is fun to work with the same group of characters.  One of the reasons I enjoy the Regencies so much is that I’m working in the same world where a past character can make an appearance.  After working with a character, it’s like seeing an old friend, and I try to bring them in whenever possible.  I can’t always fit them in, but when I can, I definitely do.

Anyway, I expect this to be a standalone.  If it turns into a series, great.  If not, that’s fine, too.  I don’t think every book has to lead to a series, so I don’t force it to be one if it’s not meant to be.

Now, from time to time, I’ll take one book (or series) and use characters from another series for fun.  A case in point is bringing Eva Conneally and Rachel Larson from the Nebraska Series (specifically, Isaac’s Decision) into Boaz’s Wager (which is in the Montana Collection).  I keep thinking it’d be fun to do a quiz on all the books where characters overlapped into other books and see who’d get all the questions right.  One of these days, I’m going to do a giveaway and those who get all the questions right will win my next release.

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For the time being, I’ll be working on these three books once I finish up with Royal Heiress.

As a side note, Stephannie Beman did all of these covers for me.  She definitely has a gift for this kind of thing. :)