Here be Magic

Creating a Series

In the beginning all my manuscripts were stand-alone stories written in the third person. Then I started reading chicklit and fell in love with that humorous first person voice. Allegra Fairweather: Paranormal Investigator was my first attempt at writing in that voice. It must've been okay because the manuscript was accepted for publication. Another first. Then the panic set in. I’d planned an Allegra series – if the first book ever got published. Suddenly I had to make good on that plan.

I already had an idea for the second book, but what about the third (gulp!) and the fourth and OMG I had a vague memory of mentioning ten books in all. Hadn’t thought that one through. Ten! Chosen solely because it was a nice round number. Could I do that many?

I started to think about each book as being a chapter in Allegra’s life. What would she learn about herself in that book? How would she develop as a person? Of course there also had to be a paranormal mystery – one for each book – and the development of her relationship with Casper. It was a lot of balls to keep in the air. A lot of years of work – and okay, it’s fun too. Let’s not forget the fun – the absolute pleasure of beginning a story and seeing how it evolves. Writing is the best job in the world.

South of Salem is the second in the Allegra Fairweather series. The third book is almost ready to submit and number four is being plotted somewhere in the furthest reaches of my brain. So will I reach ten books? Who knows? But, no matter what happens, it’s a great ride. Better than I ever imagined.

I have two copies of South of Salem (epub or PDF format) to give away. Leave a comment to be in the running.

Read an excerpt from South of Salem

Visit Janni at www.janninell.com and www.facebook.com/janni.nell