Blog Tour Guest Post by Roxanne St. Claire: Series or Stand-Alone...

Many of my blog followers know by now that I love series. I am so glad that Roxanne, author of Edge of Sight (The Guardian Angelinos), chose to respond to this topic. Welcome, Roxanne, and thank you for sharing your insight on series.

Series or Stand-Alone…Views from a Convert

Thank you so much for inviting me to blog today on this lively book-loving site.  Since my blog tour is all about EDGE OF SIGHT, the book that launches the brand new Guardian Angelinos series, Martha asked me to share my thoughts on the differences between writing stand-alone books and series. 

I love the subject because I am only a recent “series convert” – never read ‘em, never liked ‘em, never thought I’d write ‘em.  For one thing, I’m the kind of reader who gets distracted if a couple other than the main hero and heroine are mentioned – immediately, I’m worried if I missed a book.  I’m also the kind of movie-goer who would skip out if I’ve missed the first five minutes of a film.  I can’t bear to not know what happened.  And there was a time not so long ago, when I was purely a reader and not a writer, that I thought the author’s mention of previous characters was a sign of arrogance for assuming I read everything she’s written.

Well, times have changed, and so have I.  Readers demand series!  I’ve had a few fans pick up my first three stand-alone romantic suspense novels at booksignings only to learn they were “just” stand-alones…and instantly return those books to the pile.  So when I decided it was time to jump into the series pool, it was only after creative lightning struck and I found a concept that would allow me to write stand-alone romantic thrillers that could be read and loved all by themselves, but still be enriched by recurring secondary characters and series worldbuilding.

There are so many extra considerations when an author is writing a series, and some of them are truly challenging for me.  For example, it helps for an author to know the “arc” of the series by answering questions such as: What will happen to the anchor characters? How will the whole “group” change by the end of the series? Will any characters die?  (Heavens!)  For a person who does “loose” plotting (and by loose, I mean NO IDEA what is going to happen until it pours out of my fingertips), this kind of vision can be very difficult. 

But it wasn’t long before I learned the pros outweighed the cons of a series.  Readers do love a series, and both readers and the writer enjoy a comfort level of sitting down with old friends.  Each book gets a little easier, and “seeding” new heroes and heroines is a ton of fun.   With a series, you can take a character’s story line further and readers can get to know what happens after the HEA.  (Babies!)  Best of all, readers really do become loyal fans and come back book after book after book.

But there are still some downsides to writing a series.  Writers don’t want to get bored – it’s the kiss of death! – or pigeonholed into telling one kind of story.  Readers get attached to certain characters, and if you don’t have things happen the way they way…well, you can hear about it.  An author has to be very careful not to paint herself into a story corner – like making a future hero do something in an book that is so despicable he cannot be redeemed.  And, oh my word, it takes real organization skills to keep everything straight and make sure all the stories, characters, settings, and timelines align.

And, of course, you have to know when to end the series, which can be very like saying goodbye to a trusted friend.  My first series, The Bullet Catchers, is now complete with eight books and two novellas.  It wasn’t easy to end those fun stories, but the time had come and I was ready to move on.  This month, my second series, The Guardian Angelinos, launches with EDGE OF SIGHT.  I’m so excited to delve into this new world of a big, loud, blended Italian clan that forms an ad hoc security company.  There are Angelino and Rossi cousins and siblings galore, tons of family friction, sexy love stories, non-stop action adventure, exotic settings, creepy villains, and, since they’re Italian, some really great food!

And YES, you can read one or all of these books, in any order.  That’s still important to me.  In the first book, former Army Ranger Zach Angelino reluctantly accepts the first assignment for his sister’s fledgling security firm, protecting Harvard-bound law student Samantha Fairchild after she’s witnessed an assassination and is next on the hit man’s list.  The problem?  Sam and Zach are former lovers and he left her for a tour of duty in Iraq three years earlier, then never contacted her again.  She’s not sure she can trust him.  He’s not sure he can resist her.  Now they are trying to crack a conspiracy that leads to Boston’s darkest corners of corruption.  They’ve got to face fears, desires, doubts and one really scary bad guy who wants to kill them both.

The next two books in the series (SHIVER OF FEAR and FACE OF DANGER) will be out back to back in the spring of 2011.  And, I’m thrilled to let readers know that there is a “freequel” on my web site!  This free short story can be easily downloaded so you can meet the main characters of EDGE OF SIGHT, and experience their sexy meeting and heartbreaking goodbye first hand.  Just go to the “free reads” section of www.roxannestclaire.com and download the pdf!

So, my question for you…Series or Stand Alone?  Which do you prefer and why?  There’s a GIVEAWAY, of course!  And I’ll pop in all day to answer any questions or comments!

Thanks, Martha, for inviting me and tons of hugs to all the loyal readers out there!

xxx

Thank you to Roxanne for this great post! I, for one, will be watching for the next books in this series.
I hope my followers and blog visitors will comment with a Thank you to Roxanne and read my review and enter the Giveaway.