Jan
Parting Is Such Sweet Sorrow
Well, it’s Thursday again and time to go back to the mailbox.
This question is from blog reader, Nikki:
Do you miss writing about the characters in your Jenkins & Burns series? Is it hard to let them be if the publisher wants something else?
In order to answer this question, I need to give a little backstory for those who don’t know about this series. The Jenkins & Burns mystery series was the first series I’d ever written and it was for a small, independent publishing house. I wrote it under the name, Laura Bradford. There were three books in the series–Jury of One (an Agatha nominee), Forecast of Evil (my personal favorite), and Marked by Fate.
The series ended after three books because I chose not to write them anymore. It wasn’t that I didn’t enjoy the characters–because I did. Rather, it was because I’d only planned three from the start.
Could I have written more? Absolutely. But I decided it was time to take a stab at one of the bigger publishing houses in the interest of furthering my dream. And so I did…hitting the mark with my new Southern Sewing Circle Mystery Series for Berkley Prime Crime (Penguin) under the name, Elizabeth Lynn Casey.
Do I miss Elise and Mitch from the Jenkins & Burns series? Sure. Sometimes. But to be honest with you, the characters I miss most are ones from a chick-lit style mystery series I crafted around the field of advertising. It was that manuscript that helped me secure an agent (two, actually…which resulted in a very tough choice) and made its way around the publishing world (gathering very nice and encouraging rejections along the way). The book I’d been so sure about…the one that attracted two agents…went nowhere.
Yet, to this day, I still LOVE those characters. Absolutely LOVE them. And it was hard when I realized I wasn’t going to get to keep writing them. Not for that book, anyway.
But here’s the deal. As a writer, there are always characters in my head. Characters demanding their time on a page or in a book. I just need to use the right ones at the right time. And if, for some reason, one of them doesn’t work…I can still thank him/her for the fun they gave me and move on. Maybe they’ll work their way into something else one day. And maybe they won’t. Yet I can honestly say that each and every one of them has helped me grow as a writer. And for that, I’m grateful.
Any comments/observations/further questions? Fire away…
~Elizabeth
January 28th, 2010 at 9:49 am
I just read the synopsis for these three books and I like them. I hope my library has copies of them. Have you considered asking the publisher to make them available in ebook format?
January 28th, 2010 at 10:01 am
Very cool…thanks for the insight
and it does put some things in perspective for sure!
January 28th, 2010 at 10:15 am
Characters running around in your head? Now that I understand. (grin) Although I’m not a published author (yet) I have already heard the call of the cast of characters waiting for me to tell their story. I have a great series idea for my first book, I just need the publisher to pull my query and synopsis off their slush pile and CALL ME!
And of course my middle school novel just needs to be finished so I can start the second adventure for Hannah. LOL
January 28th, 2010 at 10:41 am
I second the ebook idea. I received a Kindle as a Christmas present and so far love it.
January 28th, 2010 at 10:44 am
A topic idea for you:
How do you know the right amount of ’story’ to create? I find many books way too long for the story being told. (Tom Clancy …) while others leave you begging for more either in back story or depth of interactions.
January 28th, 2010 at 10:52 am
Dru, the first publisher is small. And possibly struggling these days, so what they may do/not do is a tricky call. All three books were re-released through Harlequin’s WORLDWIDE MYSTERY line but those have a set print run and when they’re gone, they’re gone (would LOVE to get my hands on a few more of those).
You’re welcome, Nikki…thanks for the great question!
Lynn, you understand. They’re always in your head, aren’t they?
Chris, I know my romance (Kayla’s Daddy) and my mysteries under Elizabeth Lynn Casey are all/or will be available in Kindle editions. Mainly because Harlequin and Berkley (Penguin) are powerhouses and they know that form is critical. But the earlier books? Who knows at this time. I’d *heard* they were trying to do something with Amazon but talk has died down so I just don’t know.
As for your question…I LOVE it!!! I will put that on tap for a Thursday blog in the very near future!
January 28th, 2010 at 11:08 am
So with the ebook idea who has the rights to do that? The first small publisher or you? And how did they get re-released..did Harlequin buy them from the small publisher?
January 28th, 2010 at 11:22 am
For now, the smaller house has the rights. As for the re-release, Worldwide Mystery bought secondary book club rights. It was great because with the small press, I had access to a much smaller audience (those places can never compete with the distribution of a larger house)…but with the re-release through Harlequin, my books got in the hands of people I never could have reached on my own. It was a win-win for sure. Plus their covers were sooooo much better.
January 28th, 2010 at 3:41 pm
More entries for the Q&A sessions:
How extensively do you outline? And when the story wanders off-road, how far do you follow it, and how do you decide if it’s time to guide the thing back to the course you plotted?
How many drafts for you? And does each draft serve a different purpose, or is it more like clay, and you’re refining the features overall with each pass?
January 28th, 2010 at 9:16 pm
Good ones, Joe!!! I’ll add those to the lineup, too. I’ve been fighting with my computer all day today (not wanting to connect–ugh). Sorry it took me so long to acknowledge your reply.
I can’t wait to tackle both of these on future Thursdays!