Book series are generally connected in some way. This is true for my Twin Tales, which follow the lives of members of two families. I have not written them in temporal sequence, though. My first, Propositions and Proposals, was a lark written when I was procrastinating on another project and had been reading Regency romance novels. I decided to try one of my own, expecting it to be a short story. But it grew into a novella (halfway between a short story and a full-length novel). Then, soon after I finished the first, an idea came to me that provided the basis of the second novella. Once both had been written, I decided there was enough material to publish as a book.
The second pair, Fates and Furies, takes place during World War I and combines mystery, intrigue, espionage, action, adventure, conspiracy, and suspense with romance. Fates was inspired by the many articles and posts I had seen during 2018. Three other books for this series have come to mind, one before the time of Propositions, one after Fates, and one between the first two periods. I hope to write those soon.
An older series, beginning with The Ghost of the Highlands, has a rather peculiar chronology, given that time travel figures prominently in the plot lines. I plan to revise these (my first published novels) and publish them in digital form.
My Quick-Read tales do not follow the usual pattern of a series: They have no connection to one another as stories. What they have in common is simply that they are flash fiction. Each is a separate short story, and there are differences in style, in genre, and in temporal and physical setting. Every once in a while, I get the urge to write a new one.
In my reading, I find I do enjoy series, like Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander books pictured above. And Diana Palmer’s tales, each unique yet connected by common settings and characters, give a comforting sense of continuity. Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan novels are compelling, and I can hardly wait to find and read the next.
Do you gravitate to books written as a connected series?
I have never read a series until I was introduced to Diana Gabaldon’s “Outlander” series. Sometimes it is hard to get all of the books that have been published in a series, so I tend to stay away from them.