Before I post the blog I wrote for today, I have to speak to the horror of these massive fires, many of which are happening around the world. I don't have answers for them, but just how much they are emotionally impacting us all, genuine black swans. It's not just Los Angeles right now, which is massively destructive, but we know it's been so many places. We as humans are so vulnerable when fires arise suddenly. Just, if you are one of the ones impacted, know the rest of the human community cares. I have had fire as an experience in my life from childhood onward. I know its terror. Just so sorry for those impacted in a worse way than I had been. Namaste.
Writing a series of any sort is both enjoyable and a challenge-- for obviously different reasons. I have written several series, each with complete stories and connecting secondary characters. I have not been fond of reading or writing stories where one hero and heroine continue on through many adventures. My favorites have characters in each book that might take on more important roles in the next stories.
The challenge I find in writing a series is remembering all the characters accurately, mostly the secondary ones. Since this book was first brought out ten years ago, rereading and rewriting were necessary to bring it back out. Even more so, since these characters will go on with three more in the Winds of Change series. They will come out about a month apart.
One of the tips I have for series writers is create a timeline of when and where their characters were born, sometimes interspersed with what was happening in the broader community like say wars, droughts, or major plagues. Timelines help a writer stay with the flow. If available to readers, it helps them to refresh their memories when it involves long timelines. That's not so needed when a series is contemporary and does not expand over a lot of years.
The great part of series writing is having characters, who I already know a great deal about their personalities, with the ability to expand that when they take center stage. When I have them, like Holly and Vince, I know their potential from earlier books, but what do I discover once there was more time with them? That's what I very much enjoy with a chance to enrich characters that had that potential.
What about readers, why would they like a series? Well, if the writer screws up the chronology (assuming there is much of one as there is with my Winds of Change series) it could be fun for a reader to point out through an email or as a reviewer about the goof. Now, writers prefer the email option, but heck, it's up to readers to make their own choices if they do reviews at all (most do not).
If though, readers have come to like a family or group of friends, sometimes a community, it is enjoyable to follow what happens next. If the books they are following are romances, they are assured of happy endings multiple times, endings that feel believable. Let's face it, real life too often does not give us that. We can use a break from negativity with stories that offer us a feel of how real life can be good even if it's not a life you know for yourself.
What I shared last week about my core beliefs show up a lot in a series. When we solidly, as writers, know the beliefs that guide our lives, they also work to guide the main characters in a series. There will be villains or those who have no such codes, and guess what happens to them? Justice is what we wish for in what we call real-life.
Justice for behavior can be revealed by actions in books, especially series writing. I don't think writers need theirs written down as I did in 2005 and where I still agree with them for my life and my writing in 2025. Did I need to write them down? Maybe not, but it sure didn't hurt especially as I look for places in my stories where they can be illustrated and reveal the consequences that I do think play out in life, BUT we don't always see it happen. We can read it though and feel good that way.
Not all books do that as some portray the dark side of life instead of the light side. Does that leave the reader feeling good, or for that matter, the writer? Maybe, but then I am only able to share here my life and writing.
Oh, and one other rule I have for what I write or want to read. Writers can kill of even well-liked characters. I have done it, but do not kill a beloved pet, no mules, dogs, cats, or horses. If the series lasts many years and logically an animal will no longer be alive due to old age, don't put it in the book for me to read. That also works in movies. I've lost enough beloved animals in my real life. No way will I write that into one of my stories. It might make for drama, but you won't find it in one of my stories.
Echo from the Past had a lot of pluses for me to originally write it and bring it back now after it had a private break. It had been pulled, for about a year, from being previously published as Echoes from the Past. It had been removed over an Amazon title problem, which those who have followed my blog might remember.
Instead of bringing it right back with a new title and ISBN, I wanted to work on it more with a desire to improve it when it returned (and the rest of the series that will come out later). Where the first four in Winds of Change were emphasizing the O'Brian family, the next four have main characters as the Taggert family, with the O'Brian's coming along as secondary but still part of the new plots.
This first Taggert story has been edited with some events added and more words to enrich the characters' experiences. Its hero though might be a surprise to those who read the first book in the series, since he also had a name change from that book, for a very good reason (another plus with series writing). I do find it fun being a writer with such options open.
When the book had its original name, it also had a trailer. For those who enjoy such, here it is, giving the elements of the plot, which is still accurate but just with some fun additions (at least fun for me). Luckily I had bought the trailer images, other than when we had taken some photos ourselves. It's a plus to live in the state where I base a book.
With the book's new title and cover, it's available at Amazon for Kindles. It will also be wide as D2D works it out. It is a long novel with a lot about the West of that time and archaeology, which is what Holly uses to find the answers to her dreams that too often were nightmares. Is reincarnation true? She needs to know and fears the answer as much as seeks it. She is a headstrong young woman with a lot of courage, and she will need it.
https://www.amazon.com/Echo-Past-Winds-Change-Book-ebook/dp/B0DSCFJ8TZ/
And this Universal Link should make it soon or already available at B&N; Google; Kobo; Apple; etc.
https://books2read.com/u/b6oMoA
Echo from the Past offers adventure, romance, the West, archaeology, all in that time, and yes, some spice. It also has the benefit of more books with characters the reader already knows-- but also the knowledge there is no need to read more in the series.
I am not good at ratings but maybe 4 stars for its heat level *s*
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