ROMANCE:  WHY?  By Kathy Ivan

As a writer, I’ve talked to a lot of people about what they like to read, especially when it comes to the genres I write (contemporary romance, romantic suspense, and paranormal romance).  But it seems when the subject of mystery and suspense comes up, there are two different schools of thought.

There is the reader who absolutely, positively does not want all that romantic fluff in their story.  They are the stick-to-the-facts readers, who want the meat and bones, the action and adventure of the plot without a lot of the secondary storylines which they think clog up the works. Purists who want to see the antagonist and protagonist battling it out until the very end.  They want their mystery and

suspense to be all-encompassing with no deviation for anything outside the scope of the mystery.

On the other hand, you’ve got the reader who loves having a little extra.  They want to see and know what makes the hero, heroine, or villain the person they are.  They want to juicy backstory, including that crazy attraction between the hero and heroine that seems to pop up at the most inopportunite times. 

I fall squarely into the second camp.  I am a romantic at heart.  As a writer, I love writing romantic suspense because it adds so many dimensions and layers to the story.  What could be better than taking a hero who is hot on the trail of a ruthless villain, closing in with each page, and suddenly there’s this character who shows up and steals his attention.  Keeps him off balance, because his thoughts have shifted, and he’s no longer laser-focused on one goal.

Adding in romance can change the entire dynamic of not oly your story, but your characters.  Suddenly, emotions begin creeping in at the most inopportune moments.  Instead of figuring out the villain’s next move, the hero or heroine’s thoughts are divided.  As the feelings grow and intensify, you’ve got the added complication of your lead character being given a vulnerability he or she didn’t have in the beginning—namely their new love interest.  This person can now be used as a bargaining chip by the bad guy. 

I love layering in all the complexities of a romantic relationship between the hero and heroine that you’d find in a romance along with the pulse-pounding excitement of the suspense.  Tensions are ratcheted higher.  There’s danger around every turn, which can lead to some very…interesting…extracurricular activities. 

And, one of the best things about writing and reading romantic suspense?  You get TWO satisfying conclusions.  The mystery/suspense is solved and the bad guy is taken out of commission.  That’s a good thing.  Plus, you get to have that happily ever after when all the dust has settled, and your hero and heroine can finally admit their true feelings for each other, and you get that tingly feeling when you close the pages, knowing everybody ends up happy (well, everybody but the villain). 

So I’ll continue to write my mysteries and suspense and they will always have a romance, because I love the intricacies and twists and turns, but mostly I love the satisfaction I feel when love wins.

Kathy Ivan is a USA TODAY Bestselling Author.  She’s currently writing the New Orleans Connection series of romantic suspense.  The latest book, Fatal Intentions, releases on 3/31/17.  It’s available for pre-order at these vendors: 

Amazon:  http://amzn.to/2kKs7WL

B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/fatal-intentions-kathy-ivan/1125581075?ean=2940154167953

Kobo:  https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/fatal-intensions

Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=UqkDDgAAQBAJ

iBooks:  https://geo.itunes.apple.com/us/book/fatal-intentions/id1200301796?ls=1&mt=11

THE PERILS AND PLEASURES OF WRITING SERIES - By Kathy Ivan

I've been doing a ton of writing recently.  In fact, I released three books in March, all at the same time.  (Insanity – trust me, doing marking and promotion for three releases at the same time is the definition of insanity.)  But through it all I figured out I really like writing series.

There's a lot to be said for staying in the same world you've created.  Then again, there are also a lot of headaches at the same time.  I thought I'd share just a few of the things I've noticed about writing series.

THE PERILS: 

1.  Keeping the world you've created straight.  For example, I've set my series (New Orleans Connection Series) in and around New Orleans.  A lot of the places are real actual places and tourist destinations which are familiar to the readers as well as the people who actually live there.  But it's also my world in that I've created certain things which are unique to it.  Theresa's New Age shot.  Max's PI office.  The police department division/station where Remy works.  The DEA office where Branson, Macie and Carlo do their jobs.  These places that I've created have to be the same from book to book.  I cannot change the street where they're located.  I can't say at one point something is in the French Quarter and the next book say it is in Downtown New Orleans – because they aren't the same place. 

2.  Keeping your characters appearances consistent from book to book.  You can't have somebody start out with brown hair and brown eyes and suddenly two books later they've got brown hair and blue eyes.  Readers are sharp and they catch things like that—especially if it happens to be one of their favorite characters. 

3.  Timelines.  This can be tricky especially if your characters carry over from one book to the next.  For example, Remy Lamoreaux has been in all of the books in this series.  I needed to make sure that he wasn't engaged or married before we got to his actual story (Relentless Pursuit).  I've learned to keep a chart on the computer that I can easily access with each main character and their characteristics like hair color, eye color, body type, profession, which books they show up in, and who they are with/dating/seeing in each book until they get their own story.   It's also good to keep track of secondary characters, because you never know when they're going to turn up in another story or demand a book of their own. 

THE PLEASURES:
1.  I love having characters I've written about in one book show up in other books in the series.  It's like visiting with old friends, because I've already told their story and we get to see how life is changing around them.  Although each one of my books can be read as a standalone story, characters do show up from book to book, which I think makes for an interesting mix.  For example:  Relentless Pursuit introduced the readers to our heroine, Jennifer "Jinx" Marucci and her brother, Giancarlo "Carlo" Marucci.  This was Remy and Jinx's story, but Carlo plays a part.  So the next book (Ultimate Betrayal) became his story.  And in his book, you'll see appearances by Remy and other characters mentioned in previous books.  I think the readers enjoy having a feeling of knowing these people already, and it grounds them into the book in a way they wouldn't normally get from a standalone, where they're being introduced to characters they've never met before. 

2.  In a series you have the freedom of familiarity.  A reader can plunge right into the book, especially when they've read the preceding one, and pick up pretty much where that left off.  It's like watching your favorite television series – a new book is like a new episode with the people you've come to know and love having that episode focus on them.  Let's take Castle for an example.  One week the story might focus on Castle and Beckett.  The next week it might focus on Esposito and Lanie.  The next week about Ryan and his wife.  (I'm not talking serials here which are continuing sagas usually with the same people, but rather series where in every book I do has a different hero and heroine and they find their happily ever after, but the crossover characters keep the readers reading and happy.) 

3.  With a series you can bring the reader closer to the characters they love.  I wrote a short novella (Keeping Secrets) where I sprang a surprise wedding on the heroine (of a previous book) and had the heroes and heroines from previous books all there and taking part in the surprise.  Readers loved, loved, loved finding out what happened because this short book let them know the couples they've rooted for and agonized over got their HEA and are still together after the end of their respective books. 

There are lots more reasons, too numerous to mention in this post alone.  So, for all of you who read or write series, tell me what you like and/or don't like about writing them. 

Kathy Ivan is currently hard at work on her next romantic suspense in the New Orleans Connection Series.  You can find her on Facebook at www.facebook.com/kathyivanauthor and on twitter at www.twitter.com/kathyivan