I grew up watching Creature Features and reading Dracula and Stephen King books. As a young girl, I liked those macabre stories, the ones that relied on your imagination to frighten you. Then along came the slasher flicks and it wasn't only imagination anymore. Somehow, that ruined the "scare" factor for me. I liked to be frightened, as long as it was imagined. Once those scares became real, I didn't like them quite so much.
Some of those "movie of the week" stories were developed from books like "Ammie Come Home," which became "The House that Would Not Die" (Barbara Stanwyck and Richard Egan). It was made for TV, but that movie prompted me to read books authored by Barbara Michaels.
My next release will most likely be in October, or late September (optimistically). Assuming I continue on the path I've started, it's going to be a "Halloween treat," a haunted house story inspired by Ms. Michaels and by that outdated made for TV movie. It will be the first in a new series - "The McCormicks." There's a part of me that wonders if I start the series with a supernatural twist, will you expect that in the subsequent books? Or is it okay to write the one as a Halloween treat, and the others as more standard romantic mystery fare? I can ask the pros when I attend the Chicago writer's conference next month, but what do you, my readers, think?
I always think the first in a series sets the tone for the rest -- as a reader,I develop certain expectations on that initial book. Not that I don't mind having my expectations tweaked a bit. What I don't like being tweaked is my understanding of the universe I've come to know, the place these characters call home and how it works. That's like a bucket of cold water. But a little ghost every now and then? Sign me up!
ReplyDeleteMy stories tend to swing with some little supernatural something (although I haven't included that in all of them), so easy enough to keep those ghosts coming :-)
DeleteI'm with Tina in that readers have expectations when they start a series, but if the book is on the fringes, I think you have more leeway if you don't want paranormal elements in the next ones. Now, if one of your main characters is a ghost, then readers might want to see him/her again. I'm thinking the Draycott Abbey series. If one of those books didn't have the supernatural elements, I'd be disappointed.
ReplyDeleteI rarely write with NO paranormal elements, so I guess I'll have to see how the subsequent stories develop and make sure those things show up! The downside of being a pantser.
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