As many Readers, Friends, fellow Authors and Blog Visitors know, I am the author of ‘The Council of Twelve’ series, with the published books Soul Taker, Sundance, Demon Tracker, and Bounty Hunter.
Sundance https://books2read.com/u/mgGGeX
Demon Tracker https://books2read.com/u/3yEx6l
Bounty Hunter https://books2read.com/u/mgzd5X
Books five and six in the series are about to be sent to my copyright lawyer; book seven is almost ready to be sent to my editor. Currently, I’m tying book eight into the computer, and book nine is waiting to be typed in; and I drafted the plot of book 10.
‘The Council Of Twelve series is a pleasure to write, and I love my characters. They have become part of me, part of my thinking, and part of my family. I’m convinced I’m not the only author whose characters grew on him/her. I have been working on this series for more than five years. And I look forward to starting a new book in the series every single time. The series is supposed to consist of fourteen books, at least that’s what I planned, and I haven’t changed my mind.
Of course, I wrote a few short stories; I’ll mention two of them here: Bernie Showers In France and ‘The Famous House Special,’ both of them published on my friend the Vampire Maman Juliette Kings’ blog. Also, I published poetry, which can be read here on ‘Writer’s Treasure Chest,’ in my poem category.
But for a while now, there was this story in my head. First, it was an idea. I wrote down a few sentences to not forget about it. And we’re talking about just three sentences and a few notes in my scrapbook. I took the notes over to OneNote, my writer’s tool that I constantly carry around with me in my devices, laptops, phones, and tablets. I transport my character sheets, ideas, notes, places, and many other things. Whenever I have time, I have a look at them – and slowly, very slowly, that idea started to stabilize, and I began to develop the plot, form the characters, and finally grabbed a scrapbook to begin writing the draft.
I have been sick for weeks… I’m not going into details here. During that time, I tried to do the most necessary but couldn’t really write or read. I felt horrible most of the time. While the work on this new book ceased, my brain still tried to work, and I’m trying my best to catch up on the writing.
And at this moment, I start touching a subject which I try to understand, and still, I’m not exactly sure what to make of my feelings. I started writing this story. It’s fun, building the characters, drafting the plot, planning the twists. Compared to the ‘The Council of Twelve’ series, that book is neither Young Adult nor Fantasy. It’s fiction, and I write for adults. There’s some romance, intimacy, crime… It’s something I never thought I would plan to write, but it’s fun; I like it. And I feel guilty!
I know, it sounds odd. But I honestly feel like I would ‘cheat’ on my series! I’m not really sure how to handle that feeling. Should I feel guilty? Is it normal to feel that way? How do other authors think if they decide to work on a book outside their series? Do they just start writing on their new project, or do they wait until they completed the series? What are they doing? How do they feel? Is it normal that I feel guilty not to continue to write the series, to feel like I’m neglecting the work on ‘The Council of Twelve’ series?
I’m not yet feeling all too comfortable writing this new book, even though it’s so much fun to write. But why should I feel guilty? Why should I not write a new story? What would other authors feel in such a case? Let me know in the comments. I’d be grateful.
