Today I’ve got my dear friend Samantha Combs visiting. She the author of a YA series which features witches. Um, did I get the right which, or is it witch, where it’s suppose to be.
Why I Thought I’d Never Write a Series…..Until I Did
The first book I ever wrote was intended to be just that….a single book. I had read plenty of series and I had problems with them. I felt as though I had been roped into them, as though the writer was purposefully leading me on and making the end of each one a cliffhanger, so I was forced to go out and get book after book, just to get to the end of the story. It kind of made me mad. So when I was writing my first book with Astraea Press, Spellbound, I had every intention of writing it as a stand-alone. I was going to be the writer that captured my reader, then freely released them after my book finished. Kind of like the saying, “If you love them let them go, if they love you, they will return to you.” At least, that was the intention. It is definitely not what happened.
What I didn’t count on was the fact that I wasn’t really in control of the story, the characters were. Selena and Logan were telling THEIR story through me. And by the time I got to the end, 300 some odd pages later, I had a startling revelation: This was a series. Dear God, there was almost no way to control it or stop it from happening. I had embarked on a story, not just of two people, but of a family of people, more than twenty in all, and this opus I had written would go on. Not because I particularly wanted it to, but because they did.
I would wake up in the middle of the night with ideas. I would be driving and characters would have whole conversations in my head. Whenever my mind meandered, it drifted back to the lives of the Daniels’ and the Starrs’ and this fantastic, mystical, magical family of witches I had created. Or thought I had created. I didn’t know Musina well that first year (my personal muse), and wasn’t aware she was there even back then, guiding and gently nudging me in the creative process.
I know right about now you are thinking I should be committed, but honestly, if you write as well, you know exactly what I am talking about. It was about this time that I started making small notes on the side about the continuation of the story. Soon, I realized, these notes were the beginnings of the second book. When I succumbed to that realization, I gave in and took those notes and began writing a follow-up, with no idea what it would become. It became Everspell, Book Two to Spellbound. And it is what it was meant to be all along….a perfect continuation of the witch family’s story. But it’s not over.
Yes, against all my better judgment, even against my own preference, there will be a third book. There has to be. Loose ends must be tied up and important characters have way more life to live. At least, that’s what I have been told. Musina is definitely in the house on this one, too, as evidenced by the furtive note-taking I have recently found myself doing. I only recently gave the notes a name: Spellbound Three. *sigh* I seriously am not in control.
Samantha Combs is an author of YA/MG paranormal and supernatural fantasy, and adult and MG horror. She has five books published, three of them with Astraea Press: Spellbound, Everspell, and (a true stand-alone) Ghostly. Check out her blog at www.samanthacombswrites.blogspot.com to learn about all five of her books.
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Fan Page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Samantha-Combs-Fan-Page/205186202866933
Email: samanthacombswrites@gmail.com
Blog: http://www.samanthacombswrites.blogspot.com
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/samanthacombs1
WRITE, PUBLISH, AND BE INFORMED!
Murders and Mysteries 
Great post, Samantha. Both my granddaughter and I are ecstatic you aren’t in control.:) Keep those wonderful books coming!
Great guest post, Samantha! I know, if you’re writing a series, it’s hard to keep the characters you love so much at bay! Share this post on facebook! Best wishes for a stellar career!
Yay, a book for my genre of choice. 🙂 Looks great.