A Never Ending Story – The Sequel

By guest blogger Mary Alford

Have you ever reached the end of a great book and thought, “No! That can’t be it. I’m not ready for it to end...”

I think most of us have had that type of reaction to a book that drew us in from page one and held us captive until the end. I know I certainly have on many occasions.  

This is the very reason the sequel is so appealing to us. The story we fell in love with goes on, just in a different way. We can still catch up with our favorite characters, but in addition, we’re introduced to a whole new story that will hopefully make us fall in love all over again.  

Still, not every book is destined to be a sequel.

So what makes a book sequel worthy? Well, at the core of every sequel you have great characters:  

For this blog post, I enlisted the help of some lovely ladies from my street team. I wanted their expert opinion on what makes a good sequel for them. As always, they were more than willing to offer their thoughts.

Jaquelyn S. - “My favorite type of sequel is when a secondary character from one book, gets their own book. I love when you get to know a family more through each book, and get to hear how the previous main characters from another book are doing.”

Susan M. - “The fun of series or sequels is you get to see and read about the characters you fell in love with in the first book. Kind of like keeping up with family and seeing how their lives are coming along.”

Cheryl B. – “I love getting to read more about characters that played a role in a previous book. Children and grandchildren that came along. Someone that helped others but didn't get noticed.”

Obviously, a key ingredient in creating any great sequel is having an array of interesting secondary characters to complement the hero and heroine and make the reader want to know what happens to them as well.

But there has to be more to a good sequel than its characters. You need a fresh storyline that’s different from the first book and one that will set it apart and make the reader want to read it.  

Katrina E. - “I have read series where the characters are part of a community, work related and family. I can't really say what exactly draws me, but I do enjoy finding out where characters' lives have taken them since their book. I think I'm searching for the answer to if it was really a HEA. While I have enjoyed all types of series I think my favorite is the ones that revolve around a community. I think the author has more leeway with this.”

So, we have a great set of characters and a storyline that is intriguing. What’s next?

Location, location, location.

This past year, I wrote a series of contemporary inspirational romances that take place in a fictional town called Second Chance, Montana. It’s a small town with warm and welcoming characters that make you want to come in and stay for a while. The town is true to its name, offering everyone who visits a second chance. I so much enjoyed writing these books because they took place in the same location. I got to come home to Second Chance with each new book I wrote.  

Ann E. – “I enjoy sequels especially when it picks up an existing character and tells more of their story.”

So, we have great characters, and intriguing storyline and the perfect location. Now comes the end?

Surprise! – The Perfect Ending.

I think what makes for a great sequel is that the ending both surprises and satisfies us. The story ends, but there’s still room for more.

I asked the ladies from my street team to weigh in on some of their favorite sequels. Here’s what they had to say.

Mary L. – “I enjoy Janie Crouch's series, B.J. Daniels series, Julie Miller's series. These are just a few.”

Renee S. – “Lori Wick English Garden series, Rachel Dylan's new series, Kimberly Rae Jordan's Blackthorpe Security series which ties into the McKinley and Callaghan and McFadden series. That is just a few!”

Angel M. – “I love sequels! The Baxter series from Karen Kingsbury and there are several more I just can't think of them right now.”

Jaquelyn S. - “My favorite series is The Christiansen series by Susan May Warren.”

Melissa H. - “I enjoy sequels and standalone novels. The Mitford Series by Jan Karon is a good series.”

Suzanne C. – “I think my favorite series was by Nancy Rue. It was about a lady who bought a Harley, and started listening to God's direction and doing his will.”

Susan M. - “My favorite series are the ones by Ronie Kendig - Discarded Heroes, Quiet Professionals, A Breed Apart.”

So, what about you? What are some of your favorite sequels and why did they make you love them so much? I’ll be giving away an ebook copy of Valentine Matchmaker, a collection of nine romantic novellas. My book, Marry Me set in Second Chance, Montana, is part of this collection as well. 

A Little About Me.

I grew up in a small Texas town famous for, well not much of anything really. Being the baby of the family and quite a bit younger than my brothers and sister, I had plenty of time to entertain myself. Making up stories seemed to come natural to me. As a pre-teen, I discovered Christian romance novels and knew instinctively that was what I wanted to do with my over-active imagination. I wrote my first novel as a teen, (it’s tucked away somewhere never to see the light of day), but never really pursued my writing career seriously until 2012 when I entered the Love Inspired Speed Dating contest and sold my first Love Inspired Suspense, Forgotten Past.

You can connect with me on my website: http://www.maryalford.net or on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/mary.alford.1272

A Little About Valentine Matchmaker:

This delightful collection of historical and contemporary romances contains couples not looking for romance, but with the help of a loved one find love on Valentine's Day. Each story is titled from an actual candy heart and plays a major role in the romance. Sit down, relax, and experience love by these authors. Mary Alford, Brandi Boddie,   Jennifer Collins Johnson, Gail Gaymer Martin, Debra E. Marvin, Martha Rogers, Sherri Stewart, Niki Turner, and Jennifer Vander Klipp.      

Thank you all so much for letting me stop by today. I’ve had a blast as always.

All the best…

Mary Alford

www.maryalford.net

Finding The Courage to Submit Your Manuscript And The Inner Strength To Move Beyond Rejection

with guest blogger Mary Alford. 

We writers are an interesting breed. We see stories everywhere we look. We can take the most mundane things and turn it into a story. We pour our blood, sweat, and tears into a story. For us, writing is very personal. 

And while writing allows us a creative outlet for our gift of over-imagination, it can also be very isolating. We work in a vacuum. It’s just us and our computer struggling to make our dream a reality. It doesn’t matter if you write contemporary romance, historical, or romantic suspense like me, writing is always a challenge. 

Today, I thought I’d share some of the things I’ve learned on my journey to becoming a published author. 


1:  You Have To Finish The Book  


After weeks and sometimes months of polishing and stressing over every single word, struggling through the dreaded sagging middle or your story while dealing with writer’s block, you finally limp towards the finish line. You type those fulfilling two words. The End. 
You have now achieved what some people only dream of. You’ve finished your first book. Did you know that 97% of all writers never finish their manuscript? So, if you have completed a book under your belt, give yourself a pat on the back. You’re amongst the elite 3%. 

But finishing the book is just the beginning. 

2:  You Can Only Edit For So Long 


Letting go is hard to do, I know. Sending your manuscript out for the first time takes a lot of intestinal fortitude. 

The fear of having your story rejected can be intimidating. Up until the moment you submit your story to that first publisher, the dream of becoming a published author is still alive and flourishing. Once it’s out there, well, there’s always a chance it won’t be accepted. 

When I first decided to enter Forgotten Past (my first Love Inspired Suspense) in the Speed Dating Contest hosted by Emily Rodmell, I almost talked myself out of it several times. The usual excuses came to mind. Maybe it wasn’t the right fit for my book? I’d been rejected before, so I thought what if they didn’t like this one either? 

Somehow, I shoved those negative voices out of my head and went ahead and submitted my entry. And guess what? I was selected to do the pitch. From there, I sold my first book. If I hadn’t taken the chance, I might still be polishing and dreaming. 

3:  It Takes Courage To Submit



So now that you’ve worked up the courage to submit for the first time, where do you go to look for the perfect fit for your manuscript? 

Having a circle of published authors who were willing to share their experiences with me was an invaluable part of my learning process. It’s been my experience that most authors are more than eager to answer any of my questions, give advice when I ask, or simply hold my hand through the process. 

Some great places to go for resources through the years has always been Romance Writers Of America, and, if you write Christian Fiction, American Christian Fiction Writers. Both of these organizations have listings for publishers with details of what they accept. Publishers like Harlequin often host writing contests to search for new talent as well.
The first thing I do when I find the right publisher for my book is contact some of the authors currently writing for them. I ask how the publisher is to work with. You can never have too much information.        

Once you’ve selected the right publisher that fits your genre and voice, it’s time to hit the send button. 

Now, take a big breath and get ready for the next event in the publishing game. The waiting. Sometimes the wait period is short. Other times, it can take months if not years to hear back. 

If you’re like me, you worry about your baby being out there on its own with strangers. Will they love it the way you do? 

The best way to keep the uncertainty and doubts at bay is to start something new. It’s a good idea to have lots of material ready just in case a publisher wants to see more of your work. And it's good practice. Keep honing your writing skills. We can always improve. Write something every day. Read other authors in your genre. See what’s being published and by who.  

4:  It’s Okay To Cry 


The day finally arrives. The one you’ve waited on for so long. Only the news is not what you expected. You’ve just received the worst thing any writer can get. The dreaded rejection letter. 

Dear Ms./Mr. ________ Thank you for your submission. Unfortunately, it’s not what we’re looking for….

Those are the hardest words to hear. It’s almost like getting punched in the gut. It hurts. The manuscript you worked so lovingly on has been rejected. 

Once you pick yourself up off the floor, you reread the letter a dozen or more times looking for some clue as to why your story didn’t work. In your mind your voice was perfect for the publisher. So what went wrong? 

Take it from me, someone who has received MANY rejections along the way, cut yourself some slack and realize is okay to cry, (remember when I said writing was personal?). 

If you’re lucky, the editor will have taken the time to give you some advice on what worked and what didn’t in their opinion. Some rejections are simply form letters. Those are hard because you have no idea really what you did wrong. 

5:  Don’t Take It Personally  

 Easier said than done, I know. When you receive a rejection letter, the hardest thing to do is not take it personally because that’s exactly how it feels. 

The reality is, the editor isn’t rejecting you as a writer, they are simply letting you know the story you submitted didn’t work for them at that time. Sometimes it a matter of having another story similar to yours already under contract. 

I wish that I could tell you that I breezed right through every single one of my rejections and didn’t let them get to me, but that wouldn’t be the truth. There were several that made me cry. Some made me angry. All were learning tools. 

6:  Every Book Deserves A Second Chance  

The real challenge for every writer, it to pick yourself up after you receive a rejection, and keep going. There have been so many times in the past that I felt like giving up. It’s natural after you receive a rejection letter to think you’ll never get published. 

There’s only one way to move from being a writer to becoming a published author and that’s to shake off the blues, find another publishing house that fits your story, and submit again. Your book deserves a second chance. You’ve put too much love into it to quit now. Some of the best authors in the world have received numerous rejection letters before they finally sold. What sets them apart from those 97% who never finished the book? One word…perseverance.   

The best advice I can give you is to finish the book and know when the edits are done. Find the courage to submit your book, and the strength to move beyond that rejection letter, because it isn’t personal…its writing.   

So…what is the strangest rejection letter you’ve ever received or heard about?  Mine is the one that came addressed to another writer. I’m still wondering if they got my  letter. I guess I’ll never know.  

I will be giving away two prints copies of Rocky Mountain Pursuit to our US readers. But I don’t want to leave out our international readers, so I will be giving away two Epub or Kindle copies for them. Winners announced in the Weekend Edition.

A Little About Mary: 

Mary meets her youngest fan at a Texas book signing.

Mary Alford grew up in a small Texas town famous for, well not much of anything really. Being the baby of the family and quite a bit younger than her brothers and sister, Mary had plenty of time to entertain herself. Making up stories seems to come naturally to her. As a pre-teen, Mary discovered Christian romance novels and knew instinctively that was what she wanted to do with her over-active imagination. She wrote her first novel as a teen, (it’s tucked away somewhere never to see the light of day), but never really pursued her writing career seriously until 2012 when she entered the Love Inspired Speed Dating contest and sold her first Love Inspired Suspense, Forgotten Past. 

You can connect with Mary on her website: http:www.maryalford.net, or on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/mary.alford.1272

A Little About Rocky Mountain Pursuit: 

Everyone believes agent Jase Bradford is dead—everyone but Reyna Peterson. Only he can protect her now that someone wants the information her CIA husband died to secure. As the one member of their spy team not killed, Jase must remain in the shadows. Yet when Reyna leads the enemy right to his mountain refuge and blows his cover, Jase risks his life for hers. As his best friend's beautiful widow scales the walls around his heart, whether out of loyalty or love, he makes it his duty to secure her safety. But when their pursuers trap them in the snowy Colorado mountains, will it become his final mission?

Thank you for letting me drop by today. 

All the best…

Mary Alford

The Dance

with guest Mary  Alford

About a year ago, my seven year old granddaughter was certain she wanted to be a dancer after she watched Angelina Ballerina.

Unfortunately for the dancing world, that changed when the movie Frozen came out. She heard Idina Menzel sing Let It Go. Now she wants to be a singer.

I was about my granddaughter’s age when I read my first Nancy Drew mystery and knew that I wanted to create stories when I grew up. That was it. Career settled. Life put into place.

If only it were that easy. Fast forward six years and then I discovered Phyllis Whitney and Victoria Holt and became hooked on the romantic suspense genre.

I had no idea when I decided to write that I was about to embark on the dance of a lifetime.

 Just like dancing, writing requires a lot of discipline and training. 

First, you must learn the proper steps: There is nothing scarier than sitting in front of a blank computer screen for the first time and trying to write…something. It’s a huge leap to go from reading inspirational romantic suspense to actually writing it. When I wrote my first story, I had no idea all the intricate steps involved in creating a suspense story, but I wrote, I read about my craft, and I found a great network of seasoned authors who willingly shared their knowledge. 

Practice, Practice, Practice: It you don’t use it you lose it. In other words, to improve as a dancer or a writer, you have to work through all the self-doubt and times when life gets in the way.

In the beginning, writing was a trial and error experience for me. I confess I tried other genres in the process before I came back to my first love, inspirational romantic suspense. Some wise author once told me, write what you enjoy reading and then perfect it. In other words, if you don’t read contemporary romance, then don’t try to write it.

Submitting a manuscript the first time can be a frightening experience. After you’ve polished and perfected your baby, it’s time to send it out into the world and let it stand on its own. And that’s just the beginning. You wait and wait until one day you receive news about your baby. Only it’s not what you were hoping. The dreaded rejection letter arrives and it feels as if someone slugged you in the stomach hard. This wasn’t what I expected. To quote my granddaughter, “Now what”? Well, some rejection letters are form letters. Those you file away. Others have comments from the editor who reviewed it. Those you can gain little pearls of wisdom to help you along your way…but you have to put aside your hurt feelings and listen. You can’t take it personal. Publishing is a business. A very hard one at that.

It’s finally Showtime! What do you mean I’ll be dancing by myself?

 

For me, ten years of writing came down to five minutes in the spotlight. In 2012, I entered the Speed Dating Contest that editor Emily Rodmell hosted and I was one of the lucky ones who got an appointment to chat with Emily. On the day of the pitch, I was on vacation in Colorado. At our cabin, internet service is nonexistent. I could have given up and said, well, that’s it, better luck next time, but I didn’t. My husband and I drove into the small town of Pagosa Springs where I did the entire chat on my laptop in the parking lot of the Ace Hardware Store.

Emily was kind enough to request a synopsis although I was so nervous she probably didn’t understand anything I told her. I promptly sent the synopsis out to her. Then she requested the first three chapters followed by the full manuscript. With each request, I tried not to get my hopes up.

In December 2012, Emily called. To this day, I can’t tell you what she said to me other than that she wanted to buy FORGOTTEN PAST for Love Inspired Suspense. It was a surreal moment. One that still hasn’t fully sunken in yet. It's a great feeling to have your dream become a reality and even greater to hold your book in your hands.         
 
Is There A Second Dance? Let’s hope so. I’ve certainly learned some wonderful lessons during the editing process of FORGOTTEN PAST. As I polish my second Love Inspired Romance, I’m remembering the dance that got me here.    

To quote Garth Brooks’ famous song, The Dance, “I could have missed the pain, but I'd have had to miss the dance.” 

And what a dance it is.

What about you? What dream are you dancing to obtain? Whether it is becoming a published author or something else, I’d love to hear how you’ve overcome the obstacles along the way to your Showtime?

I’ll be giving away a signed print copy of FORGOTTEN PAST, my first Harlequin Love Inspired Suspense, to one random person who comments. Thanks for stopping by! 

~ Mary - 


Mary Alford is a Texan whose debut novel, FORGOTTEN PAST is now available at Love Inspired Suspense.  

When Mary’s not dreaming up people in dangerous situations and writing them down, she’s also a mom, wife, grandmother, avid reader, a proud geek-girl.

For occasional updates and news about upcoming publications, please go to the contact form on her website: www.MaryAlford.net and subscribe to her newsletter!

Mary can be found on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mary.alford.1272. Her twitter handle is @MaryAlford12. 

Or on Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/29757134-mary-alford

Forgotten Memories

 How can you have a future if you can’t remember your past? 

Two years ago, Faith McKenzie died. The woman who came back to life after a brutal attack that took her memory and the life of her best friend, Rachel Jennings, wasn’t the same person who died. Faith doesn’t recognize the woman she’s become. In fact, she doesn’t remember a single thing about her life before waking up in a hospital room in Austin, Texas and being told how close to death she’d come. Although her doctors believe the amnesia is temporary, when weeks turn into months, the detectives working her case are convinced Faith is hiding something significant about Rachel’s murder. A few days after her release from the hospital, someone begins calling Faith’s apartment. At first, it’s just a couple of random hang-ups, until one day Faith hears the words that send her running for her life.

 Forgotten Past 

Romantic Times: 4 1/2 Stars!

Fast-paced, edge-of-your-seat action and false leads make this a keeper that gets more engaging as the story progresses. Faith is a strong character who shows that, despite insurmountable odds, God is in control. --Marion Faith Laird