The Diamonds of Welbourne Manor: the making of a linked anthology.

by Mary Jo

Something new for you today!  I’m sure you’ve all read romance anthologies, which usually have a vague sort of theme, like a holiday or a setting.  Generally the stories are unconnected, but now and then an anthology is created where the stories are strongly related to each other. 

When Jo Beverley, Barbara Samuel, Karen Harbaugh and I have written our three paranormal romance anthologies, we’ve spent a fair amount of time on world building, and in the first anthology (Faery Magic), we actually had small connections among the stories and characters.

But my guests today are doing something much more difficult!  In The Diamonds of Welbourne Manor, authors Diane Gaston, Deborah Marlowe, and Amanda McCabe have actually set their anthology in the same blended family, which requires a special kind of team work.  Diane, Deb, and Amanda are here today to explain the kind of work required to create such an integrated anthology.  They’re giving away a free copy, too!  So without further ado:

Hello, Word Wenches, Diane Gaston here!. Thank you so much for having us visit you today to talk about the making of our anthology, The Diamonds of Welbourne Manor.

When the Duke of Manning ran off with Lady Linwall it had been the scandal of its day. Did they care? Not at all. Their home, Welbourne Manor, soon housed a happy miscellany of his and theirs—but not hers, not the young son she left behind. Now all the children are grown, this estranged son is on their doorstep, and all their lives are about to change.
.
Amanda McCabe, Deb Marlowe, and I (pictured above in order) have been friends for years, especially since we all went on the 2003 Novel Explorations Tour of Regency England where we oohed and ahhed over Regency things like shoes, carpets, and crown molding throughout London, Brighton, and Bath. Later, at the 2007 RWA conference in Dallas, Texas, Deb had just sold, joining Amanda and me at Harlequin Historical. We were very excited to all be invited out to dinner by Harlequin Historical editor, Maddie Rowe. 

DIANE: I remember not having a clue why we were invited out to dinner. I thought it was a case of killing three birds with one stone..er..dinner. Amanda and Deb, what do you remember?

AMANDA: I remember we had Mexican food—very smoky fajitas, and some great margaritas.

DEB: I remember how good the margaritas were!

DIANE: No! I meant what do you remember about Maddie offering us the anthology?

AMANDA: Oh. I remember they said they had “a proposal for us”, and we were trying to figure out what it might be!!

DEB: Actually, I was thrilled to be offered the opportunity.  This was my first anthology, so I was excited about trying the new format.  I was surprised that the offer was for us to come up with any theme or idea we wanted, and really relieved because I knew the three of us would work well together.

DIANE: I’ve only done one other anthology-a Christmas one with Elizabeth Rolls and Deborah Hale, but we didn’t correspond until it was time to promote the book. 

AMANDA: I’d done two novellas before, but they were very different from this one!  They were both for Christmas anthologies, and there wasn’t really a cohesive theme or storyline (except one anthology had “Christmas magic” as the general idea!).  I didn’t even know who the other authors were until I got the covers!  This was so much more collaborative, and more about building a whole world.  I think it helped so much that we already knew each other well!

DIANE: Funny, I’ve heard that people believe that Harlequin tells its authors what to write for the anthologies. I know they do sometimes, but all they wanted from us was that it be Regency. We were free to decide to do it anyway we wanted. Didn’t we pretty much know right away we wanted connected stories?

AMANDA: I think ideas started bubbling up right away!

DIANE: Later that summer the three of us met in Williamsburg, Virginia, to plan the anthology. Amanda and I had already planned the trip, to tour Jamestown and Colonial Williamsburg, but Deb was able to join us for a couple days and we spent one day just wandering around Colonial Williamsburg. Sightseeing in historical places was in our blood.

DIANE: What do you remember about that day? I remember we spent lots of time asking the guy running the printing press a million questions. We had a great time! But we weren’t talking about the anthology and I was starting to get nervous. 

AMANDA: I wish I could remember more!  I just remember we came up with the general theme over lunch at one of the “colonial taverns” and then spent the day shopping and touring.

DEB: I think that once we came up with the idea of a blended, extended family, our brains were working all day, even as we were touring and shopping.  I remember coming up with different ideas at different parts of the day, but it really started to come together cohesively in the evening, when we sat in the hotel room with our notebooks and started to brainstorm.  I think we used nearly everything we came up with that night!

AMANDA: We talked about possible characters and settings.  That evening we sat around in Deb’s hotel room and pulled the idea together!  (Well, sort of—lots of emails had to follow!)

DIANE: As soon as we created the duke and his lover, I knew exactly whose story I wanted to tell. I think my hero, Brenner, came to me full-blown in that instant. And I remember both of you knew instantly whose story you wanted to tell.

After Williamsburg, we went back to our homes and the other deadlines we were all chasing. It was months before we talked specifically about the anthology again, this time by email.

DEB: I remember that we started with an email that set up the basic outline we came up with in Virginia—

DIANE: That’s because you kept good notes!

AMANDA: Characters' names, appearances, and personalities, and how they all fit together in the family!  (The family charts you came up with were a big help). 

DIANE: The social worker in me. I put the chart on my website.

AMANDA: The layout of the house and gardens, the servants’ names, lots of things like that.

DEB: I remember loving the house that Diane proposed as a setting.

DIANE: Marble Hill House outside Richmond, but we had to make it bigger. 

DEB: I really liked putting to use the character traits that the other two had come up for their heroines, such as Charlotte's tendency to ride hard, run about in her riding habit and the pugs always following her about.

DIANE: Some of our ideas fell by the wayside or diminished in importance, like having each book begin with a house party. We even called the work our “House Party Anthology.”  But later the editors told us that they’d selected our book to be a featured book for Harlequin’s 60th anniversary, their “Diamond” anniversary. They wanted us to put some diamonds in the story, so we made the diamonds important. And even the title reflects that now. 

The real test of how well we achieved our vision of connected stories came with our revision letters.

DIANE: I remember that MY revisions were pages long and yours were just a few things here and there.

DEB: Very easy!  I don't think we had very many continuity issues because we were in such close contact.  I think the only large thing I had to change was that I had the wrong pug stealing Annalise's necklace!

AMANDA: I think I had the easiest job, with the last story!  Many of the characters just appeared in the epilogue, but I had to make sure Charlotte’s thoughts of them and their letters to her fit in with their personalities.

So that is how The Diamonds of Welbourne Manor came to be released this month and we could not be happier with how it came out. All three of us will be in New York City to sign The Diamonds of Welbourne Manor at the Harlequin booth for Book Expo America May 30. You can bet we’ve planned some sightseeing, too! Who knows what story ideas we might come up with. Because we also created three sons in our scandalous family and they each get a book!

So ask us questions! What would you like to know about writing an anthology?  

MJP: Diane, Deb, and Amanda will give away a copy of The Diamonds of Welbourne Manor to one lucky commenter between now and Saturday night.

Their website:

http://dianegaston.com/

http://debmarlowe.com/

http://ammandamccabe.com/

 

 

 

Comments

[Helen]

I have heard so much about this book I am really looking forward to reading it.

Loved the post and learning how you got together and planned it sounds like you all had a lot of fun doing it.

Congrats Ladies

Have Fun
Helen

[MJ]

Did each of you finish your story first before having the other authors read it or did you read each other's work as you went along? Were there plotting challenges that popped up or had you done enough ground work that things naturally sorted themselves out? What are you doing to reward yourselves for such a fantastic anthology (and a great cover!)

[Maggie Robinson]

This is such a neat idea. I love the collaborative aspect of it, and can't wait to read it. I have written a connected trilogy and had trouble keeping everything straight, so I truly admire you three. Congratulations on achieving such a successful anthology!

[kay]

Enjoyed your book...quite an effort. Question to Ms. McCabe: does the character of Mary from Charlotte's story get her own book?

[Virginia DeMarce]

I've already put this book on my Kindle. I enjoyed it thoroughly.

[Andrea Pickens]

Welcome Amanda, Diane and Deb! I

t's so much fun to hear about the process of doing linked stories. I just love the concept of this sort of anthology, even more than unrelated stories centering around a general theme.

It sounds like part of the great success was that you all were already good buddies. Do you think it would have been possible to do the project with strangers?

And do the three of you have plns for another book together?

[Deb Marlowe]

Hello all! And a huge thank you to the Wenches for having us! It's an honor to blog with you!

Hi Helen! So glad to see you! I hope you will love our unruly family!

Hi Mary Jo! We sent a LOT of emails as we were working on our stories. We also sent each other a synopsis of our stories. As we were writing, questions would come up; "Does this sound like Brenner?" or "Where would Ned and Annalise at such and such a time?" But we didn't read each other's completed stories until after everything was turned in.

[Deb Marlowe]

Forgot to say: I think our reward will come later this month--while we are in NY for BEA we're planning on indulging in some more touring, the ballet and a cocktail party or two!

[Deb Marlowe]

Thank you Maggie--it sounds hard, but the execution of it was remarkably easy!

Hi Kay and Virginia--I can't tell you how happy I am to hear that you enjoyed TDOWM!
Happy sigh!

Hi Andrea! Congrats to you on being elected newest Wench! Hmm, good question. I think a project like this would be possible with strangers, but likely a lot more stressful. We were perfectly relaxed as we brainstormed and no one hesitated to say what we thought would work and what might not. Staying in contact was easy too.

I'd love to do something like this again!

[Amanda McCabe]

Good morning, Wenches! (and newest Wench Andrea!). It's so great to be here, on the (hopefully) last stop of the blog tour. Deb is right--I see champagne in our future when we see each other in New York in a couple of weeks. :)

Kay--Mary is actually appearing again very soon, in a Christmas novella in an as-yet-unnamed anthology out this November. She and Dominic have to chase down her younger sister when she elopes with a young rake, and they all end up snowed in at an old Gothic-y mansion for a wild Christmas Eve. I think it's going to be a lot of fun to see what happens to her!

[Amanda McCabe]

I agree with Deb--it would be possible to work with strangers on a collaborative effort like this (I imagine contemporary authors who work on a continuity series do this quite a bit), but there would be a longer getting-to-know-you curve. We already knew each other's work and had something of an idea of our working styles, so we were able to slip right into the stories.

Plus we didn't feel bad about saying things like "That character would never do that!" Or "I don't like this bit" because we knew everyone would understand :)

[Maureen]

Reading this post I get the impression that these stories were a lot of fun to write and that the three of you didn't really struggle with the stories and how they connected. Are you planning any more stories with this family?

[Mary Jo Putney]

From MJP:

I'm sure it was easier to do the anthology since you were friends to start with. But even if you hadn't been, by the time you finished a linked anthology you have become friends--or be sworn enemies!

Mary Jo

[Diane Gaston]

Oh, I'm late to the party! Blame it on a leaky refrigerator and an emergency service call. All fixed now!

It is so delightful to be here! Mary Jo has been a special blessing to me, one of the first published authors I met when I joined WRW. She's been a wonderful support. As has Susan, who did a wonderful critique of one of my contest entries. What a thrill that was! And Jo has answered many a Regency question for me. So has Edith, I believe. And well I remember my first RWA meeting with Annie, right after she first sold--we had friends in common but only a fleeting chance to chat!
Then there is Andrea! who brought me and Amanda to my first publisher's party at RWA when she sold to Pocket. Now she's at Grand Central with Amanda..er..Laurel McKee but you'll hear more of that in 2010.
Sigh! Memory lane.....

[Diane Gaston]

Now to answer questions.
We did read each others' synopses, but I have to confess that I didn't finish reading Deb's and Amanda's stories until last weekend (on MY Kindle, Virgina!) I was absolutely delighted by both stories!!! How lucky I was to be in the same anthology with these ladies.

I'd do another anthology with these two in a heartbeat! It was so much fun, my best writing experience so far.

What surprised me the most is how little conflict there was. I was afraid we'd have to "discuss" who would get which character, but we each immediately wanted different ones. And each of our stories went in unique directions, we didn't have to decide things like whose story gets the lost necklace..

In the only other anthology I wrote, I befriended Elizabeth Rolls and Debra Hale AFTER we wrote our stories and were planning promotion. I'd be happy to write with those ladies again, too.

[Diane Gaston]

Maureen asked if we were planning any other stories with this family.

Not only did Harlequin Historical offer us the anthology but we each also got a connected book out of the deal. So we made certain we peopled our families with enough characters.

The Duke's two legitimate sons get stories by Amanda and Deb, and I get Leo, the illegitimate son. All I know about him so far is that he wants to raise horses. And Deb's son is into horse racing. This will be another round of new research for me. We have no idea when these will be released though

[Jane Irish Nelson]

Oh, this sounds fabulous! I can hardly wait to get my hands on it.

[Minna]

Sounds like a great book!

[Margay]

Do you have any plans to do another anthology together?
Margay

[Kristina W.]

This concept sounds so neat! I'm looking forward to reading this book and the others follow!

-Kristina

[chey]

Hi,
The Diamonds of Diamonds_276 Welbourne Manor sounds great!
Lots of work went into planning it all. Congrats!

[Jennifer Sampson]

Hi,
I've been following you guys around on various web sites and it sounds like you had such a great time with the stories and working together. I can't wait to read it.
Jennifer

[Diane Gaston]

Margay asked if we had plans to do another anthology together.

I'm hoping that this one does so well that Harlequin will offer us another one. Like I said before, I'd do this again in a heartbeat.

I think our writing styles compliment each other. I wonder if those of you who have read it agree with me?

[Diane Gaston]

Following us, Jennifer? You must be fatigued!!! We've been a bunch of places promoting this book.

If anyone is attending BEA, we're signing there Sat, May 30 at the Harlequin booth, 3 pm. And if you are in NYC and can attend Lady Jane's Salon ( http://www.ladyjanesalon.com/ ) Monday June 1, Amanda and I will be reading from the book. (Deb will be back on mother duty)

[Deb Marlowe]

From your fingers to HH's ears, Diane! LOL!

Yes, Jennifer, I hope you are not tired of us!

[Sherrinda]

It was so cool to read the behind-the-scenes workings of how the book came about. Fascinating! I just love regencies and I'm sure this one is a treasure. ;)

[Julie]

The anthology sounds great - I'll have to look for it. Williamsburg is a great place for inspiration, I've always thought!

[Diane Gaston]

Sherrinda, I really felt like it was a charmed experience!

Julie, my in laws live in Williamsburg but I so rarely get to do the tourist experience when visiting them. Amanda and Deb were the perfect companions, because we were really in to every historical detail. We were like that on the England trip, too.

[Robyn L]

collaboration at it's best!!! How well this worked out for all of you. congrats.

[Sue]

I have a question about the name Brenner. Is it a surname or christian name? I ask because I've never heard of it before and I'm English. I loved hearing about the planning and process that goes into a linked book like this. It will be on my reading list for sure.

[Lyndsey L]

It's so neat to hear the backstory of the book! I've read many anthologies, but have never seen one quite like this. Having the stories all set in the same world, instead of just having the same theme, is so much more interesting!