Andrea here, I’m just putting the finishing touches a new Lady Arianna mystery, which got me to musing on how a series takes shape in an author’s head . . .
But first allow me set the scene: For those of you who follow the series, you may recall that the last Lady A book, SMOKE AND LIES, took place on Elba amidst international intrigue and deceptions as Napoleon plotted his escape from the tiny island off Italy in order to re-seize the French throne. In A QUESTION OF NUMBERS, Lady Arianna and Lord Saybrook’s latest adventure, (which will be released in early Spring) the action moves to Brussels, a city aswirl in rumors and treachery as all of Europe waits to see if Napoleon will once again march his army into battle against the rest of Europe. (Brussels, you might ask? But honestly, what Regency historical author could possibly resist the chance to feature the Duchess of Richmond’s ball—one of the most famous parties in history—in a scene!)
Now, if you had asked me when I first started to envision the first flutters of Lady Arianna if I ever imagined her matching wits with Napoleon, the answer would have been a resounding . . . Well, er, no. (You see, it’s a trick question—but I’ll get to that in a moment.)
So, that’s where Lady A and her friends are now . . . but how did they actually come to life? The process was a little different than the usual way ideas happen for me, so I thought it might be interesting to share, as readers often ask, “How do think up your ideas?” The answer is, sometimes creativity takes some twists and turns.
So, we’ll backtrack to 2010. I was writing historical romance, but found I was adding more and more mystery to the plots. For me, the opportunities to explore the complexities of a character seemed a little richer when one confronts them with challenges that make them confront their elemental strengths and weaknesses. In other words, I found mystery felt like a more natural voice for me and my stories.
So I sat down with my agent at the time and we began to plot how to break into the genre. Now, in those days (publishing has seen some big changes since then) Berkley and NAL, its sister imprint under the Penguin Putnam umbrella, were doing a very expansive line of cozy mystery series (I didn’t want to write hard-boiled crime.) So we decided that was the best place to pitch.
The Berkley/NAL line featured lots of different types of mysteries—both historical and contemporary—with distinctive characteristics. There were cozy knitting and baking series, stories designed to appeal to book lovers, just to name a few. So the first thing was to come up with a unique heroine and concept.
Here’s where the chocolate comes in . . . I had recently stumbled upon a fascinating discovery—contrary to popular belief, there was edible chocolate during the Regency era, not just the rather bitter drink made with Theobroma cacao (which is the scientific name for the cacao tree.) I was playing around with it as a plot device in an idea for a romance novel. So during our brainstorming session, my agent got very excited and suggested I come up with a series idea featuring a heroine who was an expert in chocolate. I mean, how could any editor resist chocolate!
I loved the idea, so off I went to concoct a recipe for success . . . and this where things get interesting. I’d spending a lot of time thinking conceptually about what sort of books I saw myself writing, and what I really wanted to do was a slightly gritty series about a heroine who wasn’t a pampered aristocrat, but one who had had a rough life and some inner demons to deal with. And yet, I also loved writing in the Regency and the world of the beau monde.
So, how was I going to put all the ingredients together and make them work? The mental gears began to spin . . . chocolate grows in the West Indies . . .the West Indies were often a place the black sheep of the ton were sent to rusticate . . . slowly but surely, Arianna came life in my head. Her father is a disgraced earl, forced to flee England because—well, he’s a criminal who’s been involved in financial scams. He’s murdered by his partner in crime because he won’t be part of a new scheme—which leaves his young daughter orphaned and forced to fend for herself in a dog-eat-dog world. Among the many skills Lady Arianna acquires as she grows to womanhood is an expertise in cooking—especially with chocolate. And now she ready to return to England and seek revenge for her father . . .
Excited about the idea, I sent the proposal off to my agent. She promptly called me and cleared her throat with a cough. “Well, um, this wasn’t at all what I expected,” she began. It turns out what she thought I’d concoct was as series based on a woman who runs a chocolate shop in London, and through the different customers who came in, would get involved in amateur sleuthing. “Ah,” I replied, “That’s a very interesting idea.” My turn to cough. “But not the one I want to write.”
We discussed it, and though I could tell she wasn't totally convinced my idea would fly, she was willing to pitch it. Off it went to an editor at NAL, who responded that she was interested and wanted to see some chapters. I scribbled off the requisite sample, adding a dark hero as Arianna's foil, and alternating his and her POVs. Back came the response. The editor said she liked the chapters very much, but NAL wanted only the heroine’s POV. Could I rejigger the concept?
Hmmmm. I actually really liked the double POV, but there’s never just one way to tell a story . . . so I decided to take on the challenge. And thus, SWEET REVENGE, the first Lady Arianna book popped out of the creative oven. And the rest is, as they say, history. (When NAL decided to cut back their mystery line and dropped the series, I found I enjoyed writing Lady Arianna so much that I’ve continued it as a self-published series, having gotten the rights back to the first three books.)
So now I’ve got a few questions for you—you do enjoy hearing the inside stories about how we Wenches create our books? Anything else about process you’d like to hear from us? And what about POV? Do you like getting the story from different perspectives, or do you prefer one POV? (Or doesn’t it matter?) Please share! I’ll be giving away a copy of SWEET REVENGE in either e-book or audio format to one winner chosen at random from those who leave a comment here.