I’m one of those rare breed of readers that loves both
male/male and male/female romance novels. Because of that, I write for both audiences.
When I started out, though, I was only writing m/f stories. I had quite a few
of those under my belt when I decided to try my hand at m/m romance writing. In
the beginning, I threw one m/m book in each of my m/f series.
Earlier this year, inspiration struck for an entire m/m
series. And when I say it struck, it hammered me over the head. In a matter of
days, I had the entire five books planned out with character outlines, titles
and summaries. Once I’d finished that, the main characters of the first book
started talking to me. Rather than ignore them, I gave in and started writing
their story. Since I’d just finished the second book in my six book m/f series,
I figured I might as well give in to the m/m pull of my creative muse.
I finished the first book in my m/m series, polished it up
and released that bad boy on the world. I also paid a visit to the social media
groups of some of the more prolific m/m writers and pedaled my book. Thanks to
their support, my book took off. For the first time ever, I made the Amazon
best seller list, reviews were coming in and readers were already asking for
the next book. It was exciting and humbling.
It would have been easy to give in, toss aside my m/f series
and just keep writing in the m/m genre. I couldn’t do it though. Not only have
I promised readers a six book series that I was only halfway through releasing,
but I still wanted to write those books. I just wanted to write the other four
m/m books too.
My solution?
Write both series but alternate release dates. After my
first m/m series release, I went back to my m/f series and wrote and released
the third book. Then I wrote and released the second m/m book. I’m currently
working on the fourth book in the m/f series. The plan is to write the third
m/m book when that’s done, but you know what they say about best laid plans.
Work has been slow going on the fourth m/f book. Why? The characters
in the third m/m book won’t stop talking to me. They keep telling me things. I
write them down because I don’t want to lose them before I’m ready to write the
story. I also seem to have more readers of my m/m novels than my m/f and those
m/m readers are voracious. They’re ready for that next book. I want to give it
to them, but I also want to stick to that commitment I made. Not just because I
do have some readers waiting for the next m/f book but also because nothing
ticks me off more as a reader than an unfinished series.
When I decided to alternate releases for each series, I
thought it was a good idea. I thought it would be easier to switch mental gears
than it has been. I’ve learned my lesson. Writing more than one series at a
time may work for other writers, but it doesn’t work for me. While I will honor
the commitment I’ve made to how each book in the respective series will be
released, this will be the last time I have simultaneous series in the works.
Working on two series at the same time is too much for
this writer.
