Nice to See You Again
His name is Kevin Jackson and as usual he has a number of women crazy about him. For those of you who don’t know, I’m referring to a character from my Henson trilogy. He wasn’t supposed to have his own book, but the number of readers asking about him made me curious (one has to be curious to fill up three hundred pages) so I decided to give him his own book.
Giving a character his/her own story must be a well thought out decision. Some characters are great in an ensemble, but flop on their own. Fortunately, I think I’ve made the right decision and the story is coming along. There are going to be surprises readers won’t expect (I know I certainly didn’t).Why? Because whenever I start a story I really don’t know how it will play out (it will be uplifting that’s all I know). I always try to stay true to my characters and they weave the tale for me.
Continuing stories can be a tricky business, however. There were times when I didn’t want to know what happened next. Most authors I enjoy do an excellent job. Barbara Michael does a good job of pulling characters from other books and putting them in a fresh new environment. As a young reader, I admit to being mildly surprised by the continuing story of Little Women (what do you mean Jo didn’t marry Laurie and did Beth have to die?) but thrilled that Anne Shirley finally married Gilbert (poor suffering fellow) but as the series continued the books got darker.
I sometimes try new authors who bravely continue the stories of known characters with mixed results. For example, I think Laurie R King is doing a fabulous job with her Sherlock Holmes and Mary Russell series. However, I shudder at the thought of the sequel I read to Pride and Prejudice (there are a number of them that I know of. No, I will not tell you which one). Reading a continuing story is always risky, but usually a fun new adventure.
So are there any continuing stories that you loved or hated? Why? Are there continuing stories that you would love to read?
