By Glynnis Campbell
Have you ever considered
being part of an anthology?
There are definite
perks.
You only have to write a
fraction of a novel. You get to work with writers you trust and
admire. You can link a novella to your own existing series. And
when your book hits the shelves, your promotion quotient increases by the
number of authors.
But there are
challenges, too.
Writers are by nature
solitary creatures. Creative people are stubborn about their
opinions. And romantics get their feelings crushed easily. Put all
three together, and you must think before you speak. On any given day,
you may be treading on eggshells or walking on broken glass. You must be
honest but careful with words and realize that no idea is so precious than it
can't be compromised for the sake of harmony.
So how to begin?
For my latest historical
romance anthology with Tanya Anne Crosby and Laurin Wittig, it started with a
bottle of wine in the lobby at a writer's conference, brainstorming until the
wee hours.
At first, it felt like
we were working on different puzzles.
Tanya hoped to write a
prequel to her Guardian of the Stone series, featuring the legend of a Pictish
goddess from the Dark Ages.
Laurin needed to tie her
novella in to her well-loved Scottish Highland romances, the Kilmartin Glen
series.
And the story for my
Tudor-set Shadow of the Queen series had to revolve around an event in Mary
Queen of Scots' life.
What we needed was a
thread to not only tie all our novellas together, but to allow us the freedom
to go seamlessly off into our own series.
So how do you find that
thread? You can give stories characters or themes in common. You
can place the stories in the same magical setting. You can connect the
stories with an object like an heirloom jewel or a legendary sword passed from
hand to hand.
After hours of juggling
ideas, we came up with an object to link our stories—the Winter Stone—an
ancient crystal with mysterious properties, carried from Keeper to Keeper down
through the ages.
Of course, in the jigsaw
puzzle of book writing, this is only the outside frame. There's still the
entire middle to complete. There are more challenges ahead. For us,
these challenges were magnified by the fact that we lived thousands of miles
apart.
We went back and forth
on the size and properties of The Winter Stone.
We compared plot points
to be sure they didn't conflict.
We played tug-of-war
with the level of the paranormal element we wanted.
But in the end, with
communication, understanding, compromise, and a lot of heart, every last piece
of the jigsaw puzzle came together, and THE WINTER STONE was born.
So if you're patient, if
you can see the big picture, and if you enjoy turning pieces on their heads and
trying to make them all fit, maybe an anthology is for you!
When
she's not writing swashbuckling historical romances like Lady Danger, Knight's Prize, MacAdam's Lass, Captive Heart, The Shipwreck, My Hero and playing medieval
matchmaker, bestselling author GLYNNIS CAMPBELL is a cartoon voice, the wife of
a rock star, and the mother of two young adults. She's been a ballerina, a
typographer, a film composer, a piano player, a singer in an all-girl rock
band, and a voice in those violent video games you won't let your kids play.
She does her best writing on cruise ships, in Scottish castles, on her
husband's tour bus, and at home in her sunny southern California garden. Glynnis
loves transporting readers to a place where the bold heroes have endearing
flaws, the women are stronger than they look, the land is lush and untamed, and
chivalry is far from dead! Her social media links are: www.facebook.com/GlynnisCampbell
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