Behind the scenes… Just One Night Serial

For a short time only, Part 1 of my Just One Night serial is FREE! 

Grab your copy here:

Amazon US  / Amazon CA / Amazon UK / GooglePlay / iBooks / Kobo

Below I answer some readers' questions about how I came up with the idea to write a serial romance, and what my favorite romance books are.  Read on for more!

1.    Why did you decide to write a serial romance?
I'm always looking for ways to do something different, mix things up a bit. I was reading about the history of serial novels on Wikipedia one day, and I realized that it's really an old form of delivering novels to the public (not some newfangled thing like some people think), and I thought it would be kind of interesting to give it a shot. I write a lot and have a lot of books out, and to keep things interesting, I like to try new things — new for me, anyway. The best part about writing that serial novel, though, was that I would write a Part and then wait for reader feedback before I started the next Part, so it was a very interactive way of writing a story. The readers definitely influenced the way the story was guided and how it ended.

2.    What specifically inspired you to write Just One Night?
I was looking to write something a little steamier than I have in the past, and I liked the idea of a one night stand that turns into something more. I also have a real soft spot in my heart for Hugh Grant, so having a character who is a charming Englishman really appealed to me.

3.    How would you describe the characters in Just One Night?
I would describe the two main characters, Jennifer and William, as business-minded people who are disillusioned with love or don't feel like they have time for love, but still have a yearning to be with someone. And they both have a pretty good sense of humor.

4.    What has the reader response been to Just One Night since its first publication in 2014?
It's been really great! I'm so excited that the readers have enjoyed William and Jennifer's banter as much as I did when I was writing the book. I say this all the time, and I know it's hard to believe, but when I write, I just take dictation. The characters speak to me in my mind, and I write what they say. I giggled through the whole book.

5.    Do you have plans to write other serials?
Actually, yes, I do. Edward is William’s younger brother in Just One Night, and he has earned his own serial romance that will come out in November and December. It will also feature Jennifer and William from the first serial novel, Edward’s new personal assistant, and Mia, Jennifer's best friend.  Add it to your Goodreads shelf today!

6.  What are your favorite Romance books / favorite Romance authors?
My favorite romance books are the ones that have happy endings. I guess I'm kind of old-fashioned, because I really enjoy the ones where the main characters end up getting married and having a baby. A surprise baby is even more exciting! I'm not a real fan of a bunch of heartache and cruelty, which I think has become kind of common these days. I see a lot of readers really looking for tearjerkers and emotional rollercoasters in their next reads. That's not my style as a reader, although there will be some tears involved in some of the books that I’ve written. I don’t always write what I would choose to read as a reader; I write the stories that are being told by the characters loudest in my head. I don’t have a favorite romance author because I have read so many, many romances in my lifetime. I just grab ones that have great descriptions and read! I also like to get recommendations from my family or friends for my next reads. That being said, I really don’t have time to read much these days because of all the writing I do!

7.    What direction do you see the Romance genre going in next?
I really wish I knew the answer to that question! It seems like we started out with billionaires and then moved into bikers and firefighters and police officers and all those other groups of manly men, but really, this is nothing new. You can find romance novels from 30 years ago with the same themes (except maybe not the biker thing). I can’t predict the subject matter, but I think I can tell you what will happen to the format of romance novels: We'll probably see more serialized novels and much shorter single-part works. With the advent of programs like Kindle Unlimited, where a reader can get an unlimited number of books for a very small amount of money, it makes it very difficult to have a career as a writer if you write regular-length novels; that’s why you’re seeing shorter and shorter works out there. Serial novels work great with Kindle Unlimited. Because readers are asking for emotional roller coasters, you'll see a lot more shocking plots than in the past (such as these “I fell in love with my bad-boy step-brother” – which used to be considered incest and now is pretty much mainstream romance), and since Colleen Hoover has done such a great job of introducing big twists in her stories, there will probably be a lot of authors who will do the same thing with a big surprise at the end of the story that you never saw coming. I’m a fan of those especially!

What are your favorite romance books?  Who are your favorite romance authors?  Come leave a reply to this blog post on the homepage of my website ellecasey.com, come say hi on my Facebook page, or drop me a line anytime at me@ellecasey.com.  Want to join my Facebook Street Team, where we talk about all things book-related?  Click here.

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