Squawk Radio

I never set out to write an eight-book series. Believe me, when I started The Duke and I, I had no idea that I would still be writing about those characters seven years later. In fact, I had every intention of just writing three books. It would be Daphne, Anthony, and Colin (This is why Benedict isn't terribly fleshed out as a character in Duke.) When I pitched this idea to my editor, however, she said to keep it to two books. Trilogies were overdone, she said, and the middle book was always the worst. But I really wanted to do three, so I made my argument, and she agreed. As I was working on The Viscount Who Loved Me (the second book of the series), Duke came out and it sold quite a bit better than expected. Plus, readers really got into the whole Lady Whistledown mystery. So when it came time to write the third book, I asked my editor if she thought I ought to turn it into a quartet. The answer was an enthusiastic YES, and by the time I finished up the fourth book, it was obvious I'd be doing the whole family.

I've enjoyed it a lot, but if I could do it over again, I would have known at the beginning what I was going to do. And I would have made a cheat sheet for myself with all of the characters' pertinent details on it. I have that now, but only after having made some mistakes (including one that no one ever caught!) I would also have plotted the arc of the series a bit more carefully. I had to set Romancing Mr. Bridgerton, for example, eight years after An Offer from a Gentleman because of the way I plotted The Viscount Who Loved Me.

One of the problems about writing series is that you can never please everyone. Readers beg me to bring back old characters (and some take me to task for not doing it!), and then others complain that the family gets too much of a role. Right now I'm hearing from readers who want me to do a huge family reunion in the last book. Which would be sweet, but I just can't do it. The most important thing to remember while writing a series (IMO, at least) is that each book has to be more important than the series as a whole. In other words, you can't write a scene for the point of expanding upon something that happened in an earlier book unless it also supports the current book. And you can't trot characters out just because you like them. Sure, everyone might like an update on a different couple, but writing a whole scene just for them pulls the reader away from the current love story.

But there are also wonderful aspects to writing a series. I may moan when someone asks me about a tiny detail that I can't for the life of me remember (you have no idea the number of times I've had to open my computer files and do a search function to find an answer to a reader query), but on the other hand, it's very gratifying to know that readers are so invested in my characters that they actually care to that degree. I've also had the opportunity to develop secondary characters over multiple books. One of my very favorite things has been writing the character of Violet. As the series progresses, you learn more and more about her. (Me too!)

So would I do it again? Or more to the point, do I plan to do it again? Not anytime soon, I think. I'm ready for a break. My next set of books will be a twofer. I'm looking forward to doing something quite discrete and then moving on. I'm sure we haven't seen the last of the Bridgertons, but I do think it's time for me to set them aside for a bit and recharge my batteries with something else.

After Gregory, of course. I'm putting him in a pretty big pickle. Which he probably deserves.

Best,
Julie Q.