My Unorthodox Planning Method

My most recent novel, The Earl and His Lady, features a hero who has been on my mind for a long time. I actually started working on a story about the earl, Lucas Calvert, four years ago.

Lucas has existed in my head for FOUR years. It took me a long time to get his story right. I always tell the stories to myself, mentally, over and over again until I'm ready to write them. I think about the characters, imagine their life story, then I put them into different situations again and again until something clicks.

Because this is my somewhat-unorthodox planning method, I often create and discard several plot lines and characters before I get it right.

I didn't know who Lucas was supposed to fall in love with until last November. He's been on and off my mind, in and out of plots, mentally interacting with all my other characters like a guest at a wedding reception.

After readers finished my first novel, The Social Tutor, several people guessed that Julia Devon would wind up with Lucas.

She came darn close to being the lady for him. So. Very. Close. Julia was a very natural fit because for so long she was going to discover new love at Lucas's side. That was the story I kept telling myself, anyway.

But then my imagination introduced me to Virginia, a young widow with two sons, in desperate need of rescuing.

TWO stories quickly evolved from there - The Gentleman Physician and The Earl and His Lady. They practically wrote themselves after that. :-) 

​Not really. There was some hard work involved. But I'll share more about that soon.