House of Christmas Secrets: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly! - Guest post Lynda Stacey

One thing I love about hosting guests on my blog is when they ask to come back for another visit. It means I must be doing something right as a blog host! Today, I welcome back, author Lynda Stacey. It's her third visit to Wendy's Writing Now and it's great to have her back.

Lynda first visited in 2016 when she'd just published her debut novel, House of Secrets. Today, she's back to talk about its sequel, House of Christmas Secrets... the good, the bad and the ugly!

Over to you, Lynda.

When my debut novel House of Secrets was first published I literally bounced around the house for days while watching in amazement as it began to sell. The first days were very surreal, I still found it very hard to believe that firstly I’d fulfilled my dream and I’d written a whole book, and secondly that people were actually buying it.

I would seriously check the ‘amazon sales rank’ at least once an hour to see if it had moved up or down in the rankings and at its best it got to No133 in the whole of the paid Kindle Store and No8 in the whole of Romantic Suspense, for which I’ll be forever grateful. Then, as though things couldn’t

get any better, the readers began leaving reviews. I was totally blown away. I lost count of the actual readers who not only loved it, but also spoke of my characters as real people. They wanted to know what they were doing now and how their lives had turned out. Which got me thinking.... could I do it, could I write a sequel, could I bring all of those characters back to life and if I could, what adventure could I take them on this time?

So, House of Christmas Secrets began.

The good..!

I began the story one year on from where House of Secrets ended. I felt that the characters would have had time to have moved forward with their lives but I didn’t want the story to start so far ahead that things would have changed dramatically.

I loved re-creating the characters. Getting to meet Jess again, along with Jack, Emily and of course Maddie, Bandit, little Poppy and, last but not least, our lovely Nomsa who was still baking, looking after everyone and, at times of both happiness and sadness, always put the kettle on. I felt that all of these people needed to be there for the continuity so that the reader felt comfortable picking the story up again.

The bad..!

I really struggled with the storyline. I really didn’t want to throw anything more at Madeleine, I felt as though she’d had so much trouble already with all that had happened in House of Secrets that I couldn’t possibly send anything else in her direction. Also, because I hadn’t planned on a sequel, I hadn’t really left any loose ends that I could pick up and run with, which meant I had to dig deep. There was only one tiny thread that I could pick up, so our story begins with Jess wishing for a nice, normal and quiet Christmas. However, when two unexpected visitors arrive at the hall, her Christmas turns into everything other than nice and normal.

The ugly..! (but only for the author... me..!)

House of Christmas Secrets began life as a novella, which was 50,000 words. I was happy with the result, I felt that it offered House of Secrets a great sequel.

However, when it went to my lovely editor she read it and emailed me with a short, sharp response that basically said... ‘Too good to be a novella, could you possibly just add 35,000 words and get it back to me as soon as possible... if you don’t mind.’

As you can imagine, I read the email at least twice, gasped, stamped around the room and then I poured the wine, knowing that to add 35k meant that I needed to add a whole extra storyline...!

Saying that, I love it. And as always, my editor was absolutely right. The story is now better, it has more depth and the extra storyline does add moments of laughter and also of tears. Above all else, like always with my novels, I feel that the reader will now go through every single emotion whilst reading. I must admit that there is one chapter that I tend to blubber at every time I go through it. 

Final note: More than anything, I hope everyone loves it as much as I do. xx

This year we’re just going to have a nice, normal Christmas… 

Last year’s Christmas at Wrea Head Hall didn’t quite go to plan which is why Jess Croft is determined this festive season will be the one to remember, for the right reasons. And she has plenty of reasons to be hopeful, she’s going to marry the man of her dreams, Jack Stone, seven days after New Year’s Eve.  

However, as family secrets are revealed in hidden letters and two unexpected guests turn up on the doorstep, Jess is left wondering whether her life will ever be the same again. 

Can Jess and Jack still experience a peaceful festive season that they had imagined or are there some problems that even Christmas can’t fix?

HOUSE OF CHRISTMAS SECRETS Buy it here

Contact Lynda:

Facebook   www.facebook.com/lyndastaceyauthor

Twitter  @Lyndastacey

Website   www.Lyndastacey.co.uk