[Note from Frolic: We are so excited to have author Erika Kelly guest post on the site today. Take it away Erika!]
One of the questions I ask myself while writing is: how do I want my readers to feel when they close my book?
I write sexy, contemporary romance, so you can bet I want them to swoon. But I also want them to let out a big sigh, sad that the story’s over. I want them to feel part of a community—even deeper, part of a family. I want them to be eager for the next book, so they can sink back into that world.
My first series—the Rock Star Romances—is about a brotherhood of men in a rock band. The guys have been together a long time, but they’re not as close as blood brothers. And the reason I say that is because, when one band member goes off the rails, they kick him out.
You can’t do that with siblings. They have to stick it out. They have to work through the hard times. So, when I was developing my next series, I centered it around four brothers raised by their eccentric dad on a three-hundred-thousand-acre legacy ranch in an old wild west town in Wyoming. These guys are fierce, rugged extreme athletes—and when they find their one true loves, they fall hard.
There’s a richness in writing about siblings. They know everything about each other, and they accept each other unconditionally. Their bonds go deep, yet they’re fraught with a tension that comes from the fact that, though they grew up in the same family, each one has a different perspective on his childhood and parents.