Who Are All You People?

After I finished writing The Harder We Fall, I had thoughts of starting work on a new series of books. Known only as The Housemates Series, it will feature the stories of a bunch of blokes who are sharing a big ramshackle house in one of the older suburbs of Brisbane. I have heaps of ideas for it, including all the tropey goodness I want to explore. The series will have six books. I was pretty excited about getting to work on it.

But then, when it came time to sit down and start writing ‘the next book’ Toni with an I swooped in with one hand sticking straight up in the air. “What about me?” he cried, lifting a snarky eyebrow. “People have been asking about me, you know. And I can be fun, too. Have you seen my dimples?”

I quickly learned there is no saying no to Toni (his love interest, Ned, has been learning the same thing). With a quiet sigh, I put my Housemates notes aside and started working on Toni and Ned’s story.

All was well. Until Ned’s friend, Johnny, ambled in from the sidelines and started spouting off about his backstory and generally trying to take over every scene he appeared in. I just kind of stared at him sideways. “Dude, who the hell are you?” His grin said it all. “I’m your next­ book.” After some major eye rolling and vague muttering about entitlement issues, I asked Johnny to go stand in a corner and wait his turn. Some days he does as he’s asked, other days… not so much.

I am definitely going to write my Housemates series. I still play with ideas for it when I have the chance. But it’s going to have to come after Johnny’s book. Which will be written after Toni and Ned’s book. Which is the unplanned sequel to Patrick and Logan’s book.

Honestly, I have no idea where all these people come from. I’m just trying to keep up. My head is getting crowded.