One of the things I like to do at regular intervals is review what I’ve done and plan what I’d like to do. I might indulge in this at the end of a year, at the end of some longer interval (a decade, maybe), after another milestone like finishing a series or planning a new series. I’ve been circling the review recently for all of those reasons, plus I’m planning the Kickstarter campaign for new print editions of the books in my Blood Brothers series. I love this series to pieces and I loved writing it, so I’ve been trying to figure out what’s special about it for me.

Why do I think these are the best books I’ve ever written? Hmm. Probably because they include all of my favorite story elements. Here’s a quote from Neil Gaiman that I’ve always found resonant:

“Start telling the stories that only you can tell, because there’ll always be better writers than you and there’ll always be smarter writers than you. There will always be people who are much better at doing this or doing that – but you are the only you…

There are better writers than me out there, there are smarter writers, there are people who can plot better – there are all those kinds of things, but there’s nobody who can write a Neil Gaiman story like I can.”

Neil Gaiman

It’s been about thirty years since I sold my first book to a publisher, which was published a year later in March 1993. Twenty years later, I chose to go indie and become my own publisher. The mechanism of publishing is less important than the stories themselves. I’ve always told stories that were different because they were the ones that interested me.

Let’s look at what those stories have in common.

I’m interested in locations and settings beyond the common choices, for example, because I like to travel and explore. I keep coming back to historical romance because I’m interested in history. (That’s why I went back to university for a second bachelor’s degree, with a specialist in history.) I come back to romance because I’m interested in people and relationships. I’m interested in many kinds of characters, and in the Middle Ages, that means not just the nobility. I like fairy tale elements, but in fairy tales, the princess and the prince aren’t always the most interesting characters with the best stories. Sometimes the storyteller knows all the secrets…

I have the beginnings of a list of what makes a Claire Delacroix book…
• fairy tale elements, often turned around
• optional unusual locations
• historical detail (often with religion and politics, too)
• unconventional characters
• optional fantasy elements and alternate realms
• the presence of storytellers
• secrets

I also like characters who have changes to make. A bigger character arc is more intriguing to me in what I write and what I read. I admire people who improve their situation or their perspective, so I like to explore that in my books. I wrote a blog post while ago about redeeming villains, a favorite storytelling choice of mine. (How often have a written a series in which the villain of book one is the hero of book two? Quite a few times! It’s an irresistible opportunity!) That means my stories often include sacrifices, since giving something up is often the key to transformation.

I think that love is the most powerful force in the world, and that it can conquer anything – so I want to give it a challenge, and a chance to show off. I love stories of healing and fresh starts, and love is often a part of that magical formula. And when sacrifice is part of a character’s transformation, we can have some swoonworthy scenes, too.

• characters who change and grow
• optional redeeming of villains
• sacrifice and transformation
• swoonworthy moments
• big obstacles to love’s (eventual) triumph
• healing and new beginnings

My characters are usually involved in a greater conflict, which means action and adventure. It can mean road trips, in the medieval sense – horses, ships and carts. 🙂 I like to write fight scenes, too – the bad guy (if he isn’t destined to later be a hero) is always tough to kill.

• action and adventure
• swashbucking and derring-do

Blood Brothers includes many of these elements, by design. I sat planning how to include these elements before I began to write the first book. The series was planned to feature three brothers, each of whom could be considered to be villains at the beginning of their story. (I inevitably have another addition to a planned series – in the Champions of St. Euphemia series, it was Radegunde and Duncan’s story, The Crusader’s Handfast, though now I can’t imagine the series without that final wrap-up.) Even better, the heroines are unconventional, too, as well as social outcasts. I love how fierce those four women are.

I like characters with some miles on them, so to speak – those who have scars, have been through emotional trauma, who are wounded or cursed. That leaves so much opportunity for healing. Many of my favorite characters are alone (though they call it “independence”) but by the end of the story, they have found family.

• dangerous heroes
• unconventional (even fierce) heroines
• optional mystery, suspense or gothic elements
• animals or pets with character of their own
• scars, wounds, orphans and curses
• found family

In this series, there’s history in the situation of the Borders and also the brothers’ experience as mercenaries on the Continent and some suspense. There aren’t any fantasy elements in this series, which is something I love to include, but Kilderrick does have a powerful aura of its own, one that the women use to advantage in pretending that they’re witches. (Another inspiration was the three witches of Macbeth. I’d like to write a series in which the women do have magical powers, but that’s another plan.) None of the women in this series have felt compelled to become whores – although they’ve been accused of it – but several of them have not had great sexual experiences in the past, another element that appears in my books. Women haven’t always had choices, and that remains the case too much of the time.

The Blood Brothers books also have large casts of characters, which I enjoy. While a romance focused tightly on the two protagonists can be very intense, I like to watch characters balance their other responsibilities while they navigate the course of love and romance. It feels more like real life to me that way. (Yes, let’s give love bigger obstacles to overcome.) I like adding mystery elements or suspense, too.

I like books that are compelling to read, so I try to make mine page-turners, too. That means a strong sense of place and vivid descriptions. It also can mean sexual tension between the protagonists and dialogue that keeps you turning the pages. My Delacroix books almost always include physical intimacy, too.

• large casts of characters, each of whom has a part to play to bring the story together
• an over-arching story, with each book adding another piece
• humorous moments
• interesting dialogue
• vivid descriptions and a strong sense of place
• sexual tension
• two or three intimate scenes (one man, one woman, pretty vanilla really)

And yet, despite all the elements in play, the romantic relationship is still the core of each story. If we look at The Wolf & the Witch, Maximilian is a warrior who always gets what he wants – or takes it. Being denied his legacy is an unwelcome change in his fortunes. (I like taking everything away from characters, too, or challenging their expectations. It lets us see what they’re really made of.) Alys, on the other hand, blames all the woes of her life upon Maximilian, the Silver Wolf. When he attacked her family holding at the behest of his father, she lost her home, her social position, her father (the last of her family) and her appearance with the burns she suffered. She subsequently lost her betrothal and any financial security. Could anyone hate Maximilian more than she does? And yet, Maximilian, son of a handsome man with an evil heart, is one person who knows that beauty is an untrustworthy measure. He’s the one person who sees past her scars to be captivated by her spirit. She intrigues him. She’s unlike any woman he’s ever known. She refuses his advances, is apparently fearless, and even has the audacity to tell him when he’s wrong. But Maximilian, as a strategist, knows when to listen, a choice that astounds Alys. These two are each as ferocious as the other and neither are particularly concerned with convention or expectations. I think that’s why they’re perfect for each other.

And one of the things I really love about their romance is that it’s evocative of Beauty and the Beast, the core story I always revisit to explore in new ways. But which one is Beauty and which is the Beast? You might assign those roles differently at different points in the book, which gives me great delight. Maybe we all have a little Beauty and a little Beast, in both our appearances and our hidden hearts.

• my core story, Beauty and the Beast

This review makes me look back at other books in my catalogue that I’ve loved just as hard. In my traditionally-published career, I considered the Rogues of Ravensmuir series to be the best books I’d written. All three of them coloured outside of the lines of genre expectation with their gothic overtones and unconventional heroines. (And yes, book two featured the villain of book one as the hero. Ha!)

Since going indie just over ten years ago, I’ve written three medieval romance series, each of which has taken that honor in turn as what I consider my best work.

The True Love Brides included a lot of fantasy elements (with the fae meddling in the lives of the siblings at Kinfairlie) which I could not have sold to a traditional publisher. The market was shrinking in 2005 when I stopped writing historical romance for a trad publisher: that meant the houses wanted safer stories, which they saw as having greater market potential. I don’t see the merit of writing books that are similar to those already available, or which any number of authors could have written. I want to write my books, as odd as they may be. 🙂 The Renegade’s Heart was my first indie-published title and The Frost Maiden’s Kiss is my favorite of that series. (A pregnant heroine. A mysterious hero who earned a fortune as a mercenary. A ruined keep, a possibly untrustworthy friend, and a Fae curse upon the hero. And we’re back at Ravensmuir. Does it get any better? Maybe soon…)

The second series I wrote as an indie author was The Champions of St. Euphemia, a series I’d been dreaming about and planning for a long time. I wanted to write a series of books following a group of knights on a journey from Jerusalem back to their homes, a journey made perilous by them being entrusted with a precious relic. Each book would be a romance but the series would have to be read in sequence to follow the adventure. In print publishing, books always have to stand alone – the reader might not buy book two if book one isn’t on the shelf in the bricks and mortar bookstore – but in digital, backlist is always available. There’s no reason to let the limitations of paper influence the shape of the story anymore. That series included a lot of history, some unconventional heroines, another villain of book one as the hero of book two, suspense and a large cast of characters. I loved writing it. At the time it was completed, I thought it the best series I’d ever written.

Now, Blood Brothers has claimed that honor, which leaves me planning what will be next. As the bar gets higher, it becomes more challenging to write a better series each time, but I’m already intrigued by the one that has claimed my attention. It has all the elements I love, and a few new ones, too. I suspect it’s going to surprise me a bit. I have a nice little working list as a result of this exercise of elements to include.

Do you think I missed anything?

In the meantime, we have The Stolen Bride coming next month to bring the Brides of Inverfyre series to its conclusion. Then we’ll have the rest of the Ladies’ Essential Guide to the Art of Seduction series of Regency romances.

At Kickstarter, I think we’ll do some new editions of The Champions of St. Euphemia series (if ever a series needed a map, that one does!). I’m also planning to retitle and repackage The Rogues of Ravensmuir books. The titles aren’t really indicative of the stories, and I think object covers would suit the stories better. Stay tuned for more details about all of that – and the upcoming new stories, as well.