As we write our books, we have discovered that we like to mix it up a bit. One of our Renna Olsen books, The Safe Harbor, is pretty old-style horror with a bit of slash and burn. Cold Prairie, the prequel to The Safe Harbor isn’t quite as gory and could probably be classified as more of a paranormal thriller or occult fiction. Our favorite book, Creek House, is, in our opinion, a blend of horror and paranormal thriller. Our H.R. Olsen book, Exiles of Gaia, first in a series, is sci-fi with a bit of mystery and thriller added. Our new upcoming novel, Holly Virginia is more along the lines of a straight up paranormal thriller.

The point is that we have been discussing what our reader expectations are and how much we should take those expectations into consideration when we choose what to write. If a reader’s first read is The Safe Harbor and they like it, how much is that going to effect their acceptance of say, Cold Prairie. Are they going to be disappointed? Will it effect our sales and our readers’ willingness to take a chance on another book?

Our dilemma is, do we write for our readers or do we write for ourselves? After all, we want what most authors want, to be successful and hey, make some money off all this work. Plus, it’s all about the readers. That being said, we also need to feel interested and engaged with our work. Writing, like all of the arts, needs a muse.

At this point, we continue to work on those projects that interest us but perhaps time and reviews will lead us in a different direction.

Regards,
Anne, Eric, and Nancy