Most people know about the inspiration for No After You. It came from All the Love Songs, and one day, I decided that I needed to write Dani and Peyton’s story.
What you might not know though, is that I’d never written a prequel before, so this book took some trial and error. I’ve talked about before how I wrote the first portion of the book and let my wife read it, and she told me it wasn’t there yet, so I basically started over. What I haven’t said before is that I’d just started writing. I’d re-read ATLS and felt like I had a good grasp on the story of Dani and Peyton, but that had been a mistake. So, I sat back down with ATLS and went into every Dani or Peyton moment, making an outline of their relationship according to the dialogue and description.
Then, I had to create an outline for No After You, and at this point in my writing, I wasn’t really outlining; I’d been a 100% pantser. So, it took me a minute to get the hang of how to do that. At first, I felt locked into what I’d written in ALTS. I only had so much time to get them together because I’d said their relationship had happened quickly and then Peyton had gone on tour, so I needed to work with the fact that Dani also had a boyfriend when they met on top of an already short timeline.
It was a challenge, and I wasn’t really content with that at first, until I realized I still had my creativity and could make the most of that time, so I did. I tried to elevate every moment they had together, make it intense, make us feel the connection they had right away while they only needed a little time to understand the meaning.
After reading the second draft, my wife said I had it this time, and I also finally felt like I’d done their story justice. I hope you, readers, feel the same way, especially if you read ATLS first and wanted to see more of Dani and Peyton.
Celebrities Series:
Genre: Contemporary Lesbian Romance
Formats: Kindle, Paperback, Audible
Length: Series Total - 329,470 words
No After You - 60,000 words - 6 hours and 39 minutes on Audible
All the Love Songs - 112,000 words - 10 hours and 44 minutes
Midnight Tradition - 58,000 words - 5 hours and 57 minutes
Path Forward - 61,000 words - 6 hours and 8 minutes
Series Finale - 31,000 words - 3 hours and 12 minutes
