#Rebranding - The Challenge of Changing Lines

So many of us reinvent ourselves in the New Year, so we're asking authors who are rebranding themselves - through choice or necessity - how they go about a writerly reinvention.

As part of our special PHS Rebranding Edition, Christy McKellen is talking about moving between heat levels in different Harlequin Mills & Boon lines...

I’ve taken a bit of a tour on my romance-writing journey over the past few years. I started out writing for the Harlequin Kiss (Mills & Boon Modern Tempted) line in 2013 where I delivered stories about young, modern women with fun, aspirational careers falling head over heels in love with their charismatic, but grounded, alpha heroes.

When that line sadly closed I decided to give sweet romance a try, which I’ve thoroughly enjoyed doing for the last couple of years—though getting the emotional intensity just right has, on occasion, been a challenge.

Then when news of the new DARE line began to surface I knew for sure that I wanted in on that too. Sexy, passionate, bold stories, yes please!

The trouble was, after two years of writing emotionally driven, sensual-at-best stories, it hasn’t exactly been easy getting my head around writing for such a difference audience—specifically when trying to achieve exactly the right mix of sexually explicit fantasy and romance. Turns out it’s a lot trickier than I first imagined! But I’ve never been one to shy away from a challenge (see above), and striving to get it right has been an absolute joy as well as a terrific lesson in furthering my craft.

I’m currently working on a trilogy miniseries called Sexy Little Secrets, which is about three sisters who belong to London’s prestigious and extremely wealthy Darlington-Hume family. The books follow the various sexcapades they get up to when they meet three men who offer them sensual escape, awakening and satisfaction!

I’ve given the first book in the series the working title Wild Child which I think totally encapsulates the fun and sexy tone of the first sister’s story and I can’t wait to get on to the next story in line. Each of them have a larger story arc running through them which links them together, but they can also be read as stand alones (another writing challenge I’ve had to overcome!)

I’m so looking forward to seeing DARE launch in February (January for those lucky book club members). There’s a terrific line-up of authors, all with fresh, exciting voices, and all coming at the brief from slightly different angles, which is going to make the line so much fun to read!

Christy's latest release, His Mistletoe Proposal, is out now. For more information about her and her writing check out her website, and follow her on Facebook and Twitter.