author interview: emilie richards

Emilie Richards, the author of the Happiness Key series, was kind enough to take the time to answer some questions!

Happiness Key was originally intended as a standalone, yet here's the third in the series, Sunset Bridge. What prompted you to continue to the story?

While the first book did what I intended, which was to establish how possible friendship can be for women with nothing in common--at least on the surface--it also set up characters I wanted to explore even further. So my publisher and I decided three books were in order. The number felt right to me. I could continue threads I'd introduced in Happiness Key, and tie them up by Sunset Bridge.

Some of your books have been turned into films for German television. What's it like to see your characters on the screen? Any plans for English-language versions to be made?

It's a kick, to be honest. They've chosen some of my very first books along with later ones, and it's so much fun to see how the stories are cast, and how the plots are rewritten for the screen. Some are very true to my stories, and some are so different that I almost don't recognize them. But the producers and screenwriters are good at what they do, and nice people to boot. I've had the opportunity to go to New Zealand, where they're all being filmed, to spend time on set, and to Germany to do promotion, so I've gotten to know and appreciate the talent of everyone connected. As for English language versions? One can always hope.

What was your favorite book as a child?

I was a fan of the Oz books, which I read and re-read. But later Little Women and Jane Eyre were huge for me, as well.

What book (your own or someone else's) has had the most impact on your life?

No one book springs to mind. But I've taken some of this and some of that from so many books, including my own. When you're writing a book, you do so much thinking about your story and your characters' growth, that you can't help but be changed.

What's up next for you?

I'm working on a new series for Mira Books, entitled Goddesses Anonymous. It's women's fiction, like Happiness Key, and it stories are interrelated, but each book focuses on only a few characters at a time. It has a different "feel" than the Happiness Key series, but shares a lot with it, too. The series is set in the North Carolina mountains.