One of the things I love best about writing fiction is exploring human emotions, taking a basic idea for a character and his story, and through dialogue and actions and reactions, creating a three-dimensional person who is going through something powerful and profound.

Writing MORE THAN MOST, the sequel to my Rainbow Award-winning MORE, was like that for me. When I finished the first book in the series, I had so many ideas of what I wanted those three men to go through next, the conflicts I wanted to explore between them, and the emotions I wanted them to feel, but all of those ideas were just vague plans with a few specific situations thrown into the mix.

Usually when I’m working on a new story, that feeling of uncertainty persists through much of the first draft, and then when I start revising the book everything comes to life. There’s more depth and significance in every action and line of dialogue, in every touch between the characters. The book stops feeling like something I’m hoping will fit what I’d envisioned and starts becoming even more than the story I had planned it to be.

Here are five moments that made the experience of writing MORE THAN MOST special for me:

1. When Richard’s voice became second nature. MORE THAN MOST is told in first-person from Richard’s point of view, whereas the first book in the series was told from Luke’s. In some respects Richard’s voice was harder for me to pinpoint than Luke’s dry, sarcastic tone. But once I reminded myself of the core traits that make up who Richard is—a compassionate, caring man—then telling the story from his point of view was almost more natural for me than writing in Luke’s. Despite all of his strength and determination to succeed, Richard is a man who can ultimately admit to his weaknesses and fears, and I find that very sexy.
    
2. Whenever Luke said something that cracked me up. I don’t consider myself a funny writer by nature. I’m much more comfortable writing angst and drama and intensely intimate, sexual moments, but Luke’s dry humor was fun and surprisingly comfortable for me to write in the first book. I was glad to see I could keep some of that going when I wasn’t in his point of view for the sequel.
    
3. When I wrote an intense moment between Richard and Matthew that I hadn’t planned in the original outline. Partway through drafting MORE THAN MOST, ideas for a scene farther into the story popped into my mind. I started jotting down the dialogue and interactions, and what resulted was one of my favorite moments in the book, when Richard and Matthew were faltering and they needed Luke to be the strong one.
    
4. When Matthew makes a comment that offers a new perspective for the other two men. What I like so much about Matthew is the dichotomy of wisdom and innocence that makes up his personality. He is incredibly wise when it comes to others, but is still grappling with self-esteem issues and figuring out how to become the person he wants to be.
    
5. When Luke says or does something that’s the complete opposite of the man he started out as in the first book. I especially loved when he opened up about what he was feeling or thinking without being prompted. Not that he did that a lot, but there was definitely more communication outside of the bedroom between the three men in this book, and it was very interesting when Luke was the one who was pushing for that communication.