A friend emailed me yesterday to ask if I was still alive. Because he doesn’t follow me on social media, and I’ve done a woeful job of responding to email for the last couple of months, from his viewpoint, I did disappear.
Actually, I’ve narrowed my interaction through social media too. You may have noticed my sporadic blogging. I have to remind myself even to update my Facebook status. Apparently, I find it hard to write fiction and non-fiction simultaneously. In other words, I can’t think/write and “talk” at the same time.
Now, as you may know, I’m editing that fiction, so I’m still in my own little world. The editing is going well, but my story’s world is not always a happy place. I sink deep into my main character’s head and when she’s angry or depressed that tends to become my mood too. According to my husband, I’ve not been pleasant to live with, lately. (That’s my excuse, at least.)
Writing a sequel is harder than I expected. I had most of the characters already developed, but that’s also limiting. Several times, I’ve wished I could change something I wrote in The Brevity of Roses because it didn’t work with what I wanted to write in the sequel. If I were to write another book I believed deserved a sequel, I’d write a synopsis of the sequel while I wrote the prequel.
That said, I don’t plan to write any more sequels, and definitely not a series. (Did I just jinx myself?) I don’t know what I’ll write next. Oh, I have my first novel that I still think about revising, and I have the beginnings and notes on another novel and two novellas, but I don’t, yet, feel any of those will be next.
Are novelists supposed to have several books, outlined and synopsized, in the queue at all times? If so, I’m off-track again.
Image courtesy of agathabrown / Morguefile
Who the hell knows what novelist are ‘suppose to have’? I sure don’t know.
Isn’t that part of the fun, flying by the seat of our pants? Glad to hear from you again. Can’t wait to hear more about the sequel.
Ooops. That would be a RULE, wouldn’t it, Dana?
I can’t wait to TITLE the sequel! Please, please, please …
Rules? How dare such a concept even exist! If the publishing world is allowed to dabble in chaos and anarchy why not also the writer? I say give them a taste of what they so desperately wanted! Cast off all rules and do what makes you both happy and wealthy! Write forward – write backward – write with a crayon! Kill your darlings and bring them to life again! Let the k-9 off-lead in the public square!
Speaking of living your novel… can you tell I’m in the midst of a dystopian uprising! – LOL
Anyway! You know how I feel.
Oh wow, K., I can’t imagine what kind of mood I’d be in if I wrote the stuff you do. But I know you’ve said before that you get all your darkness out in writing, so maybe you’re able to maintain your positive real self better than I can. Or maybe I really am as screwed up and surly as Renee.
As for rules, yeah, I know how you feel. Part of me cries, “Off with their heads!” too, but the other part still cowers before them. I’m not to fierce warrior woman you are.
If by warrior you mean the woman backed into a corner swinging wildly with a sword hoping to survive but at least one more day, then that would be me! Yep!
We novelist can do what the hell we want!
Shoot, I know authors who write a novel every ten years, and others who write several a year. You do what you want to do that works for you and makes you happy or at least makes you not InSane . . . !
It’s the revolutionary Kat!
Yes, I can only do it my way, which is usually not the recommended way. Staying sane is a good goal.
and “sane” is all relative of course – haha!
hahahhahah!
hahahhahahahahahaahhahahaha*helpme*hahahahahahahah
To answer your last questions, novelists aren’t “supposed” to do anything the same as everyone else. You do what works for you! And as I’ve written my sequel to THE BREAKAWAY, I’ve found the difficulties of writing a sequel, as well. It was a lot harder and crazier than I thought it would be! Glad you are alive!
Michelle, I think some of the difficulty with my sequel is because it’s maybe not a true sequel. I see in Natasha’s comment she called hers a “continuation” and this is a continuation of Brevity, but it’s only one point of view and written in a different person and tense. (I expect I broke the rules there.
) Anyway, I’m also jittery about the sophomore jinx, which adds a lot of pressure to writing this.
Well hello, stranger. It’s funny because I was worried that I hadn’t heard from you either. It was so bad that I followed you by e-mail again because I was worried that I was missing posts. I’m glad to hear everything is well with you. You have a good week, ok, and good luck with this WIP.
-Jimmy
Sorry I caused you to double subscribe, Jimmy. And forgive me for not coming around to comment on your new cover and progress on Flash Point. I’ve just finished my third draft and sent my MS to my alpha reader, so maybe I’ll get out and about on the blogs a bit more while I wait for her feedback. AND write a few read-worthy posts for mine.
I’ll just echo what everyone else has said about doing whatever it is that feels right for you.
My WIP is a continuation of Just Desserts: Greed. Lust. Death. Tiramisu. and I, too, have found some things in JD that don’t quite ‘fit’ with my current work. Since JD is only available as an e-book, I think I’ll probably pull it, make those minor changes so the two work together better, and then put it back online.
I do have a bunch of things I’m eager to work on next, so I’m looking forward to finishing this puppy and getting it out. I’m finding revising and editing to be going really sloooooowly, though.
Looking forward to your sequel!
You mean keep doing what I’ve been doing, Natasha?
So, if you make those changes to JD, won’t you have to publish and copyright it as a second edition? I would like to reformat Brevity to reduce the page count, so I can reduce the price, but—as I understand it—then I’d have to copyright that as a second edition.
Even though I don’t know what I’m working on next, I’m anxious to get this sequel published and move on, so the process seems to be going slow to me too.
Good luck on your “puppy”.
Hmmm, I’ll have to look and see what Amazon and B&N have to say about it, but I don’t think it’s a big deal. I’m talking about changing a couple of sentences, not major rewrites or revisions. And weren’t we talking about breaking rules, anyway?
Oh, a couple of sentences. No, I’m sure you wouldn’t consider that a second edition. I changed a few typos and even changed the cover after I published Brevity, but I didn’t call it a second edition.
Well Linda, don’t worry about it. All your writerly friends understand what is going on. When you finally have a project worth doing, the social media stuff is not a priority, but a distraction. I’m impressed that you keep up with it at all. As for me, the social media stuff is all I have because I haven’t made that break through. Thanks for being such a great example. I find it encouraging to see another writer moving forward even if it means that she is breaking away from the social media pack. Someday I hope to have a project like that.
You’re right, Robin, there’s a time for both, but probably not at the same time. I tried to do both for a long time, but had to get real.
Good luck on your project.