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Writing the second book
Sep. 24th, 2006 04:07 pmFor some reason, I thought that having written a first book would make a second book easier, but it's not. It's every bit as hard. Still, some of the things I've had to do in revisions are things I'd really rather avoid the second time around. My brain is still on "remove every word you possibly can," which is a good thing, I think. Writing slim all the way along is good for preventing crash diets and the anxiety that accompanies them.
Beginnings are also something I'm really paying attention to. Maybe too much. I've had quite a handful of beginnings for my present WIP, none of which I'm really satisfied with. But at least I know a few things I didn't last time around: start with action, get an emotional hook in early on, plant lots of questions to be answered later. (Doing that is a lot harder than knowing it, but it's still progress...)
Character motivations have always been an issue, but having just come from a rather convoluted plot, I'm working for cleaner lines this time around. The last book had a strong mystery element, so figuring out back story was important (and confusing at times). In this one I'm going for a more direct relationship between what the character does and what problems that causes. Not so much a mystery. Probably better structurally, but I still love my first set of characters...sigh.
Finally, I'm really having to work at keeping my old characters out of this book. It's led me to think a lot more about my new characters beforehand. (Thinking, for me, includes a lot of prewriting, dumping characters in situations and seeing how they act. There's no substitute for actually writing for me. The ideas develop as my hands type. But getting this down before actually starting the book is a good thing.)
You read a lot about how to write a novel, as if once you've written one, you know everything. (Kind of like having kids, actually--no one tells you anything with #2, when in reality, you are starting all over again.) I'm curious what other people's experience is with jumping into #2--especially when it's not a sequel to the first.
Beginnings are also something I'm really paying attention to. Maybe too much. I've had quite a handful of beginnings for my present WIP, none of which I'm really satisfied with. But at least I know a few things I didn't last time around: start with action, get an emotional hook in early on, plant lots of questions to be answered later. (Doing that is a lot harder than knowing it, but it's still progress...)
Character motivations have always been an issue, but having just come from a rather convoluted plot, I'm working for cleaner lines this time around. The last book had a strong mystery element, so figuring out back story was important (and confusing at times). In this one I'm going for a more direct relationship between what the character does and what problems that causes. Not so much a mystery. Probably better structurally, but I still love my first set of characters...sigh.
Finally, I'm really having to work at keeping my old characters out of this book. It's led me to think a lot more about my new characters beforehand. (Thinking, for me, includes a lot of prewriting, dumping characters in situations and seeing how they act. There's no substitute for actually writing for me. The ideas develop as my hands type. But getting this down before actually starting the book is a good thing.)
You read a lot about how to write a novel, as if once you've written one, you know everything. (Kind of like having kids, actually--no one tells you anything with #2, when in reality, you are starting all over again.) I'm curious what other people's experience is with jumping into #2--especially when it's not a sequel to the first.
