The Dreaded Follow-up Book
Monday, February 8, 2010 Question of the day: Do you think your last book was more difficult than this book because you were writing a thriller, which was different than what you'd written before?
Great question - and something I think is very much worth addressing because so many writers struggle with the pressure of writing their follow-up book. I think there are a few reasons The One That I Want was so hard for me. Among them:
1) There is no doubt that the structure of this book was much more complex than anything I'd written before. Whether or not readers realize this, I don't know, but as a writer, it was painfully obvious. My first two books started at point A and ended at point B - even Time of My Life, with its time-jumps. Jillian's flashbacks to her old life (the one she left behind when she traveled into the past) were used in the same way that any memory device would have been used - and really, other than starting the book out in the present, her course was a linear one. The tricky part of The One That I Want is that the plot is less linear, or I should say, Tilly, my protagonist's path, is less linear. I was projecting her into the future, which hadn't yet occurred in the book, and these pieces had to all fall together, much like a puzzle at the end. Which they did. But because I write without a map, I had no idea where or how they were going to fall together, and this proved really difficult for obvious reasons. In hindsight, if I were to ever write a book like this again, I might actually going in with more of a plan - it's too frustrating to attempt a puzzle without every having seen the picture on the cover of the box that you're attempting to rebuild, you know?
2) There is also no doubt - and I know that a lot of writers out there can relate to this - that I felt (and feel) enormous pressure from the success of Time of My Life. Which, I know, sounds silly to complain about! I mean, on what planet does a writer have the right to complain about how well her book did? So don't get me wrong - I AM NOT complaining, but I do feel the need to make my readers happy and I want to exceed their expectations for my work. That's just who I am. I also want to exceed my expectations, and when the bar is that high, well, it's easy to feel paralyzed underneath it. That these two books both deal with magical realism probably made it all the harder for me: I couldn't help but compare the process of writing them both, and that likely just fueled my stress.
3) I don't think I had Jillian out of my head by the time I started this manuscript. Some of your characters stick with you, even after you've put the book to bed, and she was one of them. So when I started writing TWTIW, I wasn't, in many ways, ready to start writing. The first few drafts just didn't have a clear voice, and that's because I was spending half of my energy detangling Jillian's voice from Tilly's. So, in hindsight, maybe I would have given myself more time to breathe between manuscripts. What's interesting is that I'm not having that problem at all on my current book. As I said, I think sometimes you're willing to lay characters to rest, and sometimes, it's more of a struggle. I was ready to be done with Tilly and move on. I learned my lesson and really feel like I've started this next book from a clear, wiser place.
Authors, I'd love to hear if you've ever had similar struggles - have your follow-up books ever given you difficulty and if so, why?
Craft
Reader Comments (3)
I love the comparison to putting together a puzzle without having seen the picture on the box. That explains it so well. I'm an outliner and cannot start writing until I know at least the big picture.
I wrote today about all the hurdles and fears and unknowns I had to overcome to start writing my (very first) novel. Some of what you wrote about sounds similar. Especially #2, the pressure you felt to write a book that exceeded your previous efforts and pleased your readers. I felt so much pressure for any long term writing effort to be GOOD enough and WORTH it that I was too crippled to even start. Letting go of those feelings is difficult but oh so necessary.
Whew, I got tired just reading that post. Now of course I can't wait to read TWTIW!