First, some cool news: Juliet and I have both been nominated in the DABWAHA Tournament 2010. From the official site:
For newcomers, the DA BWAHA is a tournament of books where we put up a field of 64 books and you vote until there is one book, one champion. The contest is twofold. First, you must fill out a bracket identifying which book will win each round. Then you vote.
Want to play with brackets? Read the instructions here, and bracket yourself silly here. Voting begins on the 18th.
Now for your regularly scheduled blog post.
I’d heard it, known it was true: Writing your second novel can be very, very difficult for a wide number of reasons. Mostly, you need to be able to return to a state of creativity without the clutter left behind in the wake of the first book (meaning, that book’s creative process, that book’s promotional and marketing push, all that you didn’t know, all that you needed to learn). So often we hear writers liken their books to their children. Regardless of how firmly you embrace or repel that concept, I’m here to tell you that the aftermath of sending your first book off into whatever sunset it can find can be as exhausting as the aftermath of childbirth. And then it’s time to do it all again — write a second book.
One of the best ways to learn is to teach others. So I’m here to tell you something, share something, but really I need to hear this as well: Rules to help you survive the second novel. Composed with a little help from my friends.
Rule #1: After your first book is out there, it’s true you’ll have too many voices in your head competing with those of your characters–including those of reviewers. Don’t try to please everyone. Write for only ONE person–someone who’ll love your concept. (ht Barbara O’Neal )
Rule #2: Take out some of your best work and scrutinize it. Remember how good you really are. And write every single day to keep the story and your characters alive within you. (ht Amy MacKinnon)
Rule #3: Surround yourself with people who succeed. (ht Ann Aguirre and her post from last week)
Rule #4: Floundering is normal. You may not know what you’re really doing until you’re several hundred pages in. Do whatever you have to do to get there. (ht Marilyn Brant)
Rule #5: Allow yourself to write badly. Just because you’ve gone through this already, just because you’ve written a book with beautiful words and beautiful phrasing and beautiful moments, doesn’t mean you’ve earned some sort of Auto Beauty Writing Tool. Draft spelled backward is Sucks. I dare you to disagree with me. (ht Barbara O’Neal)
Rule #6: Shut the door every once in a while. Don’t be the author all of the time — the person focused on all aspects of writing, but especially the publicity — be the writer. Writers “write and read and daydream about writing,” and care quite a bit less about Facebook and Twitter and all the rest of it. (ht Carleen Brice)
Rule #7: You’re the one with the vision. Own it, then never doubt. Your work will be so welcome in the world. (ht Kathleen Bolton)
Rule #8: There’s no magic formula or perfect way to plot. Every story’s different, each journey to discovering it unique. But no journey evolved by standing still and worrying about it. Move.
Rule #9: Continue to improve your craft, and apply what you learn to your wip. I’m taking an interesting online workshop later this month on Theatrical Techniques to A Blockbuster Novel, conducted by Leanna Renee Hieber, author of The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker. And I’m going to be attending Grub Street’s Muse and the Marketplace conference in Boston in May, which I know will be fantastic.
So there it is, advice for you, advice for me. Have you survived a second book — or a third or fourth or fifth or… ? How about a second draft? What did you have to do to push through the barriers to produce to your potential?
Write on.
Photo courtesy Flickr’s Rennett Stowe
About Therese Walsh
Therese Walsh co-founded WU in 2006 and is the site's editorial director. She was the architect and 1st editor of WU's only book, Author in Progress, and orchestrates the WU UnConference. Her second novel, The Moon Sisters, was named one of the best books of the year by Library Journal; and her debut, The Last Will of Moira Leahy was a Target Breakout Book. Sign up for her newsletter to be among the first to learn about her new projects (or follow her on BookBub). Learn more on her website.
Many of these rules do apply for writing a second draft prior to publication. These are great and I’ve bookmarked this post under my second book folder. I look forward to the day I can actually make use of them. :)
.-= DL Hammons´s last blog ..Drunk At First Sight Blogfest Entry =-.
Great advice. Yes, writing the second book is difficult. There’s always this little voice in the back of your head saying, “The first one was just luck. You can’t possibly do it again and do it well.” And if, by chance, you get to book three, the stress increases even more. I wish I could tell you how I’ve survived the experience of producing three contracted books, but all I can say is that little voice is now saying, “There’s no way you can do a fourth one. Give it up.” I don’t think it ever gets easier.
“Draft spelled backward is Sucks.”
ROFLMAO. Best thing I’ve read all day. Yup–I needed to see this.
:)
Cool news about the DABWAHA tournament! We are in some pretty good company there, including Diana Gabaldon.
“Draft spelled backward is Sucks.”
HA! Thanks. I needed that this morning.
Back to the draft.
.-= Margo Kelly´s last blog ..Happiness =-.
I think this holds true for your third, fourth, etc. book. I’m on my sixth, and Rule #4 rang true for me. You may not know what’s going on until you’re well into the book, but just keep writing!
.-= Debra Schubert´s last blog ..SUBLIMINAL MONDAY: Writing in Bed – The Glamorous Life or Before, After – WOW! What a Difference! =-.
Congrats to both of you on those nominations!
This is an excellent list. So many good nuggets.
.-= Lydia Sharp´s last blog ..A Week of Randomness =-.
So many of these things are true for first book as well. In the second book while the authors are competing with themselves, trying to do better or at least as good a job as last time, in the first book we are panicking about getting it good enough in the first place.
But I love the comment about being a writer. It’s true – I care far less about facebook and twitter. :-)
.-= Dolly´s last blog ..Look Beyond the Surface – Connecting with Creativity =-.
As a reader: Please, Just Do It…any which way that works! ;)
.-= larramiefg´s last blog ..For Ad Hudler, It’s about Time =-.
Congrats on the DABWAHA tournament!
This is another excellent WU post and I can take many of these rules and apply them to my first book. Especially #4 and #5: Floundering is normal and allow yourself to write badly. I recently lost some momentum and the only way I have been able to get back to my word count goals is to write horrifically. But I am writing!
.-= Rebecca @ Diary of a Virgin Novelist´s last blog ..Do more. More nonsensical, more crazy. =-.
There’s some really great advice here that I needed to see too! Thank you!
.-= Cassandra´s last blog ..Book Review: Heaven Can Wait =-.
I love google alert for far more than tracking my own book title – I love it when it brings me to awesome places like this! What a great blog! *bookmarked*
And I so completely and utterly hear you on all these rules. They are correct, inspiring, true and helpful (having completed my second novel earlier this year). Now I just need the rules for Book 3. :) Perhaps it’s ‘repeat list per book’.
CONGRATULATIONS on DA BWAHA – I’m beside myself that Miss Percy Parker is up there too. GOOD LUCK! I’m so excited that you’re taking my class, it’s going to be fun.
Blessings and I look forward to seeing you in the class and keeping track of your work!
Leanna Renee
Wow, after reading this, I actually feel like a veteran (which is a serious first as I read and learned from writing blogs and sites.) I’ve written 20 first drafts and some of those have gone through complete rewrites as I’ve knocked off 2nd, 3rd, and even 10th drafts. But I’ve always written foremost for myself and for the love of writing. I haven’t tried seeking publication yet. I love 2nd and 3rd drafts the most. 1st drafts get the story idea down. But the drafts right after that flesh the story out, the characters come alive, the plot arcs are defined, and I fall in love with the story. It’s the drafts where you get into all the nitty-gritty stuff like proof reading, sentence restructuring, and such that I get bogged down. For me, I love the challenge of heightening a story and digging as deeply as I can to make it better.
So I guess, to answer your question–I push myself to make the story stronger, better, and worth reading. Being so engrossed kind of takes out all the nagging distractions and worries. Fall in love with your story over and over again. And if you’re not feeling the love, fix it until you do. =)
These are great tips, and I hear you about the need to relearn the same things we already know to be true. Here’s a video that has helped me when the writing feels too much like slogging:
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/elizabeth_gilbert_on_genius.html
It’s Elizabeth Gilbert talking about how she’s coping with the stress of writing book #2.
Also, #9 is very much true for me. In the midst of a 100,000-word manuscript, progress can be hard to measure. A course can give me a sense of accomplishment and momentum that carries forward into “the work.”
.-= hope101´s last blog ..Sandman Rubs Me the Wrong Way =-.
“Draft spelled backward is Sucks. I dare you to disagree with me.”
LOL.
Great pep talk, for writers on any book or draft, really.
And congrats on the “tourney nod” (that’s an official bball term, hehehe). Good luck!
.-= Kristan´s last blog ..Where the “magic” happens =-.
I think much of this holds true for your first book as well. There are still so many of us that are a WIP.
As I am currently up to my eyebrows in the shitty first draft of a book that will never end, I’m firmly in the draft spelled backwards is sucks stage.
The terrible truth for me is that I ruin them the minute I begin to write.
And when it sucks, you can fix it. It might nearly kill you, but it won’t literally kill you. Probably.
After reading this I have decided that it’s best that I am writing my second novel before my first hits the shelves. I am still too naive to know what I am up against! (My first novel comes out June 1 and my second novel is due June 1… interesting timing, I know.)
Therese: thanks for the words of encouragement! I’m starting…starting…starting a second book. I think Stephen King’s advice is good also: just sit down and write! Your blog brightened my day and struck a chord with me. thanks, Colin
I had an easy time with my second books. It really helped that everything was already set up. I didn’t have to reinvent the characters, didn’t need to define their Voice, or get to know them. I didn’t have introduce the major multi-book plot line. I had all that, so I just picked it up and ran, this time concentrating more on having a ball.
However, I’m not published yet. Yes, I have a platform and yes I spend time growing it, but for the most part, I don’t have to spend a lot of time on that.
I am of the firm belief that things are only as hard as you make them. If you go into thinking it’ll be easy, it will be. Most times, the hardest part of anything is conquering yourself.
Frankie
LOVED #5!
I’m glad this post resonated with some of you, and thanks for the great comments.
Hope101 — how do I love the TED Elizabeth Gilbert video? Let me count the ways. One of my favorite pick-me-ups.
Marybeth, yes that is a wonderful setup. Best of luck with your debut!