The Sequel Writing Journey - Sequel Writing Woes

Ever since I published Iridescent back in July, I've been working on its sequel. I have to admit that I'm way behind schedule when it comes to this WIP, and that's something I really need to work on. This is the first sequel I've written, and that makes it a learning experience. And what better way to discuss this learning experience than in a blog post or two?

Obviously writing any story can be a learning experience. Iridescent taught me a lot. It was my first story, and the first story I've ever published. Since publishing it, I've learned that there are some areas where I can improve with my writing. Which is great. I imagine there will always be new things to learn as I grow as a writer, and I hope that I can continue to make my stories better. I'm hoping that I can take everything that I've learned from Iridescent and use it to make Coalescent even better.

But here's the thing.

Sequels are hard.

I know what I want to do with this story, but I keep getting stumped in trying to make it better than my first novel. I'm constantly feeling I'm being plagued with questions. Is the pacing going better this time? Is it too boring? How can I make sure these characters are more interesting this time around? How can I make sure that the interesting characters stay interesting and don't get boring?

Oh, and of course my very favorite question.

Does anyone besides me even want this sequel?

Ah, insecurity and self-doubt, how nice of you to pop back in again.

I'm going to be honest here. In my ideal fantasy world, Iridescent would have taken off the second I hit the publish button. Reality, though, is much different. I'm grateful to everyone who has bought a copy of Iridescent so far, and to everyone who has left a review. It really does mean a lot to me.

That being said, I think it's safe to say that this story still hasn't entirely found it's audience.

Which is fine.

These things take time and like I said before, this is all a learning process for me. Marketing a book and finding an audience for it is no easy feat. I can admit that I'm not the best with social media. I think it's probably safe to say that this blog post itself will have very few viewers. I'm still learning, I'm still trying.

But that only makes the sequel writing more frustrating.

It's hard finding motivation when you don't know if anyone is going to want to read your work. It's hard when you see other people finding their audiences and gaining fans of their work. It's easy to get jealous.

And I know the age old saying that I shouldn't compare my work and life with others. That doesn't mean that it's not an easy trap to fall into. It's way too easy to get caught up thinking 'Why isn't that happening to me?', 'Why are things going so easily for them?'. The thing is, I'm sure that these writers have their own struggles that I can't see, and that's something that I'm trying to remind myself. That, and that things will work out when the time is right.

I love my characters. Aly, Riley, and Leo in particular have invaded my mind and they're making it clear that they're not going away until I finish telling their stories. Which is good, because I do enjoy writing these characters and the adventures they go on.

So I'm going to keep writing them.

Even though it can be hard and frustrating, I'm going to keep pushing on with this sequel. I'm going to find my motivation and inspiration.

And you know what, sequel writing isn't always a frustrating mess. There are some big high points to it as well, but I'll talk more about that next week. ;)