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. ;)

Can I Do This?

I would like to be able to say that I am always 100% confident that I will be able to finish my novel, publish it, and that it will be at least somewhat successful.

Unfortunately, that would be a complete and utter lie. In reality, most of the time I’m honestly wondering if I’ll be able to do that at all. Will I actually be able to tell a good enough story that someone will be willing to publish it? If not, would I be able to self-publish it? I’m not great at using social media and talking to people, so if I did self-publish how could I even be remotely successful with it? What if everyone hates it?

I think it’s fairly safe to say that I’m plagued with way too many self-doubts when it comes to writing. And I’m probably not the only person out there who feels this way. Whenever I look at articles and blogs about publishing, so many mention that a writer’s first novel may never be published. Rejection is a huge part of the publication process. And that isn’t exactly the most encouraging thing to see when you’re working on your first novel. At times I start to wonder, am I just wasting my time? I saw that JK Rowling recently posted some of her rejection letters. Seeing that, there's that little voice screaming, "If JK Rowling was rejected, what chance do I have!?" 

The thing is, thinking like this doesn’t do any good. If I spend so much time worrying about failing, then I will fail. I’ll never accomplish anything if I don’t try. Maybe I will fail. But I’ll never know if I don’t try. This is my dream, and it’s not something I can give up on easily.

If I do fail, I can learn from my mistakes and give it another go. Because if there is one thing that I do know, it’s that I love writing. I love coming up with story ideas and the characters that inhabit them. And I am determined that this is something I want to do for the rest of my life. So I will try to prepare myself for the struggles I know will lie ahead, and to try to stay positive at the same time.

I’ll keep reading inspiring quotes of the day. That always seems to be a good pick me up! So can I do this? I'm sure gonna try!