In my ongoing attempt to get two books completely plotted and ready to write before writing them both this year, I've set aside yet another plot. This is partly because I came up with another iteration on it that interests me a lot more than my original plans, and partly because it's a very dark story and I'm at a time in my life where I need to keep a more positive outlook. Thankfully, the first plot I've been working on is still awesome and I'm really looking forward to getting started. So, I decided to focus on the plot for the sequel to THE ACCIDENTAL WARLOCK.
Sequel plotting is strange and alien to me. O_o
I've only started writing one sequel before. This was the sequel to the first novel I ever wrote, a sprawling fantasy epic that took me over three years to finish. If I remember right, that book is well over 300,000 words. It's also crap, but hey, first novel. :P I never got very far into that sequel, because it didn't seem right to start working on the second book when I hadn't even sold the first one.
I'd love to look back and think I knew what I was doing even then, but yeah, I can't.
So, fast-forward almost thirteen years. I have a very good feeling about TAW, and the feedback I've received has been largely positive - everyone who's read the whole thing has really liked it. (I try not to worry about those who've read part of it and haven't liked it, because there's no such thing as a book that everybody likes, and I'm sure someday I'll rack up the one-star reviews on Amazon like everyone else.) I'm hoping to start the query process by June, and if things go well, I'd like to be able to tell an agent that I can start writing the sequel at any time, or even that I've already started it.
It's weird. I'm optimistic by nature, but starting on the second book when I haven't sold the first one still seems odd to me. It's somehow too optimistic. I tell myself it's a mark of faith in my own abilities - it's a way of reassuring myself that yes, I think TAW will work out for me, so I should be ready to write the sequel. And it means I can develop some stuff I only touched on in TAW, write as a character I've never written as before, and introduce a lot of things I thought up way back in 2003-04 when I first started taking down notes for this world.
Plotting for this book has, I'm glad to say, been going really well. I've been doing character and location work for the past few nights, and this stuff is just flowing out of my head. It's kind of surprising, actually - all the little details are fitting together, like my subconscious has been assembling all of this when I wasn't looking and I only now get to see. It seems my brain has been waiting for me to get started on this.
Just a little longer, brain. I still have that interplanar adventure ahead of me.
Next entry: laughing at the past.
Good for you - I'm so glad you're working on the sequel!! I know what you mean; it's important to believe in yourself, but when does that belief become pure optimistic silliness??? Probably not anywhere close to where we are, but still :) And you know what? Self-publishing is always an option. I sincerely hope you get to go the route you'd like, and traditionally publish (and I'm rooting for you and think it's a real possibility), but if not, that doesn't mean TAW never sees the light of day.
ReplyDeleteBut, yeah, don't plan on that!! Plan on finding an agent and selling the book, and plan on how psyched they'll be when you have the sequel already plotted out, and maybe even written. Man, every finger I have is crossed for you!
Considering some of your critique, I figured you'd be glad to know I'm working on this. ^_^ But thank you. And I think that we writers have to be at least a little more optimistic than most people; it's a ridiculously hard profession to get into and it's all based around personal taste, so it's way too easy to miss that one person who would love your work if they could only read it.
DeleteI'm still stubbornly resisting self-publishing, though - I've just never felt like it's right for me. But I'll deal with that if it comes to that. I still have the entire submission process ahead of me. O_o
I didn't write my sequel until I had a deal for the first one. Um, yeah... totally wish I'd written it! LOL Once things kick into high gear, the pressure sets in. It's a lot harder to work that way. For me, at least. :)
ReplyDeleteKudos to you for starting it!
Not to be snarky, but I'd totally love to feel the pressure of having to write a sequel due to a book deal. :P
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