Andrew Seiple's Blog: Transmissions From the Teslaverse - Posts Tagged "sequels"

It's easier the second time around.

I hear that every writer's different, and I believe it. So take the words below with a grain of salt.

So, writing the first novel? That was very hard. Three-to-four months of pushing myself for the first draft, then three more months of constant editing. Then another three months of waiting on the last publishing company I queried, but that came to nothing. (Though I did get some final editing in there, so it wasn't wasted time.)

The second time... well, it went smoothly. My confidence was up, from the warm reception on DIRE:BORN, and the fact that I knew I could do it. I'd done it before, hadn't I?

All told, it took 2 months to finish the first draft, a month and change to run it by editors and friends, and half-a-month waiting for the cover artist to finish. (Worth it, though. Halbrooks does good work. Sweet Jesus, look at that cover! LOOK AT IT!)

Editing was a big part of the shortcut. I edited on the fly, as comments from my readers came in. Stuff got done earlier, even if it made for a few more hours work in a shorter space of time.

So. Yeah, it was still a lot of work, all told... but it was easier. And there were points when I was writing the first draft where things would just CLICK, and then I'd find myself churning out five, ten, fifteen thousand words a weekend. Good words, too, mostly.

So for those of you who are struggling? Who are digging into your first draft, and screaming with the pain of it all... relax.

If you're at all like me, the first time's the hardest. It's easier the second time around.