The Next One
A few days ago, I wrote a post asking for topic suggestions and readers came back with some very intriguing ideas! But one has been echoed by Facebook messages, Twitter replies and interview questions, so I thought I'd address it here.
Anonymous commented: I want to know what your next book will be about!
Well, let me tell you, I am dying to talk about it. I wrote the first draft of Book 2 last summer and fall, and struggled with it. I think most published writers talk about the dreaded Sophomore book, the Book 2 curse, the horrible fear of being a one-hit wonder.
I was terrified that GILT was a fluke. That I didn't know how to write a book. That my agent and editor were deluded. That I would let everyone down - agent, editor, myself, and (worst of all) readers.
But I wrote it. And that first draft was not pretty.
However, I loved my character from the very beginning. My husband teases me when I tell people this, but her voice just came to me. (Oh, so now you're hearing voices?) It was a six-hour drive to see my family, everything was quiet in the car, the road curved around a river and bam! The book started. This girl was funny. Snarky. Self-assured but vulnerable. So different from Kitty in GILT. It was her voice that carried me through the first draft. And her voice that made me able to sustain the revisions.
I have a couple of revisions left to go (a novel's path to publication is a long process!), so I am not yet ready to talk about this character. I know I sound cagey, and I'd rather not be. But I want to retain the freedom of writing this character without other voices intruding. Without comments or suggestions.
Writing historical fiction based on real people naturally invites opposing opinions - we don't know what these people were really like! This is what makes them so much fun to read and write about! And I love it when people question my take on an historical character - was Catherine Howard really such a manipulative cow? Was Katherine Tylney really so loyal? Because I don't know! These are real people, but my characters are fictional! I'm just not ready to face these questions yet about Book 2. I need the book to be complete, to put the character to rest, and then I'll tell you all about it.
Promise.
Anonymous commented: I want to know what your next book will be about!
Well, let me tell you, I am dying to talk about it. I wrote the first draft of Book 2 last summer and fall, and struggled with it. I think most published writers talk about the dreaded Sophomore book, the Book 2 curse, the horrible fear of being a one-hit wonder.
I was terrified that GILT was a fluke. That I didn't know how to write a book. That my agent and editor were deluded. That I would let everyone down - agent, editor, myself, and (worst of all) readers.
But I wrote it. And that first draft was not pretty.
However, I loved my character from the very beginning. My husband teases me when I tell people this, but her voice just came to me. (Oh, so now you're hearing voices?) It was a six-hour drive to see my family, everything was quiet in the car, the road curved around a river and bam! The book started. This girl was funny. Snarky. Self-assured but vulnerable. So different from Kitty in GILT. It was her voice that carried me through the first draft. And her voice that made me able to sustain the revisions.
I have a couple of revisions left to go (a novel's path to publication is a long process!), so I am not yet ready to talk about this character. I know I sound cagey, and I'd rather not be. But I want to retain the freedom of writing this character without other voices intruding. Without comments or suggestions.
Writing historical fiction based on real people naturally invites opposing opinions - we don't know what these people were really like! This is what makes them so much fun to read and write about! And I love it when people question my take on an historical character - was Catherine Howard really such a manipulative cow? Was Katherine Tylney really so loyal? Because I don't know! These are real people, but my characters are fictional! I'm just not ready to face these questions yet about Book 2. I need the book to be complete, to put the character to rest, and then I'll tell you all about it.
Promise.
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