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Do I have to work on this?
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Denise
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Aug 13, 2015 09:58AM
So, I self published my first novel this year and I wrote it in an open ended way so that it very much leads into a sequel. I know that I should be pushing hard to get it out out in a timely fashion but WAAAHHH it is the last thing I want to work on! Does anyone else feel like they should be working on one thing but they want to do something else?
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Im going to agree with Charles (assuming of course, that you are in the northern hemisphere). My brain melts when the temperatures go up. I have spent the last two months waffling between two projects, neither of which is the next in series that I plan to have out by Halloween.My advice (which carries about as much weight as a helium balloon) would be to work on whatever is itching to come out right now. You never know. You might get halfway into something new and have a sudden ah-ha moment on the next book. :)
Tell me about it!As well as being an author I'm an editor. I know that 9 time out of 10 I should be working on my client's book, but there I am, typing away about my own story...
Worse yet: I have a schedule... and I always tend to write the story I'm not supposed to work on for a few months :D
So yep: that's definitely not only you!
damn phone.... anyways i feel your pain. for me its shifting office hours during summer (9p to 5a) because there is no air conditioning here... and my work is dictated by which computer isnt on the fritz or what i have recovered from the last crash and how much work it needs... so no set schedules for me. the gremlins work overtime out here -_-
You guys should come to Cornwall. It's on the cold side of the scale around here and there was some thunder today :P No problem with summer here!
I'm glad to know it's not just me. I was starting to worry since I published my first book earlier in the year then quickly followed with the second. Third is in my mind but I keep finding other things to do. Some are author related and some are just out there. At least I now know it's not completely uncommon and I have something to blame since it's been a hot summer here.
Mod
Not exactly. I often find myself in the middle of one project and another will start to sound more interesting. I don't fight it. I go with the flow. Yes, it results in having many, many projects sitting around unfinished, but y'know - I'd rather publish something I wrote and felt passionate about all the way through it rather than something I had to force myself to finish. Now, this doesn't mean that all these other things are abandoned forever. I sometimes do come back to the neglected works and find a new, fresh and more interesting way to approach it.
I agree with those that said to follow the passion and write what is itching to get out rather than forcing yourself to write the follow up. This past winter I was in the middle of plotting and planning a contemporary romance and the next thing I knew there was an idea for an urban fantasy screaming to get out. I set the romance aside and followed the fantasy and now I have a trilogy all written and I'm in the process of publishing the first book.
Denise wrote: "...I self published my first novel this year and I wrote it in an open ended way so that it very much leads into a sequel. I know that I should be pushing hard to get it out out in a timely fashion but.."Who's pressuring you to work on the sequel? You have an agent or publisher or editor or 140,000 fans setting deadlines for you?
No?
Then F- it. Work on what you want to work on. If/when the sequel is ready to be written, it will certainly let you know.
Abide.
Dwayne wrote: "Denise wrote: "Does anyone else feel like they should be working on one thing but they want to do something else? "Not exactly. I often find myself in the middle of one project and another will s..."
This is what I am trying to do right now. It's nice to know that others feel the same way sometimes.
Denise wrote: "So, I self published my first novel this year and I wrote it in an open ended way so that it very much leads into a sequel. I know that I should be pushing hard to get it out out in a timely fashio..."Absolutely. I finished my first novel a few months ago, and I've been researching how to best make it visible and be perfect when I release in November...but I've neglected actually writing the next book. :/ Oh well...soon!
Denise wrote: "So, I self published my first novel this year and I wrote it in an open ended way so that it very much leads into a sequel. I know that I should be pushing hard to get it out out in a timely fashio..."Denise, I think there's such a thing as "sequel avoidance syndrome." You might consider that.
I published my first novel 5 weeks ago, and I immediately started on the sequel, but I've been sidetracked twice now by other book projects that are completely unrelated. In my case, I think part of me is scared to write the sequel. I loved how the first one turned out, and the reader response has been great, and now I'm a little afraid that the sequel will disappoint in comparison. I have no real reason to fear that - surely if I wrote the first book successfully, I can write the sequel successfully, but I find myself very intimidated when it comes to the sequel. Hence, I'm easily distracted by other book projects. I don't know if that applies to you or not, but trust me, you're not alone.
We writers are a complex bunch. :)
April
Mod
There could be something to that. When I published Summerwind I knew a sequel would work for the story and started to work on one. But, then I put it aside. It could have been out of some kind of fear. I really don't know. Summerwind has become my best seller, so I feel like a sequel would do well, too. Last night I started dabbling with it again and found what was going to be the sequel was a flat and one-noted idea. A new idea began to spring out that was a lot more complex and interesting. So, I'm glad I waited.
Whatever the reason, fear or disinterest or what have you, I will put aside projects that I'm not fully invested in. For me, to continue to work on something when I'm not really into it, would be unfair to me, my work and to the readers.
My sequel is not coming along as quickly as the first book, and I have it and 5 others already planned out for the most part.
I can definitely relate. I'm working on a sequel now and I'm a bit tired of the premise at the moment. But I already had the rough draft written so I've got the momentum going. Another thing that helps is that I've added some new primary characters, which makes things more interesting. Finally, I took time off to write first chapters of two new works. That way I have something to work on if I get stuck on the sequel.
I know that feeling. I'm supposed to be working on book #3 of my series, and book #2 of a novella series, and I'm itching to work on other things instead. Le sigh. I've got 3 WIPs already and while camping I got hit with another idea that's demanding my attention. Seriously, muse?
We work on whatever we want to when we want to. Occasionally. we get more serious. We don't have "sequel avoidance syndrome" because we are writing a series that we had plotted out before we published the first book. We might run into "sequel avoidance syndrome" when it comes to the follow-on series, which would be the real sequel, since our series is really one very long novel, published in 8 or 9 pieces.
