Or, get while the gettin’s good!
I published my novel, A Road To Joy, in 2019.
Soon after, readers were asking for a sequel. What happened to her? We want more…
Unbelievably flattering. Unbelievably stressful.
So many what if’s and none of them had to do with plot!!
What if I can’t come up with another story? What if it’s not as good? What if it’s soooo much better?
My main character (MC) woke me up one night and handed me a sequel. Something I absolutely refused to touch. Far too emotional, my greatest fear, no way was I going to put myself in a position to feel that much.
Then she promised me a drop dead fabulous third – a trilogy. But only if I did the second one.
There’s a word for people like that…
I’ve been fighting with her for a couple of years over this.
Today, she woke me up again.
How about this, she whispers in my sleepy ear.
I threw on some sweats, grabbed a coffee, and hit the keyboard. I wrote what she told me to. The entire first chapter. It’s a good thing I can type with my eyes closed. I bawled like a baby all the way through it.
Then she added a sketchy outline for the rest of the book.
In under two hours, I’d put down over 2,400 words.
It’s not quite what we talked about before. This is taking a bit of a turn. Seeing the whole story from a different perspective. Teaching a different lesson.
It’s quite dark, actually. And deep.
I hope she manages to throw in as much humour as she did the first time round.
But this is how I write.
90% in my head. 10% at the keyboard.
I rehearse and replay, create and re-create. While I’m driving, while I’m in the shower, while I’m watching tv, while I’m supposed to be paying attention to a conversation.
Sometimes it all comes at once.
But when it all comes together, I write down what I see, hear, think, feel.
Two hours, give or take. I woke up about 9:30. By noon, the first of what will be 20-30 chapters done. First draft, anyway.
I’m pretty excited. But more than a little apprehensive. I am not looking forward to feeling these feels and crying through unlimited contact lenses again. But if the story is there, if the character has spoken, if the mood hits, who am I to ignore it?
You gotta get while the gettin’s good!
I’ll keep you all posted as I go. Maybe this flies, maybe it doesn’t.
Who knows?
Alex.
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