I read enough author blogs and agent blogs and stop-writing-now blogs to know better. It finally sank in that as a wannabe first-time novelist, my chances of selling a trilogy to an agent/publisher are lower than the chances of Menudo making a comeback. I think I finally got it when Nathan told a commenter that it makes no sense to be writing a sequel to a book that may never sell in the first place. It’s a waste of time.
SO…
I should be getting my first batch of critiques on Book 1 back soon, and here’s my tentative plan. First, I shall spend some time crying into my beer. Next, I shall determine if the patient is worth saving. If I determine that to be so, I shall resuscitate the patient (i.e., rewrite it) and in so doing rework the ending so that Book 1 can stand on its own. It shouldn’t be too hard to do. If Book 1 is accepted somewhere, it’ll be at least a year before it hits print, and during that time I can be working on Book 2 and possibly Book 3. But while I wait for validation Book 1 to be accepted, I can be working on something else.
And there will be something else, of course. Lest you think that I would have nothing else to whine about, let me reassure you that there are at least two unrelated books currently scratching at the inside of my skull, begging to be released.
I won’t give up on my trilogy. I’ll continue to take notes and perhaps even outline the next two books, but I’m going to spend my actual writing time on something different. It’ll be fun, I think.
And in case you’re wondering: I’m going to finish the trilogy I’m currently reading before I do anything. If my brain lets me, of course. Stupid brain.
September 7th, 2007 at 4:55 pm
Just by virtue of the fact that you always have something percolating, sooner or later you’ll produce something really good. Now, if you can get the right people to recognize it…
September 7th, 2007 at 5:19 pm
There’s the rub, eh? Getting the right people to see it at the right time, while the moon is in the correct phase, and the tide is going out, and…
Oh, hell. But you’re right - there’s always something fermenting up there. Too bad not all of it is golden, to put it mildly.
September 8th, 2007 at 4:30 pm
Yeah, take some reading time to yourself, and don’t bother to worry about what we might read while you’re not writing.
Selfish.
September 9th, 2007 at 9:59 am
I’m sorry, Pinhole. But it’s a really good book. And don’t worry - I’ll still be posting the same inane crap that you and my other three readers keep coming back to for some reason.
September 9th, 2007 at 11:22 am
I have three unpublished novels completed. I have ideas for sequels to all three but I will never put a word to paper unless the first one sells. However, I think knowing more to the story is almost as important as knowing each characters backstory.
September 9th, 2007 at 4:59 pm
Travis, I have a great deal of respect for you being able to finish three books. I know how hard it is to finish just one. It seems like you already figured out that writing a sequel to an unsold manuscript is kind of silly. I also agree with you - I think my having a future story in mind helped a lot in figuring out how to write this smaller part of it.