20 August 2014

The Dreaded Book 2 *Insert dramatic noises*

People say that writing the second book is the hardest. Right now I’d totally have to agree. However, many authors say that writer’s block strikes as they try to write a second book in a series. I didn’t have that problem.

No, instead I had the insatiable urge to make book 2 WAY better than book 1.

I went to Salt Lake Fan Ex (Comic Con) in April and hung out at a “Why we love Joss Whedon” panel. At least 80% of the people who talked said that they loved his characters the bestest of them all. I had complaints about the characters in my first novel, so I figured it was a sign that this is what I should focus on for a while.

And I have. If memory serves (haha) then I have blogged about the character thing before. I got a couple of books on writing characters and method acting that really helped me. I completely re-wrote book 2…twice.

I thought I had it down, but my beta readers told me I was off course. Thank goodness for honest friends. Or mean editors. Either way. So I took another stab at it.

One problem I have is that I like to employ a large cast of characters. It’s hard for me to have a main character, their best friend and the love interest. For whatever reason I get bored. (I probably need better characters) But there are plenty of shows and books that incorporate a big list of characters without getting too crazy. And they’re still good books.

A couple of weeks ago I sent book 2 off to my publisher to see what they thought of it. Hopefully I got it right. Well, more right than before.

Now I’m waiting.

I hate waiting.

In the meantime, I feel like I should go see Guardians of the Galaxy again. They had lots of characters that no one really knew, and the writers did a pretty good job of making you care about them all.


Good plan. I’m off to the movies!

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