Writing a Sequel is hard...
I'm not a blogger, if that wasn't obvious.
I post here only ever so often and don't use any of those standard bait and switch techniques (is that a blogging technique? Like I said, not a blogger, wouldn't know.)
What I am however, is a writer. Or at least that's what I tell people at least. I did publish a book after all which is a lot more than a lot of people can say they've done (regardless of how many people think the process is easier than it is).
And as a writer, I have the obligation to my readers to not leave them hanging, especially when I labeled the first book I put out as Book One in a series!
So I put it out, gave myself a few months and then sat down to start working on the sequel. Shoulda been pretty easy, after all, I knew this was a series right?
Well... about that. I'm a pantser. For those of you who don't write, that has a specific meaning that I am more or less writing this entire post about.
For writers, we tend to fall into two camps (there's obviously levels and others of course, but I'm generalizing here so work with me.)
Outliners: Are writers who obsess over every little detail. They have notebooks and carefully organized files that can range from giving them chapter by chapter synopsis, to just part outlines. They can range vastly but the idea behind an outliner is that they know, more or less, all of the big action points in their books.
It's actually really impressive and I admire the hell out of Outliners for their ability to write their books in such a paraphrased way. But I've tried it, and it just doesn't work for me. At least not on a major scale.
The most outlining I do is knowing the beginning and the ending of a book. Maybe a few small scenes here or there, but that's all I do. The one time I ever tried outlining, I ended up getting so bored with the world I tossed it onto the backburner and haven't even relooked at the file since, and that was like, seven years ago.
Which brings us to:
Pantsers: Ever hear the phrase doing something by "the seat of your pants"? Well that's the bread and butter of a pantser. I sit down, I start writing and I see where the story takes me.
Sometimes, this brings some twists and turns that I might not have been able to come up with through a traditional outlining process, sometimes it gets me stuck as I rewrite a single scene a half dozen times as I replay it in my head and look for the right way to let the chapter end in the best possible way.
Remember, I work by knowing what the ending is going to be, if a scene doesn't end in a way that's going to work toward that goal, I end up rewriting it. Sometimes I get a chapter in one try, sometimes it takes a lot more. But I have found my style and it works for me.
Or at least I thought I did until I sat down to write Overflow.
See, like I said, I always knew Cascade was the start of a larger series, and I know some people might ask how I knew the series was meant to be a four book series when I'm not an outliner.
Well, that's because of the minor bits of outlining that I do do. Like I said, I know how the stories begin and end, but that's it. And when I came up with Cascade, I had four very distinct endings in mind that advanced a plot steadily along and I planned the books in this series accordingly.
Yet knowing just how a book is going to end doesn't do you a lot of good when suddenly, you don't have just what you're writing to worry about, but making sure you don't break the continuity of your last book. Suddenly that need for an outline seems a lot more pressing, especially if it's just making a retroactive one for your last book? Sounds like a good idea right?
Is that what I did though?
NOOOOOOPE!
That would have been the easy route. Instead I just sat down, and forgot the last one. Well... okay I didn't forget the last book, I just, didn't worry so much. I knew my book, inside and out. And I also knew my characters. My wife says I treat my characters like friends when I talk about the stupid things they get up to after all, so why should it matter if they already had the start of their story written "in stone" it didn't mean that their stories were over and I sure as hell knew what storylines still needed to be resolved.
And did I go on to resolve those story lines?....
Okay, so maybe not all of them! With a hydra like approach to the lines that came out of Cascade, Overflow is practically... Overflowing with a fun, crazy new continuation of The Cadinari Stream.
Oh, did I forget to mention that outright even though I heavily, heavily, implied it? (seriously guys I never write in this blog, if I'm making a post it's probably an announcement of some sort, like, a solid 9 out of 10 times.)
Yeah, writing a sequel IS hard. But I sure as hell did it and I am so excited for everyone to get a chance to read it! As a sneak peek for getting through my mad, incoherent rambling that went absolutely nowhere (seriously why did I make this post?) here's a look at the full cover of Overflow, book two of The Cadinari Stream!
Things are about to get crazy, so I sure hope y'all are ready for the ride!
Also there's mystery and intrigue.
I post here only ever so often and don't use any of those standard bait and switch techniques (is that a blogging technique? Like I said, not a blogger, wouldn't know.)
What I am however, is a writer. Or at least that's what I tell people at least. I did publish a book after all which is a lot more than a lot of people can say they've done (regardless of how many people think the process is easier than it is).
And as a writer, I have the obligation to my readers to not leave them hanging, especially when I labeled the first book I put out as Book One in a series!
So I put it out, gave myself a few months and then sat down to start working on the sequel. Shoulda been pretty easy, after all, I knew this was a series right?
Well... about that. I'm a pantser. For those of you who don't write, that has a specific meaning that I am more or less writing this entire post about.
For writers, we tend to fall into two camps (there's obviously levels and others of course, but I'm generalizing here so work with me.)
Outliners: Are writers who obsess over every little detail. They have notebooks and carefully organized files that can range from giving them chapter by chapter synopsis, to just part outlines. They can range vastly but the idea behind an outliner is that they know, more or less, all of the big action points in their books.
It's actually really impressive and I admire the hell out of Outliners for their ability to write their books in such a paraphrased way. But I've tried it, and it just doesn't work for me. At least not on a major scale.
The most outlining I do is knowing the beginning and the ending of a book. Maybe a few small scenes here or there, but that's all I do. The one time I ever tried outlining, I ended up getting so bored with the world I tossed it onto the backburner and haven't even relooked at the file since, and that was like, seven years ago.
Which brings us to:
Pantsers: Ever hear the phrase doing something by "the seat of your pants"? Well that's the bread and butter of a pantser. I sit down, I start writing and I see where the story takes me.
Sometimes, this brings some twists and turns that I might not have been able to come up with through a traditional outlining process, sometimes it gets me stuck as I rewrite a single scene a half dozen times as I replay it in my head and look for the right way to let the chapter end in the best possible way.
Remember, I work by knowing what the ending is going to be, if a scene doesn't end in a way that's going to work toward that goal, I end up rewriting it. Sometimes I get a chapter in one try, sometimes it takes a lot more. But I have found my style and it works for me.
Or at least I thought I did until I sat down to write Overflow.
See, like I said, I always knew Cascade was the start of a larger series, and I know some people might ask how I knew the series was meant to be a four book series when I'm not an outliner.
Well, that's because of the minor bits of outlining that I do do. Like I said, I know how the stories begin and end, but that's it. And when I came up with Cascade, I had four very distinct endings in mind that advanced a plot steadily along and I planned the books in this series accordingly.
Yet knowing just how a book is going to end doesn't do you a lot of good when suddenly, you don't have just what you're writing to worry about, but making sure you don't break the continuity of your last book. Suddenly that need for an outline seems a lot more pressing, especially if it's just making a retroactive one for your last book? Sounds like a good idea right?
Is that what I did though?
NOOOOOOPE!
That would have been the easy route. Instead I just sat down, and forgot the last one. Well... okay I didn't forget the last book, I just, didn't worry so much. I knew my book, inside and out. And I also knew my characters. My wife says I treat my characters like friends when I talk about the stupid things they get up to after all, so why should it matter if they already had the start of their story written "in stone" it didn't mean that their stories were over and I sure as hell knew what storylines still needed to be resolved.
And did I go on to resolve those story lines?....
Okay, so maybe not all of them! With a hydra like approach to the lines that came out of Cascade, Overflow is practically... Overflowing with a fun, crazy new continuation of The Cadinari Stream.
Oh, did I forget to mention that outright even though I heavily, heavily, implied it? (seriously guys I never write in this blog, if I'm making a post it's probably an announcement of some sort, like, a solid 9 out of 10 times.)
Yeah, writing a sequel IS hard. But I sure as hell did it and I am so excited for everyone to get a chance to read it! As a sneak peek for getting through my mad, incoherent rambling that went absolutely nowhere (seriously why did I make this post?) here's a look at the full cover of Overflow, book two of The Cadinari Stream!
Things are about to get crazy, so I sure hope y'all are ready for the ride!
Also there's mystery and intrigue.
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