The deadline for the first draft of my second novel is looming, so I'm keeping my post short this month! Here you have it - my very own recipe for writing said sequel:
- Take one (1) Chosen One trope, established in the first novel. Subvert.
- Extract the world building from the first book, add a little more context and lore, knead and allow to rise for a month or two until bubbly.
- Blend plot and character arcs together until thoroughly combined. Add the world building and bring all together in a nice messy gloop.
- Marinade a handful of secondary characters until they are established and likeable. This will be made harder by the fact that you killed off a load of them in your first book and now need to create new ones. Stir into the mixture in the knowledge that only a few will survive to the third book.
- Crack three fight scenes and a battle into the mixture one by one, making sure each of them is more ambitious than those in the first book, despite the fact that when you wrote the first book, you went all in.
- Decide that you don't have enough storylines and decide to include a mystery plot, ostensibly for complexity of flavour but also because you just love a good mystery.
- Add one (or two) romances into the mix, for sweetness, and fold in lightly.
- Bake for a year, turning the temperature up to 'anxiety and panic' for the final week.
- Decorate with a pretty cover and atmospheric blurb, and present next to your first book for comparison and judgement.
2 comments:
Good wishes for your book, Holly. Upping the stakes must be a bit brain-stretching - as well as keeping hold of all your new, current and vanished characters. Thanks for posting. Inspired haste!
Good luck! It sounds great! I am currently trying to add some secondary characters to a novel without them taking over, and it is REALLY hard. This post made me smile in recognition!
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