Second Novel Syndrome?

[Broadswordbabe]

Let me explain. I wrote a terrible fantasy novel. After several submissions and some cruel-to-be-kind critiques, I bowed to reality and shoved it in the trunk.

Second novel, got me an agent. Yowza! Not sold yet, but an agent.

So the one I'm currently working on isn't strictly speaking my second novel, and I don't know if I can lay claim to 'second novel blues'.

Anyway I'm having a terrible time actually finishing it. I wanted to do something different, in case novel-agent-likes doesn't sell. So it's darker fantasy, YA, (I think) - and generally different in style and tone from the one he's taken on.

Trouble is, I was in love with the last one, and I think that shows in the writing, and was one reason it got picked up. I'm not in love with this one. I think it has potential, and is, possibly, competent, but I just find myself with a terrible reluctance to work on it. I know how it ends, I just don't really find myself caring that much. I've put in 14 months and 75,000 words on this thing, but every other project I have at the moment just seems a hell of a lot more tempting! Apart from anything else, my central character refuses to come to life - her sidekick, her father, and the villain just seem a lot more interesting than her. Maybe, having been one, I just don't like adolescent girls much...

I really feel I need to finish it, if only to prove to myself/agent/anyone else who might be interested that I'm not a one-trick pony, but the enthusiasm-well seems to have run dry.

Any advice would be greeted with sobbing gratitude....

[PeeDee]

If you write a book you hate, then all you're proving to your agent and anyone else is that.....you're capable of writing a book you hate. Good to know you have the discipline, but I doubt it'll produce anything you want to read.

write what you're in love with. Who cares if it's the same thing? It won't come out EXACTLY the same, and your love will carry you a lot further than trying to force yourself into being something you're not.

[rugcat]

What you're going through is not uncommon. For one thing, as a relatively new writer, it's exciting to come up with ways of doing things that work. The next book, you tend to find yourself using the things you discovered, only they're not so fresh and exciting any more. I'm having a difficult time myself with the sequel I'm working on, maybe for different reasons, but it's still a struggle.

But don't forget, just because you're struggling with it doesn't mean it's not any good. I'm also a songwriter, and some of my songs have come so quickly and easily as to be a gift from the muse. Others were word by word, note by note battles, sometimes for months. But no one who hears them can tell which is which.

Sometimes the writing comes easily, and sometimes it doesn't. For everyone.

[Dave.C.Robinson]

My second novel was a harder slog than the first-- at least the first draft. I never lost my love for it though, and still have the emotion. My problem is I want to work on something new and rewriting this one's a lot of work.

Add in some upcoming life changes and well, I'm slowing down.

[Garpy]

2nd book syndrome is a nightmare. The first one hopefully gets you signed, it's the one you've been brewing for a while, it's the one you wrote with a passion.

The 2nd book is the one you have to squeeze in whilst doing PR for the first, the second one has to be 'just like the first' but 'different and better', the second book...you're writing to convince an editor and an agent that you've got more than one book in you!

Book 2 is always the hardest.

[IrishScribbler]

Second novel, got me an agent. Yowza! Not sold yet, but an agent.

So the one I'm currently working on isn't strictly speaking my second novel, and I don't know if I can lay claim to 'second novel blues'....

I wish I had this problem!

[peevy]

Yeah, second novels. It sucks. Pressure probably has something to do with it. I wish I knew what else caused the whole problem, because then I could get over it. I love my second novel WIP sometimes, and sometimes I feel like it's crap and wish I could just go back to working on that golden first novel. (Which wasn't the first novel I ever wrote--just the first one to get repped).

[Imelda]

I have no advice, but I'll give you a lot of sympathy. You've done incredibly well to get so far into it and not go insane. Good luck.

[Jamesaritchie]

My second novel was published, but it was the hardest thing I've ever written, and certainly the worst thing I've ever had published. I don't know why second novels often seem so hard to write, but my second was anything but a pleasant experience.

[seun]

My second was better than my first (which wasn't hard, really). Although it was harder to write simply because it actually had a plot, it was also more satisfying.

I haven't looked over the first in a few years. It's enough to know it's there...festering...

[yappo]

Thanks for reminding me ;)

I'll soon start second revision of my second novel. Blaeh! :)

Sten

[giftedrhonda]

So true. I'm working on my second YA novel, and it's like pulling teeth. LOL

[Broadswordbabe]

Peevy, you sound as though you're in the same position as me

Garpy, I wish I was at the PR stage - it's not sold yet. That was another reason I wanted to get straight on with something else - if the first one does sell, I know I'm going to have to do that sort of thing, and what with the day job and all, I didn't know how much time I was going to have to work on the next book.

I will keep struggling - I cannot quite bear to abandon it after all this work - and maybe after I've actually finished this draft, and shoved it in a cupboard for a while, I'll dig it out and discover it's not totally terrible.

I'm currently using the carrot of starting the next book - one I really want to work on - as soon as I finish this draft, but not before. If anyone can come up with any other strategies to make yourself get on with it, I'd love to hear them!

[Saundra Julian]

I changed genres for my second book and love it as much as the first. My third book in well underway and I have changed genres again. I have a fourth book started and yes you guessed it, a completely different genre than the other three!

[Dave.C.Robinson]

I changed genres too-- I do love my second book, but it's a lot more work than the other was to revise it.