Stand Alone Novel

I have talked about the second book of my half blood series and how I feel like I don’t know how to write. This time, I’m having trouble separating this novel from the first one and the rest of the series. In part, I think it’s because this novel is a continuation. Perhaps I didn’t give myself enough time away from the series. Or perhaps it’s because the characters are so fresh in my mind that it’s making difficult to separate the plots from each other.

My mentality is like a train trying to go uphill. I think I can. I think I can, right? It starts lagging (like all my pc games do). Not the story (I think) just the way that I am able to keep writing and figure out all the tiny details of the plot. I’m not much of a planner and when I do plan, I always allow the story to breathe on its own. I don’t like to limit myself to the confines of an outline. Yet, I feel like the story just keeps going without a breather. Maybe I should have waited for longer to start the second book. But I don’t want to stop now.

To put it simply, I have never done anything like this before. This is the first series that I’m actually writing and it’s scary. I’ve bought reference books and read through them for plotting, description, characters, etc. I can gladly say that the series arc has always been fresh in my head. I know where I am going with this series. It’s how to get there that’s giving me problems.

I wish I could say that I found how to separate the two novels from each other but I haven’t. It’s a learning process; one that I fear and feel excited about. The doubts are still present but I’m pushing through. When I write a scene, I just can’t stop until it’s completed. I tend to rush the scene and end up skipping some description because I want to get to the juicy part. Lazy writing. Sure there’s always editing but I think, just like before, I’m trying to get everything done right.

In general, I think I need to start looking at more articles about writing a series and second books. I know that sometimes the second book isn’t all that great but I really want mine to be decent. Maybe taking a break is all I need. We’ll see.