That Difficult Second Book and Managing Expectations
It’s a thing to admire about the creative arts. First, there’s the tough slog getting the first piece of work out into the world. If you’re one of the people actually reading this, I suspect you’ll have an idea of either how hard it is, or how hard it was, depending on the stage you’re at in your writing career.
But you get your first one out and things happen. It’s out there, it has set sail; there’s nothing more you can do physically, other than give it that first prod and hope it swims. Continuing on the water metaphors, reviews and sales trickle in, your name gets out there (whether it reaches ten people or ten thousand at this stage, it’s irreversible), and if you’re lucky, you get to take a brief break to take stock as you consider the next one. If you’re really lucky, you have an editor chivvying you along and badgering you to get back on with it.
But how does the next part work? What’s next in the Adventures of the Author, never mind [Insert Title Here] story number 2? You, the author, probably already know the intended tale, but that may not be all there is to it. Has public feedback influenced what you had in mind? Do you go for ‘more of the same’ or do you endeavour to tread new ground?
Whilst I’ve mostly spoken about books in that last couple of paragraphs, I mentioned ‘the creative arts’ at first. This isn’t a dilemma exclusive to writing by any means. In fact, the most common of analogies relates to the well-known adage, ‘that difficult second album’.
Now, whether your sales are as far as the folks who saw your local gig in the last couple of months, or your first album was a multi-platinum success, the decisions that need to be made are largely the same. Asking around, friends have cited Adele and Counting Crows as having massively successful debut albums. But in the same world, some bands haven’t even really found their sound at this point. Prince’s early albums build a rapid following, but Purple Rain and Sign O’The Times remain some years down the line.
But what are these artists thinking when that first one’s out? Yay! Achievement Unlocked! But usually, it’s not a sign to stop and do something else. Nope, as in video games, there are dozens more achievements to be had that first level up. Even if you don’t unlock them all, you probably still want to finish the game. And in the mind of the artist, the mind is probably prodding and saying, “Great! Now there’s more story to tell! More music to be made.” That sort of thing.
So the majority of the time, there’s something else to come. The thought is always there: how does one top what has just been done? It’s not just an egotistical question. Look at it this way; nobody embarks on a project of personal achievement with the express intention of making it worse than the debut. If strong acclaim is attained, the very least a creator seeks is to match that. More often, they seek to improve upon it.
On that note, the tough question is whether to stick or twist. More of the same, because that’s what we think the fans want? Or should we get on and attempt to innovate? Going back to musicians, look at David Bowie. Say what you like about him, the man has a career spanning half a century that should serve as an inspiration to anyone who ever picks up an instrument or a microphone. But he didn’t do it by putting out the same album every few years. He experimented; he innovated; he had a set mission of what he wanted to get done. Every time.
But naturally, there is a temptation to say that you’ve hit upon something that works. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Right?
I, for one, can see the difficulty in choosing the ‘right’ approach for my second full novel. And I don’t mind saying that I find it very interesting to discover what readers have said about what they’ve seen so far. I find the variety in the feedback I’ve had for Oblivion Storm fascinating. But the most consistently pleasing to me is the consensus that it’s not quite what readers had first expected—but in the good way. This unlocks an Achievement for me.
You want to hear something funny? Well, with Oblivion Storm, I didn’t actually set out to write a ghost story. It just kind of ended up happening that way. A lot of the story ‘just turned out that way’. So the end result was ‘kind of a ghost story.’
So, as a vague bit of early promotion for my second story, I can categorically state that readers should not expect yet another not-ghost story. What I’m working on is much more grounded in dealing with the living, doesn’t have anything going on in another century, and focuses on a different main protagonist. I include the same characters, but in a deeper exploration. It feels different to me to write, and I can guarantee will not be a rehash of the same tale. However, it is still part of the same bigger arc.
I won’t lie: I have a mix of nerves and excitement about it all. I work hard for the readership I have, so going on to something a little different feels like a risk. But it’s at times like this you remember with that kind of thinking, you’d never have set sail in the first place. And it was well worth the voyage.
So, there’s a reassurance too. That same readership have had faith in sticking to the end of the story so far, so I am definitely excited—I have much more story to tell! There’s the opportunity to revisit characters I’ve learned a lot about and to see how they’ve been getting on since we last saw them, which is tremendously exciting to me. As is getting them involved with another adventure. So you know what? This second story might be keeping me awake at night as I sweat over something I’m happy with, but I’m relishing the challenge.
The expectations I speak about managing are my own. The next task for me is to surpass them. Everything that comes from seeing my own book in print is a bonus. There are plenty more achievements to be had yet.
An avid gamer and role player/reenactor, Russell hails from Manchester, England, where he lives with his girlfriend and his cats. His freshman offering of Oblivion Storm (Grenshall Manor Chronicles Book I) was released in December, 2012. Primal Storm (Book II) is slated for release in October of 2013.
Russell can be found elsewhere on the web at his blog, ProjectShadowLondon, Facebook, and Twitter.
