Wednesday 12 December 2012

Second Book Syndrome

Yes there is a proper name for the way I've been behaving and feeling these last few months working on Book #2! The whinging that 'I suck', the endless rewriting of scenes, the feeling that the story/characters are just not sparky/engaging/funny enough. I sweated blood over the wretched thing and for the bulk of the time I really wasn't feeling the magic.


Second Book Syndrome is apparently notorious among people who are writing their first book since receiving a publishing contract. In a nutshell it's the fear that you will be a one-book-wonder, that you will never replicate whatever it was that made your first story good and saleable. It's documented! Which in some way should make me feel better about myconstant moaning and self-criticism about Book #2, which I call The Date Pool and my lovely editor calls 'Alice & Harry'. As I wrote it I could imagine my editor reading through it, shaking her head sadly and saying 'she had so much promise...'

Although technically The Date Pool is my third book for Mills & Boon, the second one (The Proposal Plan, release April 2013) was actually written before the first one and was initially rejected (are you with me?). Therefore, The Date Pool is the first thing I've written since being offered a contract. This is the first time I've actually had an obligation to deliver and the first time that I've had anyone apart from myself to let down. And I think that is at the hub of it.


 If you Google it, there are TONS of poor souls out there, just like me, who have struggled with their second book. And if you've stumbled on this post because you are Googling it, just like I did, in the desperate desire for some snippet of advice that will magically provide the answer, I'm really sorry to tell you that there is no amazing cure. What I can do is tell you what I've learned from the last six months in the hope that it will help in some small way.

Firstly, know that you are not alone and that all the people I encountered who blogged about their experience did come through it with a finished book.

Secondly, the nearest thing I found to a solution boils down to one thing: DISCIPLINE.

Set yourself a daily word goal (mine was 1k) and do not give up until you reach it for that day, even if you are still fiddling at three in the afternoon and your house is turning into a pigsty.

Keep going. Even if you think you are writing total crap, keep going. Because most of the time, it will turn out not to be total crap. Some of it might be, but you can weed that out when you've got yourself a full draft to revise. I definitely turned a huge corner when I managed to type THE END. The work was by no means done, I still had loads of revisions to do after that, there were scenes that needed ditching or rewriting and lots of dross to cut, but making changes was so much easier than writing from scratch. And the advantage of having invested all that angst and effort into getting to the end of a full draft was that I really knew my characters well by then. Revisions were much easier as a result.

I said to DH as I finally handed it in after the last few tweaky revisions, 'I'm actually pretty pleased with the story now.' 'Great,' he said. 'Because you've done nothing but moan about it for the last four months.' O_O

I am not the only one at Chez Phillips who was pleased to see the back of this one!

And so it is with enormous relief and excitement and happiness that I am able to announce that The Date Pool (that name will SO be changed!) has been accepted and is scheduled for publication in August 2013.

Thanks everyone for all supportive comments and kicks up the butt during the last six months. X

11 comments:

  1. Glad to hear you kicked second book syndrome's butt! Going to be a great year for you next year. I like the 'The Date Pool' title tho x

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    1. Hi Tracey! It was such a relief to get the thing off my hands, I can't tell you! I like 'The Date Pool' too, and the story is about a bet so I think it fits, but I still think they will choose something else. Hope the title fairy smiles on me!

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  2. Congratulations on getting The Date Pool accepted! I'm so glad you've managed to defeat second book syndrome.

    I'm champing at the bit at the moment, because I ordered Secrets of the Rich & Famous last week, but Amazon have an estimated delivery date of 7th Jan :-( I hope they're wrong!

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    1. Thanks Tora! I'm really sorry about the delays on Secrets :0( Because of the RIVA relaunch there are only limited print copies available, but I still hadn't expected that kind of delay from Amazon. Maybe it's a Christmas issue too. Grrr!

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  3. Wahoo! Huge congrats on getting The Date Pool accepted. That's fantastic news, made all the sweeter, I'm sure, by the amount of blood, sweat and tears you put in to it. I'm trying to write my own second book at the mo (not getting much time for it sadly) so I know exactly what you've been going through. Multi-published author, that's something to be proud of!

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    1. Thanks so much! Difficult this time of year to get enough time together, I feel your pain. My life is a whirlwind of Nativity plays and carol services right now. Lots of luck with it - am sure it will be fabulous!

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  4. Congrats on getting book 2 accepted, Charlotte!! That's great news.

    ANd I'm right there with you..I am waiting to hear from the ed on my bk2 too and the number of times I opened and skimmed bk1 while writing bk2 just to encourage myself that I can do this was like 457475938489 times...:-)

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  5. Thanks Sri! It definitely helped to know it wasn't just me! Loads of luck with your Book 2, I look forward to hearing how it pans out. :0)

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  6. I so identify with your posting, Charlotte.

    My first novel, 'The Road Back', was published by Choc Lit in September, and shortly after that, Choc Lit brought 'Evie Undercover', a rom com, out on kindle for a year. I'd written Evie whilst waiting to hear if 'The Road Back' was going to be accepted.

    I started on what was my second book in effect, 'A Bargain Struck', last February, and it was scary!!! I felt exactly as you did - that I might not manage to get that same magic a second time. The weight of expectation lay heavily on me.

    Happily, my ending is the same as yours - Choc Lit loved 'A Bargain Struck', and it'll come out in September. I get to keep the name I chose, though. It'd be a shame if they change your title - I liked 'The Date Pool'.

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  7. Well done on pulling through, Charlotte. I can't wait to see what title this book endsup with!

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  8. Congratulations on beating second book syndrome, Charlotte! And Happy New Year!

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