Okay, so I know I’m not a published author, yet. But that doesn’t mean I don’t have author struggles. I have those struggles with the books I put on this blog, and I’m having struggles with the book I have “ready” for publication. Let me explain, and maybe you all have some ideas yourself on what I should do.
Biggest Author Struggles
I think the biggest struggle that I have is knowing when a book is finished. When I first wrote the book I will be talking about, I had every intention of making it into a trilogy. That was my plan all those years ago. When I started doing my editing it was still my plan. I was just editing, getting ready to go through the publishing steps, excited to finally reach this step. Then, six chapters into editing it hit me. Do I have a trilogy in this story?
Finished?
That halted my editing as I sat there and thought about it. Do I have a trilogy here? Or do I just have one longer story? Now you’re probably wondering, what made me think I had a trilogy in the first place? Simple. I had planned it all out. I knew what I wanted for the first book, the second book and then the third was going to bring it all together. However, the reason I stopped working on it all those years ago is the same reason I question it now. The second book was halting absolutely everything.
Trying for no Spoilers
So, to try and share this without giving away spoilers. More author struggles. The first book, the one I thought was done, introduced our main character and launched us into his story. We get to know him, struggle with him, and feel all the emotions that he goes through. I still really love this book. The second was going to be about a family member of his, and then the third was going to bring the stories together and to a conclusion. This brings us to the second book problem. I have no idea how to write it with my original plan in mind. For those of you who know me, I don’t do romance. I don’t watch romance movies, read romance books, and I do not write romance stories. This second book, the plot, was very romance heavy.
Author Struggles in a Trilogy
Now, as you know, I’m game to try new things with writing, but I’m quite set on not writing romance. And the main problem with attempting this second book and trying a romance forward novel – the first and third are so far from romance stories that the second just does not fit in the mix as a romance. So, now I have to either rethink my entire second book, which could throw off the flow of the first to the third book, or scrap the trilogy idea all together. The problem with that – how much story do I have here? I don’t want to write a book that is so thick that no one wants to read it. Yet, I have seen some really thick novels and they sell. However, those are usually from known authors. I’m not known – yet.
What if it’s One Long Story?
I mean, if people like it, nothing. If I can keep the flow of the story holding the attention of the reader, then one longer story is great. I think my biggest problem, right now, is this. If I make this into one long story, my novel is not finished and nowhere near ready for publication. And I really wanted to try and publish this year. That goal was driving me. But, that goal was in sight because the novel was “finished” and only needed some touch ups before going to an editor. There is a part of me that really doesn’t want to give up the fact that I finally finished writing a book. After years of starting a story, but never finishing it because new ideas came to mind, I had finally finished writing a novel. And that has not happened since.
Maybe I’m Overthinking This
Yes, I would have to admit that my novel is not finished. And yes, that would also mean I can’t publish this year. But, I don’t want to publish it as book 1 of a trilogy, and then never come out with the remainder of the trilogy because I can’t get book 2 done past the words “Chapter 1”. And I don’t want to try and force a story out because as we found out with What Would You Do, if I don’t like it, it’s not a good story. I had to change the flow of the story to make it interesting for me to write. I don’t think I can do that with a trilogy.
What About a Duology?
That has also crossed my mind, and still is in the “idea” portion of my brain. A duology would eliminate the problem of trying to figure out what to do with the second book in a trilogy. I guess, because I’ve never read a duology, I don’t know if they sell well. A friend told me that she is more drawn to books that are in a series because there is more of a story to enjoy. The great thing with a series, or even a trilogy, is that it gives ample room to create the world and bring depth to your characters, without it being rushed. There is so much more I can do with a longer series. But, that brings me back to my problem. How much do I have in me for this story.
Struggling to Stay the Course
I have another series in my head that I’m also really excited to work on. I’ve done some work with it already, decided I wanted a new turn to it, and now I’m changing things. Yes, for the better. It will make it a nice long series, and the ideas are just overcrowding my head. I need to get them out. But, that’s a different series, so I need to just jot those down, put them to the side, and try to focus on this story. Which I need to figure out what I’m doing with it. And to make things more interesting, or hectic, my brain spat out another idea for a completely different story, but just the beginning of it. Like, come on brain. Let’s try to focus on what we are working on right now please.
I’ll Keep You Posted
Well, I was hoping the conclusion would come to me while writing out this blog, but alas, it has not. This means I’m still in the dark about what I’ll do with this book. I suppose the answer will come with time. I still have most of the book to edit and tweak to make it better. Hopefully by then I can figure out what to do with the story. I do have a document where I write brief summaries of books I want to write, and I shared the second book idea with a friend. She thought it sounded like a great idea. So, let’s see if I have a trilogy in this book. I might just have to hold off on publishing till I get past my author struggles. Let’s see what happens, because anything can happen if I try.
