I’m getting into the flow of writing the second book of my trilogy, Inductance; I’m in “The Twin Towers” phase of my trilogy writing experience (for all my fellow Lord of the Rings fans out there). And I’m not sure how I feel about it. I have read enough fiction series in the process of inhaling books which I have been engaged in my entire life to know that a second book in a series has a certain tone about it–not just a tone, the volume is usually jam-packed with exciting events and plot escalations. I fell into the first step of sequel-ing easy enough–the subtle re-hashing and reminding readers of what happened at the end of the previous book while not being too didactic or repetitive–but the next step of really cramming in the action events might come a little less naturally to me. I really enjoyed the first book in the series flow that Capacitance had–the introduction of characters, the inclusion of many small details about characters and surrounding to set the tone and get readers acquainted with the new world I had created. However, now I am faced with the necessary task of ramping things up; the characters have been established and now it’s time to use the foundation I built in the first book. As I mentioned in a previous post, I am an author without a cut and dry plan, so this is why the action packed structure of the second book is slightly intimidating as it inevitably requires more structure. That being said, I am flowing pretty well into the second book (just about to wrap chapter seven tonight), so I just need to hold onto that confidence and perhaps use the need for building action as my own test to build on my skill at developing plots and challenge my usual method of “play it by ear” writing. Now, back to work on chapter 7; putting in these late nights to finish up a chapter is what makes the pages pile up!
fictional characters
Winging It
If someone asked to see the outline I worked from when writing Capacitance, I would have nothing to show. There are those authors who work the story from back to front and those who work it from front to back–I am definitely a front to back type of writer. So front to back that I don’t really even know what the “back” is going to be. Of course, this kind of improvisational writing only works if you are very confident in your characters and have a couple major plot events already in mind as you begin writing. For me, I knew there were a couple twists and turns I wanted to throw into Capacitance, and I just trusted the writing and inserted these events whenever the proper chapter came up. Thus, it came as a total shock to me when I actually finished my first book–I had no outline to tell me I was getting close, just a feeling that it was time to wrap up this first segment of the trilogy. That, and the fact that the word count was nearing 86,000. Not everyone can write like this, and I actually applaud and have some jealousy for those that do work from an outline as occasionally the extreme uncertainty and flexibility of where my story might go causes me stress. Now, moving into the next book, Inductance, I am totally in my improvisational element as the plot of the story gets thicker and thicker. I want to keep the story exciting, but I also want to stay true to my characters–I am constantly reminding myself who they are and what they personally would do or how they would react to a situation. I think it is this train of thought, concentration and focus on the characters as their own independent entities which helps me guide the story along; I find that I don’t need an outline, but rather by staying true to the characters I have created, they can lead the story to where it needs to be.
Elise Marie Hardenburger 