Differences between first and subsequent novels

It's been nearly two years since I started my first novel. I finished the first draft in about 4 months... and have been doing revisions (and currently, a complete rewrite of certain sections), ever since. The more I learn, the more I see how to make it better.

In the meantime, I wrote and completed a second novel (different genre), from first words to polished and ready to go within 4 months, and am currently querying agents for that one. I'm also working through the first draft of novel #3 and #4 simultaneously. And yes, each one seems to get better and easier than the one before it. Not that it's "easy", but I can see how to avoid certain mishaps before they even happen, thus preventing extra work later.

I'm working on my second novel now, and I can already see how it's stronger than my first. My first is still a great book, and I really like it -- and hope that editor who has it now really likes it, too -- but I'm much more excited about the new one. I can just tell that my writing is more confident and strong. And this makes me even more excited about all the future novels I'll write! Yea, verily, it is true: You get better with practice. Believe in what the AW Borg tells you.

hands down....my third novel is by far my best...working on my fourth

There's another side to this. Published second novels are often a disappointment -- the sophomore slump.

Often, a first novel is something you work on, if not forever, for at least as long as it takes to get it just right. You have all the time in the world. Then, if you're lucky enough to get it published, there's a lot of pressure to get your next one out before the public forgets your name. Even more difficult is if you're writing a genre series -- you worked for two years on the first one, and now you have to produce another in nine months or so.

Plus, a writer often incorporates their experiences into their novel -- so for the first one, you use your most insightful thoughts, distilled over time, and imbue your characters with the most interesting traits in people you've observed over the years.

Your second may be plotted more tightly, the transitions smoother, and the structure more complete, but at the same time you've already used most of your "A" material in the first one.

And first novels often have a raw energy, a driving engine that is somewhat lacking in subsequent books, even if they're more technically proficient.

I sometimes listen to my early musical recordings, and marvel at my limitations and simplistic ideas -- but at the same time they have the energy of youth, and often a freshness and excitement that my later, more sophisticated stuff sometimes lacks.

Having a whole career, in both writing and music is difficult -- very difficult.

Of course, if your first novel was primarily a learning exercise and wasn't objectively very good, then hopefully your next will indeed be better, and the next after that.

My subsequent novels don't diverge much from my first, except that they of course deal with different stories. I am either very consistent or merely a slow learner.

I still think that my first one was my best one, and I’ll need to put that into perspective, I’ve had five novels published to date. The numbers are better for most of the others, but that’s for obvious reasons.

I wrote the first one after a long period of study and learning the rules, and experiencing life far away from writing. Looking back, I feel that I was exorcising a lifetime’s ghosts, writing what I knew to gain revenge, somehow. It spewed out easily, enjoyably; I wrote from early morning till late at night in a perfect location, untroubled by outside interferences. I floated along on a sea of optimism.

I couldn’t believe the first rejection letter, but it didn’t even have my name on it so I thought they had made a mistake. I did make some minor alterations to my precious manuscript.

The next seven rejection letters led to more alterations, but my confidence never wavered, I knew it was just a question of time. It was, about a year.

There wasn’t much of a launch, I had bought a small car with the advance; looking back, it was an anti-climax.

The next 15 years turned me into the cynical writer I am now. I can write well, at will, about anything. I still love writing. Unfortunately, I can never return to the times of innocence, when I knew that my words were sacrosanct, and that’s not the right word, but I know what I mean.

I'm actually working through my second book right now. While I find that I've become a much more proficient writer technically its much much slower going.

I hope that means that a better product will be even better than the first book. But I also fear the sophomore slum, so that might be why i'm in no rush.

I wrote my first novel when I was 14, and, unsurprisingly, it sucks. BREAK, what the world thinks of as my first novel, was actually my 7th. INVINCIBLE SUMMER, my "second novel," is my 9th. My "third" will probably be my 13th or 14th.

So novels 1-6, 8, 10-13 will probably never see the light of day, and most are varying levels of suck. So I'm still producing some shitty material, even though I'm way past my 1st novel.

I guess I also fall into the "either consistent or a slow learner" camp, because I love my novels equally. Well, okay, I know there are problems with the second half of book 3... and book 2 is on hold until further notice (why was I writing a sequel to book 1 when I hadn't got a contract yet??) but all in all, I don't think my writing has gotten any better or worse. I still have the same vocabulary and sense of style, and I'm able to translate what I want onto the page...

The only thing that has definitely improved is my syntax. The first book was all over the place with quotation marks and commas and the such, until near the end where I agreed with myself on what it's supposed to look like. Now I have good syntax, hopefully good enough, though perhaps not perfect.

Oh, and my typing speed has improved, and on the whole I make less typos. Meanwhile, 3 typos this paragraph, and not my fastest speed. Oops, there go typos 4 and 5... on 30+ words that's not bad.

But still, my books - I loves them all. I'm working on book number 5, and I've still not *quite* gotten ready to submit any of them, but for one of them I just need a synopsis and query letter (I hates them!) and another just needs a quick go through (already written the synopsis) and one is on hold, and number 5 isn't finished yet, which just leaves number 3 which has the problems with the second half and I don't know exactly what I'm going to do about. So I'm getting there.

But number 3... well, let's just say that it's stronger with the resolutions of the second half, but the bulk of the text should probably be scrapped, though I am loathe to do so... Like, I remember in first edits, I noticed that it started sucking at one point in the second half, and then it suddenly got better towards the end... I should've made a note of what span the sucking took, so I'd know which chapters to work on... oh well, I guess that's what second edits are for - figuring out what needs to be fixed. Then third edits for fixing the problem. Then fourth edits for checking the fix... sigh. All because part of it sucks... Book 4 was ready to go after the first edit for crying out loud!

And I need to get over my fear of beta readers, so I can get people to look at book 4 which is the closest to being ready...

/ramble

Definately.

and you know what, in five books time you'll look back at your second, and third books and think the same thing.

Shady Lane said:

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So novels 1-6, 8, 10-13 will probably never see the light of day, and most are varying levels of suck. So I'm still producing some shitty material, even though I'm way past my 1st novel.

Click to expand...

There are lots of authors out there with 20 books published who still produce shitty material.