Into the Fire

Yesterday I mentioned literary agent Chip MacGregor recently posted his commentary on “the second novel” and how it better exceed the first one to secure the author’s audience. I would agree. Especially in light of a few of the second novels I’ve read lately.

I’ve admitted before that my first novel is very much a first effort. It took 8 and ½ years to write it and it grew to 744 pages in a trim size of 6 x 9, over an inch and 5/8 thick with very little white remaining on the pages. Obviously it was self-published. It would be written differently today, much of the excess would be shaved or eliminated, but it would still be a saga. The story would remain, all the characters, in order to make the tapestry of horse racing complete. I started a sequel to Hope Of Glory, but it looked like it was going to be another gigantic novel which worried me, having learned a whole bunch more than I knew before I wrote my first one.

Then the Lord moved me into The Famous One, and before I knew it, I had written my second novel. Less than half the size, totally different story, another gift from the Lord. The writing is better, tighter, and because the whole subject and style are different, so is the language. However, it’s still my voice. So you take it or leave it if you’re a reader. Technically speaking, it’s a better novel than the first one. But it’s so different.

After The Famous One, I wrote Sweet Release, Wounds . . . and Healings, and Destination—all of them over the generally accepted word count. When I attempted to write a novel to come in on the low end of the 80 to 100,000 word count, I got so frustrated I stopped within inches of the ending even though I knew how it would end. I quickly started book number seven Breath of Life and finished it easily right around 115,000 words. Then I went back to finish the sixth book and came in at a record low 88,000+ for my “little” novel entitled The Fixer. I am oh-so-slowly working on my eighth novel at present.

It’s interesting to see the second efforts of first time authors. If they had a mediocre first effort, will they improve? They better. It’s imperative to keep a reader’s attention. There’s even more pressure when the first novel is a hit with readers. You can’t serve up something less for their second helping.

Any thoughts on second novels you’ve read by authors you discovered?

Father, we writers need your direction to remain faithful to what you have for us to write. Help each one of us in our unique situations to be true to you. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.