Book 2:

I'm still waiting for a friend to conclude their in depth editing on the first book. They only have ten chapters left and each chapter they have gone through has been invaluable. Unfortunately, I seem to be treading water. I'm still without the internet at home, but now am itching to get on with the writing again.

With that in mind, this week I carried out a chapter outline for the first quarter of the second book. I have been agonizing over this for quite a while. I have known the general story of the second book almost from the moment I concluded the first. I have also been desperate to begin writing it. However, what has surprised me is how difficult it is to link books one and two.

In terms of timelines, the second book continues straight after the events of the first and therein lies the difficulty. Every character I write about needs to do a bit of reflection over what has gone on at the end of first book. I need to find away to do this with out it being boring for me to write and painstakingly tedious for the reader. I guess in terms of the reader, in many cases if the book does get published, then the reflection will be good as it might well be a full year before they read the second book and will serve as a useful summary of the events.

Still it does not alter the fact that it is boring to write. Of course not every character needs to reflect on screen as it were. Some could have already done it and mention it in passing. It is choosing who reflects and who doesn't and how I make it interesting that is the problem. The chapter outline has helped focus a bit more, but I guess the only way to see how well I can do this, is to just dive in and see what happens.

So with snorkelling gear at the ready, I'm going in.