Seconds Anyone?

Posted by Lynne

I know my protagonist's name, her job and her immutable truth. I know what her son looks like; I know his struggle and how he moves the plot forward. Yet there is so much more I need to know. Most importantly, I know it won't help to rush it. It will come in it's own time, in it's own way.

The second novel. Certainly, it will be compared to the first by you, your friends and family, and of course readers and reviewers, but that won't change how you care for it.

I'm beginning to gestate my second novel. I've done some reading about time periods I plan to use, several characters' occupations, and my chosen setting. This upfront reading is fun, and it will inform my writing once I get enmeshed in it. I don't think I'll plot my novel until I get toward the middle, I like the nebulous beginning, where characters evolve and story lines surprise me. Though I'm open to seeing how things develop this time around, since I expect writing my second novel will be a completely unique experience.

Like having a second child.

When I became pregnant with my second child, I was over the moon. I'd always wanted two children and felt since I knew what I was about to experience having gone through it before, I would savor every blessed minute of it. I even bought a book called, Your Second Child by Joan Solomon Weiss.

I wasn't content with our hand-me-down crib, I marched right over to Boston Baby and bought the white cradle and companion rocking chair I was hesitant to purchase on my first go around. The setting my baby was born into needed the perfect details.

At the first ultrasound, we asked the sex of our baby. I loved knowing we were having our boy. I got a jump start on naming this character of mine; each kick and pregnancy symptom helped me to bond with him.

Going through the experience a second time, had its pluses and minuses. On the bright side, I knew the early exhaustion would give way to renewed energy in the middle and complete joy at the end; each twinge, each pain would pass, with time. No need for anxious calls to others who'd already gone through it. I knew what to expect. On the darker side, I knew carrying this child was in some ways the easy part. Like his sister before him, he would have to come into the light and endure the fickle aspects of living in the world. A world where he wouldn't always be protected by me.

If you have more than one child--or more than one book--you know no two are alike. This is as it should be. I don't want to have two identical children, nor do I want to write the same book. I want the process to have a life of its own. I know I have enough love in me for both.

As I begin to develop the life of my second novel, I'm open to how the process might be different. I'd love to hear from the friends of our blog who are writing their second novels, especially those further along than I am, who have published before.

Tell me, which labor pains are the same? Which different?