Second Book Blues?
I’ve been told that once you’ve finished writing your first novel, the second one is a complete bitch. After all, you get to spend your whole life planning and drafting the first one and then when that’s done, you get a year to write the second.
There’s also a theory that for many authors, their debut novel is also their best work. Catch 22 and Catcher in the Rye are often pulled up as examples. The pressure becomes so great that the author can’t deliver anything that matches the standard or the sales figures of his previous work. I recently read an article about a support group in Los Angeles especially for writers who couldn’t get past their own debut successes.
I know, heartbreaking stuff, huh? Forget torture and terrorism, published (and unpublished) authors are frozen with fear that they won’t ever write a novel as good as their first. Call the whaambulance.
If that’s the case, I might as well quit now and move straight on to one of my backup daydream careers (Gynaecologist, Gymnast, Mechanic) before my head explodes.
I’m enjoying writing my second novel. I can see it just as vividly as the first one, I love the characters just as much. When I look back to my first book, I don’t think it’s untouchable but I don’t think it’s a bag of crap either. It’s my first novel and that will always be special to me and hopefully to other people too.
In later editions of Banana Yoshimoto’s first book Amrita there’s actually an afterword where she apologies for the quality of her own writing, but admits the novel has a special place in her heart. I don’t ever want to apologise for Just Take Charlie, but I do hope that as I keep writing I’ll improve and be able to look back on my first book, not as the best thing I ever wrote and not as a mistake either, but as a story I needed to tell, filled with characters I wanted to be with.
4 Responses
Oli says...
I think it would be wrong to assume that a person only has a limited pool of creativity, and that it runs dry with their first major achievement.
Although you have years to think about ideas for your first novel, you should also remember that it’s the biggest period of change in terms of developing your writing style and skills. I would imagine that you’re approaching your second book with much more maturity and experience, and the actual process of writing must be much more natural.
I’m pretty convinced you’re not a one-trick pony
Kim says...
I hope to be at least a three trick pony. Better still, a horse.
Simon says...
I think this feeling is symptomatic for Artists of all mediums, be they faced by blank music manuscript, a canvas or a word document. To be trite, it can be said that the artist is both gifted and cursed by the compulsion to create. That first sentence, note or brushstroke is alays the hardest but inevitably as the artist themselves grow with the work, the act of creation becomes the most rewarding of experiences.
Kim says...
Yeah, it can be hard to get going with a new project. Sometimes I’ll spend far too long playing with an idea in my head before getting it down on paper.
Recently, I’ve decided to stop believing in writer’s block along with PMT and low fat cheese. So far it’s going well.