I’ve been missing a big piece of the puzzle from FALLEN, and it was really stumping me. But I got it on Friday! Love when those breakthrough moments happen. I love when it all comes together, it’s alive, you can see the whole picture, and the story is just…THERE. What a rush! And then it just flies. I can hardly type fast enough to keep up (and I can type 120 wpm). I’ll never be a handwriter for that reason alone, I can’t handwrite with anywhere near the speed I can type. (The other reason I’ll never be a handwriter is because it takes about one page for the repetitive motion strain to cause pain. Typing is much easier on my hands, and doesn’t put me out of work the following day while I recover.)
I also have followup material from FALLEN. This wasn’t planned, but I have a subplot that’s not going to tie up in the novel, and will either spawn a novel or a novella. I’ll pitch it and see what flies. It’d be nice if a follow-up novel became St. Martin’s book #4 and I could just write them back to back without having to leave this world when I have the whole thing in my head. At the very least I’ll go from FALLEN into the proposal/pitch for the follow-up.
Which brings up the reader question, what happens if I’m told no? What about that dangling subplot? Well, I handled dangling subplot with Night Music by writing Night Rhythm and putting it up on my site as a free read. I always have that option if nothing else. (Night Rhythm is a bit too short to publish with Samhain standalone, although I suppose I can always propose that it be included with Miss Lonely Hearts as bonus material to make it more widely available.)
Anyway, sequels can get into tricky territory with contracts and so on. But as an author, we do always have the option of finishing out the story and doing something creative with it. But just because I want to write a sequel to FALLEN, and I intend to do my utmost to convince my St. Martin’s editor that it’d be a terrific idea to buy the sequel, doesn’t mean I will get a yes. Hence my thinking ahead for other options to tie off those loose threads.
YAY! Glad you got a breakthrough with Fallen. It’s always great when that kind of thing happens. I can’t type quite as fast as you. *g*. But, I give thanks every day for the fact that I was a clerktypist in another lifetime. 🙂
Dangling subplots are always interesting. The problem is always to tie things up nicely or to let it roll into another book. I’d say, if you have the story in mind, let it roll. You’ll publish it somewhere and that will make the rest of us very happy.
NJ, I’m so relieved! I needed that breakthrough. I’ve been stressing over this book because I didn’t have those pieces and the clock is ticking. And I’m with you, I think the smartest thing I ever did was learn to type in school. *g*
I seem to have a subplot from story A rolling into story B trend going on in my writing, so I can plan for that in the future and propose them together. Don’t want to have a career full of orphaned second books!
Thanks, NJ, I think you will like this subplot. Dal is delicious. *eg*
YAH!!! I love it when that happens. 🙂
Me,too, Jordan. It’s the best!