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First, I would always presume if you "put a book aside" to work on another book, your book is dead. In my experience (with only myself and a few authors I have spoken with), putting a book in the d...
Answer
#5: Post edited
by
Amadeus
·
2020-01-27T17:47:04Z (almost 5 years ago)
First, I would always presume if you "put a book aside" to work on another book, your book is dead. In my experience (with only myself and a few authors I have spoken with), putting a book in the drawer is a kiss of death. Work on until you think it is ready to publish, then try to publish it. It is far easier to come back to a book you think only needs to be marketed, than to try and get back into the mindset of actually fixing the stories.Fix it while your mind is still filled with it, not after you have built all new stuff on that mental real estate.To FIX your problem: Your plots are way unbalanced. Figure out how to balance them.Book 1: 3 Big plots, one smallish plot (38K).Book 2: 2 Big Plots, one short story (7K).Book 3: 1 Big Plot, 2 smallish plots (39K, 24K).You really need to move a big plot from Book 1 (or eliminate it) and put it in Book 3, even if that requires a time-translation or a new MC for that plot, or come up with a Big plot (\>50K) for Book 3.You also need more than a short story (7K) in Book 2. You should try to invent something, or add complications and peril or difficulty to add 30K to the story.I really think readers will be disappointed if every new book is significantly shorter than the previous book.And as far as publishers are concerned, a shorter _first_ book may be preferable, they risk less on production, it lets you prove yourself, it builds an audience to whom they can sell more ~200K books for the 2nd and 3rd books in your trilogy.
- First, I would always presume if you "put a book aside" to work on another book, your book is dead. In my experience (with only myself and a few authors I have spoken with), putting a book in the drawer is a kiss of death. Work on until you think it is ready to publish, then try to publish it. It is far easier to come back to a book you think only needs to be marketed, than to try and get back into the mindset of actually fixing the stories.
- Fix it while your mind is still filled with it, not after you have built all new stuff on that mental real estate.
- To FIX your problem: Your plots are way unbalanced. Figure out how to balance them.
- Book 1: 3 Big plots, one smallish plot (38K).
- Book 2: 2 Big Plots, one short story (7K).
- Book 3: 1 Big Plot, 2 smallish plots (39K, 24K).
- You really need to move a big plot from Book 1 (or eliminate it) and put it in Book 3, even if that requires a time-translation or a new MC for that plot, or come up with a Big plot (\>50K) for Book 3.
- You also need more than a short story (7K) in Book 2. You should try to invent something, or add complications and peril or difficulty to add 30K to the story.
- I really think readers will be disappointed if every new book is significantly shorter than the previous book.
- And as far as publishers are concerned, a shorter _first_ book may be preferable, they risk less on production, it lets you prove yourself, it builds an audience to whom they can sell more ~200K books for the 2nd and 3rd books in your trilogy.
#4: Attribution notice removed
by
System
·
2019-12-19T22:13:57Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/48906 License name: CC BY-SA 4.0 License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
#3: Attribution notice added
by
System
·
2019-12-08T13:12:52Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/48906 License name: CC BY-SA 4.0 License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
#2: Initial revision
First, I would always presume if you "put a book aside" to work on another book, your book is dead. In my experience (with only myself and a few authors I have spoken with), putting a book in the drawer is a kiss of death. Work on until you think it is ready to publish, then try to publish it. It is far easier to come back to a book you think only needs to be marketed, than to try and get back into the mindset of actually fixing the stories. Fix it while your mind is still filled with it, not after you have built all new stuff on that mental real estate. To FIX your problem: Your plots are way unbalanced. Figure out how to balance them. Book 1: 3 Big plots, one smallish plot (38K). Book 2: 2 Big Plots, one short story (7K). Book 3: 1 Big Plot, 2 smallish plots (39K, 24K). You really need to move a big plot from Book 1 (or eliminate it) and put it in Book 3, even if that requires a time-translation or a new MC for that plot, or come up with a Big plot (\>50K) for Book 3. You also need more than a short story (7K) in Book 2. You should try to invent something, or add complications and peril or difficulty to add 30K to the story. I really think readers will be disappointed if every new book is significantly shorter than the previous book. And as far as publishers are concerned, a shorter _first_ book may be preferable, they risk less on production, it lets you prove yourself, it builds an audience to whom they can sell more ~200K books for the 2nd and 3rd books in your trilogy.
#1: Imported from external source
by
System
·
2019-11-11T16:55:38Z (about 5 years ago)
Original score: 2