i finished my first manuscript a few months ago. I’ve done editing, but I’m finding problems with the story that will be difficult to remedy. I’ve learned a lot about how a plot works after writing it, and believe it can be improved greatly with a rewrite. However, I also have a plan ready for another book. It’s planned and waiting to be written. I’m tempted to start on this one because I’m excited about the plot, but I’m just about burnt out on my first book. Should I rewrite my first book and power through it, or start on my second?
Write that second book. Your first book will always be there for you to edit and polish later. And when you're done with your second book, you'll have improved again and with better insight, fresher eyes, better skills, to really polish that first one. I mean, I'm one to talk because I worked on nothing but one single novel for 12 years. So whatever rocks your boat. But personally, yeah if you're excited about the new one and you're tired of the first one, go write that new one. A drawback of doing what I did - eg focusing too much on one book - is you're not all too sure how to start that second one anymore... I've had little practice in developing a story from scratch at this point. There's no need to let yourself go rusty like that if you have a cool new story on the line waiting to be written.
Do both. If they're part of a series, it'll give you the opportunity to interweave a lot of points that would otherwise be harder to accomplish, and making sure the first book is in final form before finishing the second could help prevent plot problems between the two. Also, if you get stuck one one, you can always work on the other until inspiration strikes.
one should nevr be afraid to rewrite their book. I've revised and down right rewrote Aden's Reluctant Wizardry countless times. In fact, now the second half of the book is so different I'm finding it hard to figure out how to get it similar to the original ending at all. but it's such a great improvement that I wouldn't have it go back. I just might see where this second version takes me and adjust the vuture books to match. but that would remove an integral part of the villain's ending so I must at least do (spoiler) to make it line up or it will destroy the other books completely. As for your idea of book two you could write down all your ideas in another file, or folder of files with cloud backup like dropbox for safety and focus on the first book. I found out the hard way that if you write the second book then change the first it's very daunting to get the first book to end where the second one began without a minor rewrite of the second one too. Either that or go ahead and write down your second book but don't be afraid to revise that one too in order to line up with the first down the road. Never be afraid to improve your baby by snipping or refining parts. Hmm, that's a good quote too.
oh nuts I forgot that there is a spoiler tag. Think of that spoiler as (spoiler) Fixed, I finally found the edit link
My vote would be to move onto the next book. Just writing and completing a novel the way you have is both an accomplishment and a learning experience. I've let go of two books and many short stories that I knew weren't working, but writing them prepared me to write better stories. The novel I'm writing now is a million times better than I ever thought I could write when I was working on my first novel. However, without that first novel for practice somewhat I wouldn't be producing the same level of work I am in my new novel. You can always decide to go back to your first novel. I'm not going back to mine. I sometimes go back to short stories and rework them after a good amount of time passes, but more often I just write new ones. I probably wrote more than 50 (maybe even 100) short stories before I started selling my fiction. My work now has appeared in national and well-known publications. But I had to write a bunch that didn't work to start writing ones that did. At the time, I love everything I write. And it's sometimes hard to move on. But you are a writer and that's bigger than one story. I am a true believer that what we can and will write is always better than what we've written. A great writer said that to me once and it stuck with me. I like to finish things I start, but I also want to keep moving forward. The writer who told me this is a professor. She was teaching a creative writing course. She gave her students a prompt and had them write for 30 minutes. Then she collected everyone's work and threw it in the trash. And told them this advice. At first I thought she was crazy, like what if there were some good parts or something? She said you'll always remember what's worth remembering. And, again, what you will write is always better than what you have written. Embrace the better writer you are now and the even better writer you'll become. We don't stop improving. There's no cap on the level your talents can reach. If a new novel is going to better showcase your talents and your writing, that's the way to go, in my opinion.
I'd also vote to move on to the next book. Your first book's first draft is finished, but taking a long break from it will be incredibly beneficial. You need distance at this point. When you do go back to your original—after finishing the first draft of another book—you'll be able to see it as if somebody else had written it. That's when you'll easily see what works and what doesn't, and you'll know what to do with what you've discovered. It's amazing how this little trick works. I think it's also important, however, NOT to always 'trash' something that's not working. At some point, dumping partly-finished work can get to be a bad habit. It's important to learn the skill of getting your work to publishable standard. Perseverance is a good thing for a writer to develop—but that doesn't mean you can't take long breaks when you feel you need a new perspective. Congratulations on finishing that first draft, by the way! It's quite an accomplishment.
Thank you everyone! The next book I have planned is not next in the series. I plan for my first book to become a series, but I’m not sure what I want to do with it at this point. The biggest issue with book #1 right now is that there is almost no tension for 50% of the book, and im scared that the current plot doesn’t allow me to retroactively add it in. I’m looking forward to starting on my next book =) even as I wrote my first one, I saw myself improving as I went.
You can Always add tension. Give each character at least one emotion and agenda per scene. Will there be revelations? Then add some anger or fear from the main character and calm or a hushed air around the teller as if the info is so secret that they might be killed if they tell it too loud. Tension isn't always tense but often it's just conflicting personalities and moods clashing and gnashing together. I had a rather flat scene where a woman betrayed the king by trying to kill him and the royal wizard captured her and turned her in. --- ho hum, that was boring but laid the groundwork for the redone version. I injected a couple goals and emotions in there and suddenly it sparkled. Now the woman became the captain of the guard who thought she was looking after the kingdom by asking the Royal wizard to take the kings place. The wizard, who suspected something was off, played dumb, dodged around and got her to confess that she had a hand in the former king's death and wanted to do in the current King, all for the perceived betterment of the kingdom. However, the wizard got in too deep and she turned on him, attacking him at the beginning of a spring thunderstorm that quickly became a torrential downpour accented by flashes of lighting. The wizard eventually won the fight but only after losing his sword, his long braid's holder and receiving a number of gashes. If it wasn't for his friend distracting her at the last second then the story would have ended right there. On second thought write the next book or books then go back and look at your first work. Who knows you might be able to turn the tension-less story into a page turner so filled with tension and intrigue that it rockets up to the New York Times best seller list or at least gets a respectable following. Oh yeah. I also suggest studying the writer's craft. Rayne Hall , Jody Renner and Mary Buckham comes to mind as great teachers of our craft. Those three have really helped me out. They're expensive, unless you have the subscription, but well worth the money. I never once looked back on the money I dropped. Keep an eye on them and catch them on sale if you can.
Get that second story written. Meanwhile, your subconscious will keep working on your other story in the background. It may come up with a solution to problems when you're not even thinking about them (eureka!). Trust The Force. I don't personally think you need tension in the first half of a book so much as you need to create interest. As long as the reader wants to keep turning the pages, you're okay. So do something to sustain the reader's interest. Your reader may be so intrigued by your characters themselves, or the setting, or the dilemmas they face, that the reader will simply want to know more ...to spend a bit more time in that world and with these people. If you can create that sort of interest, anything that happens later in the story to threaten those characters or that world will cause extreme tension. So don't be afraid to start slowly and build, with just a hint or two that things may not be as stable as they appear. Tension can be as subtle as that, and can be tweaked in by foreshadowing, etc. Here's the good thing. You may already have done that. It's just that you are too close to your own writing at the moment to make that determination. Something else you can do, while you're writing book number two, is give your first story to a couple of carefully-chosen betas, and get feedback from them. You may discover, from their reaction, that your fears are actually unfounded. The story flow might be just fine as it is. Either that, or new eyes may give you a few new ideas. Good luck.
beta readers are essential to any budding writer. However, in rare cases the story would be hurt by having one. but thats in very rare cases and I only saw one person on this forum that said that. I know that I kept hunting and hunting for a reader in my friends before I finally came here and found me a niche to express myself with and help other people with my knowledge of books and cleverness. I've collected a couple readers here. I was overtired when I said to keep working on the book. I get burned out easily and most of the time I'm all over the place, working on my game, my book, gaming, 3d modeling for fun, 3d modeling for my game, ect. That way I never get bored with doing just one thing and can move through the tasks without getting burned out on one. For me, it enhances my creativity but it sure drove the teachers batty as they saw me working with about 5 different subjects spread out before me and getting each one correct. but sometimes that muse just gets to flowing and I focus on one until the muse quits whispering ideas in my ear.
