E.S. Raye

I know I’m not the only author to feel this, but since Gas Giant Gambit came out last month and I’ve been neck deep in the first draft of my second novel, Shallow Trenches/Open Skies, something has felt off.

It’s a difficult-to-name feeling. I only know that it seems like it doesn’t feel the same as the first time around. Characters, though just as well researched and outlined, feel flat. Locations, though historical and harrowing, don’t carry the weight of reality. The plot doesn’t feel like it throws the same emotional punch.

My rational mind knows this is nothing to worry about. It is a first draft. Gas Giant Gambit went through nine drafts before I got a contract, and two more after that before publishing. Any and all flaws at this juncture have plenty of time to be fixed.

I also know it’s been about five years since I was at this point in the first draft of Gas Giant Gambit–right smack-dab in the middle of a global pandemic. I could be forgiven for not accurately remembering how I felt about the first try at the story back then.

But, on the other hand, I do remember feeling my dialogue was bad, and that my characters all sounded the same. And more, I remember being slogged down in the middle and just telling myself to trust my outline and trust the process.

Exactly what I’m telling myself now.

I did back then, and it worked out better than I could have imagined.

If you’re a fellow writer going through something similar, I hope knowing others have felt the same way helps you as much as it has helped me.

I’ve recommended K.M. Weiland’s website Helping Writers Become Authors before for story structure and character arc advice, but today I’d like to share her post about this very issue:

The 6 Challenges of Writing a Second Novel

In it, she covers some of the reasons it may feel different, like the fact that your audience is no longer theoretical, or that your relationship to the inspiration may be different.

She also goes on to suggest a few ways to make working on that sophomore novel a little easier.

I’m nearly half-way through this first draft, and I’m going to put my trust and faith in my process. It’s gotten me this far.

Wish me luck, and good luck to you.