I recently pressed “send” on Book Two of the series I’m working on (Great War Series) even though Book One (Look To The East) hasn’t even released yet. It’s just the nature of this business, to be working on something far in advance of when we get to share it with others outside the publishing world.
Which means it’s time to start on the next one. This is such a crazy time; I go between saying “Yippee!” to “What in the world was I thinking? I can’t write a book!”
But it’s what I do, so I start the process: reading history books, immersing myself in the setting for my next project. I ignore the doubts and uncertainties, because I recognize them as familiar and something I’ve worked through before.
This is in many ways the most exciting part of writing. The more I read, the more possibilities present themselves. Ideas come out of every setting, if I dig enough into that setting.
So that’s where I am these days, on the precipice of diving into Book Three. Just getting used to the setting, developing characters, experimenting with conflict ideas that might sustain an entire novel. For all of this, I depend mainly on history books to teach me what my characters would have been familiar with. What their world looked like, what trends, philosophies, events and ideas they would have been impacted by.
Those doubts and insecurities I mentioned last only as long as the book’s uncertainty in my head lasts. Once the characters and the conflicts they face take shape, the insecurities begin to diminish. It happens as I study, reading one history book, then something from another will embellish one interesting facet or another. I do research online, too, but I like to back up what I learn there with books that have been through the publishing process.
Other times I figure out things about my plot or the conflict or the characters unexpectedly. I’ll hear a song that captures a feeling someone in the book might face. Or my husband will say something that makes me wonder what my character would have thought about that. Sometimes, like this week at church, even my pastor will say something that helps me figure out where my characters have been, or where they are in life, or where (or what) they’re going toward.
In short, the puzzle pieces start fitting together. And there’s nothing more exciting than seeing it happen. Every time this goes on, it reminds me that this is exactly the way God wired me, for this. To hear and see and search out the pieces around me and fit them together to create something new. It’s what every creative person feels when they’re starting something, don’t you think?
Nothing could be more fun!
Join Me!