Meteorologist turned novelist, Maria V. Snyder has been writing fantasy and science fiction since she was bored at work and needed something creative to do. A dozen novels and numerous short stories later, Maria’s learned a thing or three about writing. She’s been on the New York Times bestseller list, won a half-dozen awards, and has earned her MA degree in Writing from Seton Hill University where she’s been happily sharing her knowledge with the current crop of MFA students. She also enjoys creating new worlds where horses and swords rule, ’cause let’s face it, they’re cool, although she’s been known to trap her poor characters in a giant metal cube and let them figure out how to get out.
Today, Maria V. Snyder is on the blog to talk about the experience of writing the second book in a series, to celebrate the recent release of The City of Zirdai. Read on …
Maria V. Snyder
Book Two Blues
My latest release, The City of Zirdai, is book two in my Archives of the Invisible Sword series. Yes, it’s a series and not a trilogy despite there only being three books. In my mind, a trilogy is just one long story, broken into three parts, while, with a series, each book has a beginning, middle, and ending that resolves the main conflict for that book.
I’ve written six series and, for me, book two is the hardest book to write. Book one is always very exciting to work on. New characters, new world, new magic system or new science concepts to warp, etc … As I write, I’m discovering all the aspects of the society and the politics, who the enemy is and what are everyone’s goals. Fun stuff.
Book two comes with lots of baggage. The first problem with a second book is deciding how much information to include from book one. There are readers who remember everything from the previous story (or they re-read it right beforehand), and if you insert a summation of what happened in book one, they get annoyed. Then there are the readers who don’t remember everything and need that reminder in order not to get confused. What’s an author to do? For me, it’s a balancing act of adding just enough info to refresh a reader’s memory, but not too much to stop the story’s momentum. Not as much fun.
Then there’s that second book syndrome. Readers are now familiar with the world and characters—it is no longer new and shiny. A writer can no longer capture that initial sense of wonder in a second book. Without that, a writer needs to keep readers engaged by finding aspects of the world that haven’t been fully explored and by bringing in new problems for the characters (because there’s only so much kidnapping, betraying, and ambushing that you can reasonably do in a series ;).
‘Readers are now familiar with the world and characters—it is no longer new and shiny. A writer can no longer capture that initial sense of wonder in a second book.’
And speaking of problems, as the characters overcome obstacles in order to reach their goals, they need to change. With a multiple book series, that change needs to be evident in each book, but also has to be metered out so there’s still room for change when you reach the last book.
For example, in The Eyes of Tamburah, book one of the Archives of the Invisible Sword, Shyla has turned a blind eye to the suffering in the city. By the end of the book, her eyes have been opened and she’s determined to help. In The City of Zirdai, she finds out how hard it is to go from wanting to help to actually helping. By the end of the book, she has learned how much sweat and sacrifice was needed to reach her goals. But she’s not done! There’s still book three, The King of Koraha, before she finishes her arc.
Writing three books is a natural length for me. By the end, I’m happy where my characters have ended up and the resolution of the series. Book three is much easier to write than book two. By then, I’ve an idea of how everything will end and can tie up most of the various plot threads into neat little bows. Can’t resolve everything because life is rarely that neat. 😉
I’m always excited to get a good review for my books. However, a good review for book two is just that much sweeter!
—The City of Zirdai by Maria V. Snyder (Harlequin Australia) is out now.
The City of Zirdai
Archives of the Invisible Sword: Book 2
Through her courage and tenacity, Shyla Sun-Kissed has awoken the power of The Eyes of Tamburah. But this feat only marks the beginning of the challenges that the magical order, the Invisible Sword, faces to free the underground city of Zirdai.
Though they have allies among the monks and splinter cells inside the city, Shyla knows the Invisible Sword doesn't have the strength to win. With the group fracturing due to the strain of losses from their latest ordeal, thinly veiled suspicions and endless disagreements, it's up to Shyla to forge a new...
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