Hit the 10k mark today, a full day ahead of my personal goal of reaching that number by Friday. I must say, I'm really enjoying this round of novelling craziness -- we'll see how I feel about it in week four.
This is my first time writing a sequel and I'm liking that, too. It's an interesting challenge to find the proper balance between reminding the reader of what happened in the first book and not laying those reminders on too thick. I think I'm doing okay with that. In the back of my mind I keep hearing the voices of my then grade school aged daughters as they read out loud the later books in a series about a certain boy wizard. When they'd reach such a "reminder passage" they'd invariably sigh and say, "But I already know that!" I'd explain the (brilliant) author wanted to make sure everyone remembered that important bit of information, but the memory of their impatience has stuck with me and guides me. I try my best to "remind" only when it is absolutely necessary.
I'm also having fun spending some time with my characters from the first book. I feel excited about sending them off on a new adventure and even though they're entirely fictional, I sense they're excited about that, too.
In other news...I got nuthin'.
Look for the next NaNo update when I hit 20k.
“Since it is so likely that children will meet cruel enemies, let them at least have heard of brave knights and heroic courage.” -- C.S. Lewis
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2 comments:
I know exactly what you mean about the "reminder" passages, or recaps. Having written a trilogy, I dealt with the same thing. I told myself that my books were not meant to be read independently, so I didn't have to explain every single thing, but still, a few reminders here and there are important for those who read the sequels six months or a year later.
I also added a "Previously..." section in the front of the two sequels. It all fits in with the trilogy idea -- the "Previously..." section is four pages long and basically recaps all the important stuff. Readers can read it if they want/need to, or they can skip it entirely. It's like the opening scenes of most TV serials, only more detailed.
I reached my NaNo 10K this morning, and have overtaken you, at least for now. I may do some more later, but right now I'm at 11,512. :-)
Go Keith! Hitting one of the "tens" always makes feel like I've accomplished something.
Looks like you're slipping into the NaNo groove without much difficulty.
If the quality of your writing in Island of Fog is any indication, I'm sure you handled any "reminders" in your subsequent books with aplomb.
Your "Previously" section is a great idea. I may be asking for permission to borrow the concept at some point. ;c)
All right, enough delaying. Time to write!
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