Have you ever read a novel and thought, “Why didn’t I write this?” or “I see my own novel with fresh eyes.” That’s my dilemma with my two self-published novels.
Actually, let’s make that three dilemmas.
Reading books in my same genre has always inspired me and given me ideas for own books.
I have done this many times over the several years as a writer.
I’ve tried three times to start the third book of my trilogy. I thought I was moving along okay, and then things happened. Now I’m stuck again. For the third time.
Writer friend’s novel
A writing friend asked our writing group friends if anyone would read her novel. When she said it was women’s fiction, I jumped at the chance.
Even though women’s fiction is one of the top 17 genres, I don’t know very many writers of this genre. I want to read books in this genre so I can see how my own books compare.
In my earlier days learning to be a better writer, I read articles encouraging me to read other books in my genre. And I did or tried to anyway.
Now I not only had the chance to read a book in my genre, but I read my writer friend’s first novel.
How exciting was that!
For three or four days I couldn’t put her novel down. I emailed her and told her how much I loved it.
Reading her novel made me realize what I had been doing wrong with my own novel and why I was stuck with my third book. I was writing in the wrong POV, or point of view.
I was telling the story in the limited third person instead of first person. How could I not see that?
Do you want to know the awful part? I started writing the first book in first person and changed it to the limited third I used for the first and second books.
Ugh.
Why didn’t I leave it alone?
My friend’s novel varies its POV between the main characters first person and various third persons. I like the way she used different characters from the third person.
And I wish now I had written my novels that way. I thought that once you started in one POV you had to stay that way, and I convinced myself that my novels told the story this way the best.
Now I see that is not the case.
You can’t see me, but I’m kicking myself. Many times. Again and again.
The point of view of my novels
My first novel, Be Strong, has a handful of reviews, but my second one, Pinky Swear, has none. Zero. Nilch.
Why am I kicking myself? I read time and again that finding a good editor is important. For my first book, I had a limited budget and found someone I could afford.
For my second book, I found a new editor who said she would look at my plot and help me if needed.
She did a better job than the first editor, giving me many more notes, but she didn’t look at my plot as much as I thought she would.
Now as I reflect back on my own books and have gained more knowledge about writing, I see my books aren’t as great as I want them to be.
Dilemma #1: Do I write the third book in first person and perhaps some third person thrown in from other characters?
The “info dump” of my novels
In my first novel I rotated the chapters between present day and past. Odd chapters were present, and even chapters were past. I thought the idea was great at the time.
In the second novel, I did a similar thing.
My writer friend threaded the past and the present throughout her novel. Within each chapter she changed scenes a few times. One scene might be in present, and the next one might be in the past.
This made me think that all I did was “info dump,” which is a no-no, with my chapters.
Dilemma 2: Was I really doing an “info dump” in my first two novels? How do I fix it now so that people will want to read all three books?
The hook of my novels
My writer friend drew me into her novel from the start. I told you earlier that I couldn’t put the book down once I got started. Those are the best kinds of books.
I thought back to my own books. Did I create that kind of a hook with my own books? Did I create enough interest to make a reader not want to put my book down?
From my viewpoint, I did a better with my first novel than the second one. And I think I know why I have no reviews for the second book.
No hook equals no readers.
Who wants to read a book that doesn’t reel you in? I don’t.
How many times have I read either right before I published it or right after that a hook is one of the most important parts of the novel? Without a hook you will not draw in your readers.
Why didn’t I see that I didn’t have one or not much of one?
Better yet why didn’t my editor for each book catch it?
Dilemma #3: How can I afford a good editor for my next book so she can catch things like this?
Overall, I understand now why my novels haven’t done as well as I had hoped they would. I know the idea for the series is a great one.
So my biggest dilemma is this: do I rewrite the first two books to make them stronger and re-release them? Or should I write the third book and be done with the trilogy as I want to be?
I’m off to ponder this. Meanwhile, tell me what you think I should do.