I wrote Gunpowder & Alchemy Book 1 in one month. And then I bragged about it. So how come it took me six months to get Book 2 released?

Give me a break! Sheesh. I’ve blogged along the way but here’s what’s been happening since January (it’s mid-June now). Then I’ll list what I learned from it (you love bullet point lists, right?).

How I wrote it

• Book 2 was more ambitious.
  • There was more plot to get through
  • Historical research was required
  • I was aiming for about 70-75,000 words (Book 1 = 65,000)
• I whizzed through the first two-thirds. By mid-Feb, I had about 55,000 words.
• The plotting of the final third was tricky. The book crept up in length as I worked through the detail of how everything would come together for the big final battle.
• First draft finished by the end of March and it was 90,000 words.
• I sent it to my first beta reader right away and kept working on it. His feedback was that he loved it and it needed more description.
• I write every night from 10pm until “however long I can stay awake” o’clock. I moved house in April and that required a TON of time and hard work. I’d say I had about 8 weeks where I didn’t do much because I was passed out exhausted by 10pm. And that delayed me, big time.
• Over that period the second draft grew to over 100,000 words. I had been adding all he detail my beta readers had asked for plus filling out all the gaps in logic and adding period detail and whatnot. This WAY longer than I had intended and now my gutment began…
• I cut it down to 90,000 again by the end of May. I cut and combined chapters. I cut people and events.
• It was in okay shape but then I cut it to 85,000. Then I cut it to 80,000 and that was as far as I could go without making more work for myself by requiring big rewrites.
• Then when it was totally done and couldn’t cut any more I cut it down to 78,000. By this point I was in danger of cutting the personality and “voice” out of it so I stopped.

What I learned from it

• I had too much plot. Not that the plot was unnecessary; everything that happens is awesome. Just from a practical point of view it needed to be a longer book than is normal for this readership. I considered cutting out sections before I started (even dividing it into more books but I have 4 characters and they get a book each). I didn’t cut too much big plot stuff because I knew I could get it all in. And I did. It just took frickin ages to cut it to shape. Next time I am streamlining from the start. I built Book 1 upwards from first draft instead of cutting down at the end and that was loads more efficient. So I’ll do that again.
• Too much research. I wanted authenticity but I this is historical fantasy so I was already changing history loads anyway. I guess because I love history so much I got engrossed in 17th Century England and was soaking it up instead of writing. And THEN I ended up cutting most of it out anyway. I went to Colchester Castle. I walked the Roman walls of Colchester. I’d have been better off writing. Next time I am doing just enough, no more.

I finished book 2 a few days ago and while it was being proofread I started the first draft of book 3. I’m 10,000 words in now which is a great start. I can write 1-2,000 words a day or more so I hope to get it out within a couple of months. Let’s see how I do!

If you have any tips or insights on writing / planning / editing efficiently please let me know!