Time to get Re-started

Well, it's been about a month, so I guess I better get crackin' on book 2.  I've started a few other projects in the meantime, but this is the one that's got a good foothold, so I gotta get serious about it.

Still no word from Caitlin...hope she's doing ok.  It's maddening to wait, as you can imagine.  Trust me, once you land an agent, the work is far from over.

So I have to figure out what Book 2 is going to be all about, and I'm going to shamelessly steal an idea (at work we call it a 'best practice') from someone who knows a thing or two about writing very popular books:  J.K. Rowling.  You might've heard of her.

Anyway, her chapter notes and outline are available out on the internet, and I think she's got a pretty good thing going here.  Take a look.

Notice the detail she goes into - this isn't someone outlining a book just so they have everything in order and can get published and make millions.  This is someone who is LIVING in another world!  If J.R.R. Tolkien didn't do the same thing I'd be shocked.  You have to when you're writing fantasy.  You've created an entire universe where everything down to the month of the year in the book has to be known. One slip, as Pink Floyd sang, and down the hole we fall.

But I think it's true for any book.  By the time your readers are totally into what you're writing, if one character behaves out of sort, or if one little thing is introduced that they've never heard of before, they'll know it, and cry foul.  And conversely, anything you've taken the time to point out better be of significance, because otherwise they'll be asking "What about the dagger on the mantle back in chapter 1?"

Readers will be as absorbed in your world as you are.  And they will subsequently know it as well as you do.  Meaning, if you get lost, they'll get lost.  And then they'll just pack up and leave your world behind.

So.  I'm off to outline book 2.  As soon as I get it completed I'll post it here so you can see the progress of a series book.  Til then, happy writing!