The Sequel
The sequel to THE LADY OR THE LION is titled…...
Drum roll please…..
THE MAN OR THE MONSTER
The way I love alliterations this should not be a surprise. The duology name is the Marghazar Trials, so I wonder who will be on trial in this book? Hmmmm.
I have seen the cover, and it is incredible. Even more so with how it is tied to the story. Without giving it away, I will say that the cover of TLOTL is very zoomed out, while the story is very zoomed in on Durkhanai and her emotions. The cover of TMOTM is the opposite, as it is very zoomed in on a particular scene, while the story is a bit more zoomed out.
Let’s talk sequel writing process. But before we get into that, if you have not yet ordered THE LADY OR THE LION, get on it! I know sometimes people want to wait for the second book to come out before reading the first, but if you are going to do that, please still buy the first book! It helps publishers with their logistics and is very important.
Now to the writing. Sequels are notoriously difficult to write, but whenever I heard that, I thought to myself, pish posh, it won’t be hard, and then, guess what, it was hard. And I am not even done! I’ve only written the first draft so far. But to be fair, first drafts are the most work for me because I edit while I draft. I am actually really looking forward to receiving my edit letter and working on revisions.
Like a crazy person, I do revisions very quickly because I basically do them nonstop, only taking breaks for food/sleep, so the work is condensed. When I have a big revision to do, I can barely sleep because my brain is just whirring so quickly with ideas and thoughts, I feel like I have to work through it all before I can rest properly.
As for drafting the sequel, I had difficulty due to a few reasons. For one thing, I was all too aware of my existing audience. I knew what readers enjoyed in TLOTL and wanted to replicate those aspects, but I also did not want to be repetitive or unoriginal. In a way, it was like I was competing with myself.
I also found writing the sequel harder because there was no time to spend setting the scene. Everything was already established, which meant the sequel was much more plot heavy, and I hate plot, honest to god. Additionally, situation-wise in regards to the plot, there was, um, much less romance in this book which was BOOO because I love writing romance and find it the easiest part of the book to write. I am very easily bored by the politics and didn’t want to write a boring book.
Another difficulty was that I wanted the series to have a satisfying ending. I struggled with that a lot, actually, and usually endings are really easy for me. I tend to write the end early on in my process of drafting, so I know where I am going, but with this manuscript, I couldn’t get a good grasp on the ending, so while I was drafting, I really didn’t know where I was taking the characters.
But then I had a massive breakthrough, and hopefully I am not jinxing myself when I say that I think people will like the ending because I love it. And if they don’t like it, I am sorry.…..actually not really because this is my book, and again, I love it. As an author you sort of have to have this attitude or you will drive yourself properly crazy.
Writing the sequel wasn’t all bad, however. I did really enjoy drawing parallels between the first book and the second. I also loved developing side characters further and seeing all of my characters grow into themselves and their roles and their relationships with one another. And I thought one particular aspect of the ending was very clever.
I know those of you who have finished TLOTL are impatiently awaiting next summer -- so am I! I am suffering just as much as you all are! Right now, I’m the only one who knows what happens, and I don’t have anyone to scream about it with. It’s actually fun to be a reader and an author because you get to experience the book in two separate ways.
But be patient! I am going to work hard on revisions to ensure you get the prettiest version of this book possible, and hopefully, the waiting will be worth it.
As a parting comment, all I will say is that I think the ending will make people cry.
More soon! xxx