Last week was a whirlwind of re-revising revisions to the second book in my Port Aster Secrets series debuting this June. The really scary thing is that I didn’t get further than chapter five!
I quickly realized that the story made perfect sense to my critiquers/first readers who’d read Deadly Devotion, but was perceived very differently by readers who weren’t familiar with the first book. Worse than that, they found the heroine unlikable and judgmental. Ouch.
Those readers who knew her from book 1 understood why she felt the way she did toward a particular person at the beginning of book 2 and had no problem with my opening chapters.
So…long story short. 🙄 I needed to fix that in a big way, and will be chatting with my editor this morning about the changes I’ve made and how to proceed. Since I imagine that afterward I’ll be very busy with revisions of my re-revisions, I may be a little slow responding to comments or moderating those from first-time visitors. But please feel free to ask any questions or comment.
And have a blessed week, whatever your endeavors!
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I had this same thing happen to me. 🙁 Critters familiar with first book loved second but those who hadn’t read the first were lost. Lesson learned! LOL Good luck with yours. 🙂
Good news! I heard back from my editor and she’s pleased with what she read (based on those last revisions) Yay!! 🙂 It takes a village to write my books. 🙂
I think there’s a real knack for writing a continuous kind of series. If you want each book to read like a stand alone you have to revisit some subplots from the previous book in a way that won’t feel ‘been there done that’ to your loyal readers who read the first book but at the same time, make sense to the new reader who has just discovered your genius! 🙂 Writing is hard work, isn’t it? Good luck with your revisions.
I can’t wait to read the first in the series. I remember when you announced the release date and I thought it was soooooooooo far away. Now it’s just a few months away. Yeehaw!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Love your excitement! I’m happy to report that I definitely have subplots from the previous book that are being picked up. The oops was that from the way I opened book 2, new readers thought the book would be about something that was solved in book 1…well, sort of solved. 😉
Glad the revisions worked out!!!