N.J. Prynne

Yeah, that’s kind of a clickbait title. But as I’ve been working on the sequel to A Tower of Half-Truths, I’ve realized that this is uncharted territory for me. I’ve worked on no less than a dozen novels over the past twenty-plus years. My pre-Tower novels are in various stages of completion, but what they all have in common (apart from being tucked away in storage bins or on flash drives, to never again see the light of day) is that they’re either standalones or the first in a series. Before now, I’d never written a sequel.

In some ways, writing a sequel is easier. I’ve already figured out the hard stuff: my characters, worldbuilding, and magic system. I already know my characters inside and out, so I know how their voices should sound. I know how they’ll react to the plot points I’ll be throwing at them. There are a few names and places I still need to decide on as my main characters visit new locations, but that’s nothing some placeholder text can’t temporarily fix.

Another thing that helps is knowing my writing process and what works for me when it comes to writing—and revising—a 150,000-word novel. Though I had an outline for Tower, some chapters were more fleshed out than others. This time around, to save my future self some serious headaches, every chapter needs to be plotted from the start. I managed to complete the first draft of Tower in just under seven months, but at least two of those months were spent writing and rewriting the same chapters, to the point where I experienced burnout. For the sake of time and my mental health, I can’t afford to do that much editing as I go.

Finally, a few chapters are already written, though they’ll need some serious editing. After my first round of beta feedback, I decided to cut a small arc from Tower because 1) the book was already long enough without it, and 2) it made more sense to save that arc for the next book.

(For a small teaser: high society events are a staple of gaslamp fantasy. If you’ve read A Tower of Half-Truths and were yearning for ballgowns, rose gardens, and courtly gossip, you’ll soon get your fix!)

Now for the not-so-easy part: writing a sequel that follows the same couple from book one. It’s still going to be a romance, but they’ve already had many of their big romantic “firsts.” I’ve seen some romance fans argue that a romance arc is complete once the characters declare their love and/or get in bed together. Sure, the “will they, won’t they” tension is great fun—both as a writer and as a reader—but so is seeing a new couple navigate how to work as a team, or struggle to keep their relationship a secret when they are oh so very obviously in love. My main challenge will be figuring out how to write this new kind of romantic tension. And, of course, there will be spicy scenes, but I’ll need to figure out how to sprinkle them in without completely detracting from the plot.

But I’m not complaining. I’m excited to tackle these challenges because I’m finally doing the thing my younger writer self always dreamed of doing: writing an actual series! If only my writing assistant would stop forcing me to take so many breaks.

Until next time.

—N.J. (Nicole)

PS: A Tower of Half-Truths is currently on sale! Get the ebook for only 99 cents, now through December 1st. (Sale ends at 11pm PST.)