Hey everybody — did we mention that we’re writing a sequel? Here’s what’s going on in Kat’s head:
I’ll say it straight out: Writing a sequel is significantly harder than I realized. For one thing, we can’t just make stuff up like we did before. Sure, the Anna Katherine Co-Op of Evil had a grand old time throwing our brains at the page the first time around — but now we’re faced with having to actually remember the events and worldbuilding of Salt and Silver; remember, and build upon it.
I’ve got a copy of the book sitting beside me right now, ready to be flipped open to make sure that, for instance, we never said vampires had to always be goth — but trying not to contradict ourselves is the simpler part of the problem. The world’s a different place at the end of Salt and Silver; that’s got to have repercussions. Big ones. And while it’s easy to think of all sorts of horrible things that could happen (zombie apocalypse! the sky turns to jelly! a giant buzzard appears and eats everyone!), whatever happens needs to work within both the bounds of this new story — and with Salt and Silver. At the very least, that cuts out the zombie option. No such thing, as the reader might recall. So there’s that.
The other difficult thing comes down to one thing: Nerves. When we were writing Salt and Silver, it was a joy and a rush all at once. We could do anything! The worst that could happen was that someone wouldn’t like it. But with the sequel, I find myself worrying about disappointing those who did like the first book; I’m worried about being one of those sad flash-in-the-pan newbie authors who never really has much to say after one book; I’m worried that maybe whatever alchemical magic we worked with Salt and Silver will absent itself forever, and all that will be left is a mishmash of word vomit and regrets.
(Pro tip: These are what we call Author Crazies, everybody. And they aren’t your friend.)
I’ve got a couple of ideas about how to work through these difficulties — keeping S&S by my side, like I said, is one of them. And the other is really having faith in my own abilities and the fantabulous abilities of Anna — more faith in us than in the author crazies, anyway. Eventually we’ll have a book in our hands; that’ll be worth it all over again.
