Yes. Apprehension. It may sound odd but at times I am a bit overwhelmed by this feeling. Why is this?
The first naturist book I wrote, Naked Crow, was merely an attempt to see if I could do this. I’d read a naturist-themed book and liked the idea so much that I had to try this for myself. The book was received so well that I felt the courage to write a sequel. By now I’m working on book 7 and I find that the writing is proceeding far slower than with the first 3 or 4. Why is that, you may ask?
Apprehension.
The same thing happened right before I published Mirror Earth Network. The fear that it’s not good enough. That something is horribly wrong and neither I nor Will caught that.
Writing stories after a few successful ones gets difficult while it also gets easier. Easier because you get to know the world the characters dwell in, like Sheila at the Mighty Oaks, or Sarah and Roger who live in and on Mirror Earth. The ‘problem’ however is: so do the readers! That’s where things get difficult. It’s important to stick to the limitations and boundaries of the story, of the world, because I know that many readers (myself included) will read good stories more than once, and a slip-up in a detail is unforgivable. That’s why newer stories require a lot more thought and consideration than the first ones in a series. And that in turn makes that writing new work in such series is more difficult than starting something new and fresh.
New and fresh.
To keep things fun, new and fresh I have started writing a new naturist story. I haven’t mentioned anything about that anywhere yet so this is a first. It’s urban fantasy, and it deals with the police and a young woman named Emma. I’m going to leave it at that for now.
In the same vein I try to keep the stories in the existing series (e.g. Naked Crow) fresh. Writers have the final say in what happens in stories, and introducing new scenes, situations and events is great.
And if you by chance happen to be Cherokee, you will have to live with the fact that I invented something for your tribe in Naked Crow 7, because that is the power of the author. I chose Cherokee for that story because they had their own alphabet. 🙂
I see your point because it’s challenging to maintain continuity and keep stories fresh too.It will be interesting to see the Cherokee storyline in the next book.I think as long as you keep balancing the adventures with fun and humor you’ll create a great product.In addition you’re helping people see the benefits of naturism and dispelling the silly myths that seem to persist despite yours and others best efforts.
Yes! Exactly! Keeping a story challenging is one of the things that make it hard to write another one. Especially with a series like Naked Crow I always feel this danger hanging over me that it’s going to be “the same as book 3” or so.
I have the same trepidation with each cartoon. I would love to read your books. Where can I purchase them?
If you follow the link to http://35.171.17.116/our-publications/ you will find all our books listed. Each book has all the purchase options and also some information on what the book is about.
Where can we (and other readers of these comments) learn and see more about your cartoons?
This is well described in The War of Art, by Steven Pressfield. And the solution is to put your work available to the readers. Every artist feels this fear, that Pressfield called resistance. When resistance shows up, it generally tells that your work is worth sharing with the world.
Thank you for those encouraging words. It’s obvious I’m not the only one. I’ll go on and fight the resistance. 🙂