Your last book won't write the next

But every new story is a chance for fresh discovery and success

This stack is on my desk because I must to CONSTANTLY REFER TO THESE while I wrap up Witchlight. (Yes, that is the UK edition of Witchshadow because the US made the print so tiny I literally cannot read it. 🧐)

I have talked about an idea before—reinventing the car, I called it. But I stumbled across this quote by the famed writer John McPhee recently, and it’s approximately 1,000 times better than what I articulated.

“It doesn’t matter that something you’ve done before worked out well. Your last piece is never going to write your next one for you.” - John McPhee

This is true, of course: it doesn’t matter how many books I write. When I sit down to start a new one, I am starting at the absolute beginning. My last book won’t write my next one.

I’ve always considered this to be such a frustrating thing. Ugh, why is this so hard? 😭 I’ve published so many novels and have so many books on my hard drive. I SHOULD KNOW HOW TO DO THIS BY NOW.

But lately, I’ve tried to change my outlook. What if, instead of being frustrated, I opt to feel liberated? The last book won’t write the next, which means any baggage or challenge or negative feedback (or positive feedback too!) won’t carry forward.

Each new book is a new chance. A fresh start. A path not yet taken.

This is of course an easier sentiment to embrace if you’re not writing a series. Because let me tell you from painful experience: the last book won’t write the next AND you’re of stuck with all the baggage of previous story choices plus reader responses. Those challenges of are absolutely real.¹

Still, even with sequels, there are opportunities for fresh starts. New characters, new plot twists, new reveals, new cookies. As I sit here and finally near the finish line on Witchlight after many, many years working on this book, I’ve really had to teach myself to let go of all that came before.

Not the story choices or promises or cookie reveals, but the baggage. The trauma. And yes, some plot point too. There were things I’d been planning for over a decade that no longer make sense in the context of what I’ve actually published.² Characters grew in ways I hadn’t expected, subplots took on minds of their own, and some of my BIGGEST COOKIES didn’t actually make logistical sense once I dove in to them.

But then, that was where I also found the most fun. How do I achieve what I set out to achieve as well as what I’ve promised my readers…in new, liberated, baggage-free ways? How do I give you this delicious cookie I’ve been planning when I have to substitute some of the ingredients?

All of this is to say, Witchlight has now surpassed Witchshadow³ as the most complicated story problem I’ve ever had to tackle. But rather than be frustrated that things have been so hard and taken so long—that everything I learned while drafting Witchshadow didn’t suddenly make Witchlight easy…

Well, I leaned in. I’ve looked for new opportunities in the story and new opportunities in myself. And you know what? I’m really gosh darn proud of what I have on the page.

That said, I’m also very excited because once this book is done, I’m shifting over to a standalone. And oh boy, I cannot wait for that fresh start and fresh path. LET ME FALL OUT OF YOU, COCONUT TREE! 🥥

💚 - Sooz

1. And are also part of why I never look at reviews. It’s one thing to be able to say, Oh, well, they didn’t like that standalone. On to the next! It’s quite another to say, Oh, they didn’t like that and now I have to do more of the same and oh god, what am I even doing here?

2. “You think you just fell out of a coconut tree? You exist in the context of all in which you live and what came before you.” 🥥🌴

3. For Witchshadow, I had hoped to have two books to tell Iseult’s story. Unfortunately, this did not pan out, and I had to combine two entire stories with two entire story arcs (plus two character arcs for all the other POV characters as well) into a single book.

This was harder than simply writing two books and gluing them together—though I suppose I could have done that. Instead, I wanted it to be ONE book with the shape of ONE book (i.e. rising action over three acts). BUT PHEW, y’all. Figuring out how to do this was…Yep.

So. Much. Plot. So. Many. Reveals. So. Much. Character. Growth. It wasn’t easy. 10/10 don’t recommend doing this. (Especially given all that I was also going through in my personal life at the time.)

But I can also say that I learned more from that one book than any other. It pushed me to new creative and craft heights, and I’m a better writer for it.