How to write a sequel ..when the events are still happening !

lexia

Many of you know about my book "Crossing Borders" and quite a few on here have read it (if you haven't yet, get reading - quick plug)

The sequel, which a lot of people are asking for (even a bookshop!) has been on the go for a while now. Trust me, the sequel is potentially more topical, interesting (controversial?) than "Crossing Borders" itself !

My problem is this : I usually write as things come to me ie chapter 12 may be written after chapter 16 and chapter 1 might be the last to be produced - then editing and shuffling etc. But as this is biography where events are at their most "high" right at this moment, what do I do?
So far I have started at the beginning and intended writing straight through to the end - but as in most stories, the end is not turning out as I expected it to!

I have to write at the moment when I feel able to, yet because of the nature of the subject, some events are preventing me from writing about them as things are "raw".
I hope no one suggests that I leave it completely for the time being; I can't do that- I need to write about it.

Does any of this make sense to anyone?

flyingtart

Lexia, I would write it. The rawness can only help with the honesty you are hoping to achieve, and it may help you work through your feelings too. But whether you decide to publish it may be a decision for later when you have more perspective.

Nefertari

Yes I agree with FT write it now get your feelings out later you can read through it and see if you still want to say what you have.

dorothyd

Lexia, last night I had the most awful writing session with HM you can imagine. He wanted, felt he had to, explore some of his deep feelings over the insults and Papal bull (and he made the appropriate comment there!) which said he was not a Christian king and his subjects could ignore him, raw from the death of his much loved wife Jane Seymour and all sorts. We wrote it, in sections, in bits, with me jumping in and out of TB while awaiting his next words. It had to be written, we can revise as necessary afterwards. I have found in my own personal life and those for whom I work, that the act of writing is therapeutic in itself. Putting it down on paper helps you deal with it better. It is a form of dismissal, you can distance yourself slightly from it all. So write it and decide later what if any you want to exclude.

HPRW

Lexia, write now and reshuffle/edit later. It works for you, so I see no problem (and it's the way I write, too, so I have to endorse this method!).

Carol

I can only agree with the others. Write it and sort it all out later (when you have had time away from the emotionally challenging aspects, and can look at it with a new perspective).
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