Sequel Skittishness

Until recently, I hadn't understood the nervousness authors feels when it comes to delving back into the worlds they created.  I just thought I'd be able to jump back into a story and readers would either continue to read it or not.  Well, based off of some success I've had with Salvation Day, I've started to feel a pressure I'd previously written off.

Without giving away too much to those who haven't read the book, Salvation Day is built for a sequel.  Yes, the story wraps up fairly neatly, concluding one story before starting another, but there is another story out there that the ending begs to be written.  Getting to work on it is my next big project, even if I haven't yet begun(I've been busy with getting a few other books ready to go).  I'm in the daydreaming part of the project now, which any writer worth his or her salt will tell you is just as important as actually writing it.

However, I can't say that it hasn't gotten me nervous.  The disaster I created with the initial sequel to Akeldama is still fresh in my mind.  I went into that story with one idea, and it spun totally out of control.  Worse yet, I thought I could totally change every character and be okay, not realizing what a moron I was for doing so.  That book will require a nearly complete re-write, even down to the title.  I don't want to make that mistake with the sequel to Salvation Day.  The story needs to be fresh but true to the original.  Salvation Day is a pretty intense emotional rollercoaster, and capturing that lightning in a bottle twice is going to be hard.

I've had a few things pop into my mind, and I should probably just start writing.  My wife read it and she loved it.  I know you're going to say that she's my wife and is supposed to be like that, but she's not a reader...at all.  I've tried giving her other things of mine to read, and she only got into Akeldama.  She got into nothing else, and she hasn't been a reader since we first met, so her not only getting through Salvation Day, but also demanding more, gives me a good gauge.  I figure if I give her my new pages, she'll help get me on the right track, as well as let me know when things get goofy.

Salvation Day hasn't gotten the most reviews, but it has gotten the most acclaim, and I've often said that it's far and away my best work to date.  I don't want it ruined by frivolous flights of fancy.  After all, we've already seen what that kind of idiocy can do to a successful brand...