Young Writers Society

Hey all!

So you've all heard by now that I've finally finished working on the Mage Chronicles. The thing is, my grandmother (who's read it) thinks that the first book should only be "Part One" of a bigger book. She thinks I should write Part Two to go with it and THEN have it published. What do do ya'll think?

ShadowPrincess16

Well, that's kind of impossible to answer without the plot or having read the story, but some considerations:

1- Word count. Books have general guidelines for how long they should be depending on genre, and if you don't hit the averages, you'll find it really hard to get published as a first time author. Yes, exceptions exist, but those are just that: exceptions. Really popular, well-established, and/or incredibly lucky authors get the rules bent for them. Don't count on it.

If you're already in the butter zone for your selected genre, don't lengthen it. Here is a rough guide for length by genre and age bracket.

2- Plot line. If the plot fits, feels complete to you, and you don't really think there needs to be any more to it, then don't force out a longer story for the sake of a longer story. Now, if you're too short by the guidelines I linked above, then you might have to add, but this should be done by adding more subplots, another character, and/or something else to complicate the plot— not by adding a whole other part that doesn't fit.

3- If it's a series, it should feel like one long story anyway. This is how you write a series that has an eventual ending. Each story is relatively self contained, but is simply part whatever number of books you have planned. (If it's just a series of stories using the same character, like Nancy Drew, you approach that much differently than a series such as Lord of the Rings or Game of Thrones).

As for why your grandmother might be feeling that, some more thoughts/ questions:

1- What type of book is she used to reading? If you look at beta readers, the best ones tend to be within your own genre— because they know what "good" and "bad" within that genre look like. I would be much more likely to trust somebody who reads fantasy than I would be somebody who reads nonfic, simply because my book is fantasy and uses much different conventions than nonfic.

If your grandmother never reads the genre you're writing in, then her advice shouldn't be taken as seriously as somebody who is well versed in your niche.

2- Do you pace it properly? It could be that what you thought was a very emotional climax felt more like an early upset that kicked off the plot, instead of delivering the intensity of a middle battle. If you don't deliver strong punches where you want them to be delivered, it can make your story feel incomplete simply because there's not enough impact.

3- Do you not have enough story? It could be not complex enough, start too late (which would fall under pacing, but it's slightly different so I'm separating it), just plain old not enough to really carry a whole novel. If you've stuck too small or gone too simple, not really considering a bigger picture, then you could end up with something that genuinely needs more richness.

That's really all I can ask. We cannot answer this question for you because it's your story and you haven't told us anything about it, so it's impossible to say if the book feels like only a part one.

Regardless, you shouldn't be looking at publication yet.

If you've just finished, then you should let the works sit for awhile and look at them again once you're not in the story. The "editing process"— especially for a recently finished first draft— is more like the "rewrite process."

Nothing in your story is precious. You will end up with a much better end product if you force yourself to re-enter every phrase of your novel from start to finish, after letting it sit, because then you must look at every single sentence critically. If it doesn't make sense, you cut it— because you were already rewriting it anyway.

Don't be attached to your drafts, because drafts are rough and unpolished. You might have some gems in there, but chances are you need to redo a whole lot of the story to get it publishable.

As a result, the question of whether or not the story should be a "part 1" is moot. You have at least one rewrite to go before you'll be looking at publishing, and once you've looked at the story again with a critical eye, you could find it needs that overhaul. Even if you don't think it does at first, rewriting the story is fantastic practice and allows you to not be chained to old ideas you wrote when you were a worse writer. You didn't know the characters as well, you didn't know where the plot was going, and now, you can go after the story with a fresh set of eyes and an omniscient viewpoint.

So get publication out of your mind. Focus on rewriting the story, gutting it, and renovating. You don't want to submit a story you haven't put the proper rewrite time into, because that'll simply leave a bad impression on agents and publishing houses.

Get feedback, let the story sit, then start it over. You'll thank yourself later.