Who do you believe?

Over the past few years, I have enjoyed listening to a number of talented authors hold forth about the process of writing and publishing. It has become apparent that every shred of advice I heard at the start quickly came into conflict with the advice I received later.

Here’s a case in point. During a session I attended a couple of years back, both an agent and a well known author passed along the sage opinion that I should skip writing the second book in my series until I had sold the first. The thinking was that once the publisher got their hands on the first book and handed it off to an editor, the story would look nothing like the original. This would mean I’d be forced to waste my valuable time rewriting both the first and second book.

This sounded perfectly reasonable, until I attended another session hosted by a well known published author who also happens to be a successful agent. She refuted that claim, saying that agents and publishers would never waste their time on a writer who had not forged ahead with the rest of the series while querying book one. In no uncertain terms, she urged me to write the second book and then the third as soon as possible.

Happily, like most other authors I know, writing is a bit like breathing. It feels bad when we stop. That’s why book two is well under way and book three will follow soon after, with or without a contract.

I was happy to find my decision validated, since I had bucked the best guidance received to that point. This leaves me wondering how much I should trust the opinions of others who have walked the path before me? Every writer and agent is different. They all have foibles and odd preferences, making any piece of advice they share unique to their point of view and a bit precarious when applied generally.

Thanks to my nature, I tend to listen closely to all these wonderful, helpful people, and make my own way, knowing that I might get it quite wrong. At least I always have some excellent information at hand that I can ignore when making my own decision on which path to follow.