An Unexpected Sequel

On 19th November, my second novel was published. It’s a very exciting time but it’s not the second novel I planned on publishing.

When I wrote Bird, my first book, it was only ever meant to be one story. My blog “My Fantasy World” tells you more about how I came up with the idea. There are parts of the story that echo my own life (not the bits with the feather, though, you’ll be pleased to hear!) but as I starting writing, the two main characters, Beth and Simon, developed in ways I never thought they would. As with all characters, they took on a life of their own and they led me in a direction I hadn’t seen coming.

The way Bird ended wasn’t as I originally intended. Beth and Simon developed a much stronger connection than I’d expected and it became apparent as the story went on that Beth had traits I hadn’t envisioned when I wrote her profile. I could see far more to their story than my notes had prepared me for. However, even at this stage, I still hadn’t considered a sequel.

When I did settle on the ending, it was never meant to be a cliffhanger, I just didn’t see it that way. I saw it more as the only way the book could end. Beth had to have more to her and I wanted to give readers some insight into why she had such a strong connection with Simon and why she’d managed to deal with everything in the way that she had. But it was meant to be an extra detail that readers could then make their own minds up about, not a sudden tangent that would lead to a new novel.

It was only when people starting reading the novel and I was getting feedback, that the idea of a sequel first entered my mind. I knew I had a lot more story to tell and I loved the way that readers had started to care so much about Beth and Simon and were eager to find out more. So I decided it was only right to myself, Beth, Simon and my readers that I continue their story.

Planning for the second book was easy. I knew exactly what was going to happen, it just felt
completely inevitable. Then, as I wrote book 2, the story seemed massive. I knew there was a third book that had to be written; a third part to Beth and Simon’s story that would naturally finish their adventure.

So The Birds is the sequel and the final book in the trilogy, which is already well under way, will be released in 2017. Then I’m back to the other story that I’d already started to work on before Beth and Simon opened up my world. So hopefully there will be a brand new story coming out in 2017 as well.

I’d be more than happy to answer any questions about my books, please just send me a Tweet @l_d_woodward using #birdnovel and I’ll get back to you.