The problem with writing long books

The problem with writing long books is that when you go back to the beginning of them, you have to remember that what you just lived through has not happened yet. I am sure many of you just read that sentence and are confused. So let me explain.

Say you have two characters in a story, let’s say Reuben and Sue. In chapter one they do not know each other at all. They have never met, but since your book is very long and spans years, by the end of the book they are happily married and expecting a child. That is all good, and if you write romance, even expected.

Now, you have finished the first draft. You have felt all the feels, walked all the paths and been through all the conflicts with Rueben and Sue. You were there at their first kiss. You know every argument they ever had. After all you as the writer were both parties in those events.

Now, you go back to chapter one and they are strangers. You have to make them act like strangers. It is like invalidating a lifetime of memories to start again. It is so hard not to slip up and have them act just a bit too familiar.

This is why I employ a team of pre-readers (aka beta readers) for every book. I send them copies of the book before it goes to my professional editor. Fresh eyes looking at the text can spot these inconsistencies that creep in. Things other than simple typos. For example, I just edited a chapter where two characters swapped names mid-way through. Ops.
​
And on that topic watch for a future email as I just finished the first draft of book three of the Mantidom series. At 160k words, it is the longest book in the series so far. It may end up being my longest book, but not by much.