My greatest fear is disappointing the reader, so each book has to be better than the one before.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
After each book, I get panicky. I don't love the reviews. I don't like going through all that, and you would think that, after almost 40 years of writing, I'd have got the hang of it.
The first book you write because of the way it makes you feel. The second one you can't help but wonder how it's going to make the reader feel.
I was aware that there is an expectation that writers inevitably falter at this stage, that they fail to live up to the promise of their first successful book, that the next book never pleases the way the prior one did. It simply increased my sense of being challenged.
Your first book is kind of a labor of ignorance. You don't realize the difficulty of it. Your second book is sort of a labor of fear. Then you sort of either hit a stride, or you don't.
Discovering the 'impossible' ending to a new book makes me sick with joy and relief.
One of the things I love, and I'm a voracious reader as well as a writer, is books that surprise me, that are not predictable.
The funny thing is, I'm not really a big reader, not a big fan of books in the first place.
Oftentimes when you see adaptations of books you like, you're let down. As an author, you assume that they are going to suck. A little bit of hope is dangerous.
My first six books were horror, I think because when I was young I loved Stephen King. John Wyndham, Daphne Du Maurier, and it's natural to try and emulate the books you first loved.
No one bothered reading the books and understanding - and again, I'm not being high-falutin' about it - but I think our books are great literature with great metaphors of real life dealing with fears and hopes.