{"id":27930,"date":"2021-08-13T07:53:20","date_gmt":"2021-08-13T11:53:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.scottedelman.com\/?p=27930"},"modified":"2021-08-14T14:10:23","modified_gmt":"2021-08-14T18:10:23","slug":"second-novels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.scottedelman.com\/wordpress\/2021\/08\/13\/second-novels\/","title":{"rendered":"Devour donuts with Karen Osborne, Sarah Pinsker, and K. M. Szpara as they discuss second novels on Episode 151 of Eating the Fantastic"},"content":{"rendered":"

Earlier this year, Karen Osborne, Sarah Pinsker, and K. M. Szpara — all previous guests of this podcast — became members of a very special club — <\/p>\n

Karen Osborne<\/a>, who recently appeared on Episode 146, published second novel Engines of Oblivion<\/em> on February 9.<\/p>\n

K. M. Szpara<\/a>, whose origin story you learned about in Episode 35, published his second novel First, Become Ashes<\/em> on Apr 6.<\/p>\n

And Sarah Pinsker<\/a>, who kicked off this podcast way back in Episode 1 and then returned four years later to catch up in episode 120, published her second novel We Are Satellites<\/em> on May 11.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Once I realized three talented and talkative suddenly sophomore authors all lived close enough to get together for a round table where we could discuss that shared experience, I knew it was too good an opportunity to waste.<\/p>\n

What are the joys and challenges of writing and publishing a second book? Writers can take their entire lives to get their first novels published, after which creating another novel in a year \u2014 or sometimes less \u2014 can be major pressure. After giving everything they had to the first novel \u2014 how does a writer decide what’s worth writing next? Do they fear they won’t live up to the promise of their debut, and might disappoint readers? I had a wonderful time listening to this trio of second novelists opening up about their experiences, and I hope you will too.<\/p>\n

We chatted while nibbling on takeout from Baltimore\u2019s Zaatar Mediterranean Cuisine<\/a>, and about two-thirds of the way through, switched up to doughnuts from my favorite such spot in Baltimore \u2014 Diablo Doughnuts<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

We discussed why \u201csecond books are weird,\u201d what (if anything) they learned writing their debuts which made book two easier, why pantsing is a thing of the past, whether book two had them concerned about creating a brand, how writing acknowledgements for second novels can be strange, the way deadlines made taking time off between books impossible, the dangers of being abandoned by debut culture, the fear of fewer pre-publication eyeballs on book two, how the pandemic will affect the creation of future novels, and much more.<\/p>\n

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Here\u2019s how you can take a seat at the virtual table with us — <\/p>\n

1) Subscribe at Apple Podcasts<\/a> — where I hope you’ll be tempted to sample a few of the 150 previous episodes.<\/p>\n

2) Use the RSS feed of http:\/\/eatingthefantastic.libsyn.com\/rss<\/a> on the device of your choice.<\/p>\n

3) Or listen using the embed below.<\/p>\n