What the hell? Did I really just do that? I could have wrapped this thing up nice and neat and been done with the whole mess once and for all. Zeke could have ended up with the girl. He was seriously this close. But of course his luck wouldn't allow that. I guess now I'm going to have to write book 3.
To be honest, that was kind of my plan all along. Most great stories are trilogies, right? Heck, even a lot of mediocre stories get at least three installments, if not more. I really do enjoy these characters and this weird universe I've created and I look forward to spending more time in it. If I keep getting ideas and if there are readers who are interested, I could see myself doing book 4, 5, 6, etc. But that's getting WAY ahead of myself. Book 3 has to be written first and even I don't know everything that's going to happen in it yet. I'm not one of those writers who plans every minute detail out way in advance. I have no clue what will happen in book 10 if I ever get there. I like to do some planning, but I also like to allow the opportunity for curveballs to arise and take the story in interesting new directions that I wasn't anticipating.
I do know a little bit about what's going to happen in book 3, because I've started writing it. One of the first things I did when I finished Doorways to Everywhere was write chapter 1 of book 3, so I could officially say I had begun writing it.
Part of me was ready to dive full-fledged into book 3 immediately, but I was a little torn because I had another idea I had been putting off working on for a long time. I thought maybe it would be good for me as a writer to stake some ground in a new story set outside the Tourist Trap world. And maybe taking a little break from Zeke, Max, Sarah, Dr. Octavius, and everybody else would be good because I could come back to it a little later with some fresh perspective.
I was also toying with the idea of trying to submit to agents and publishers again. I think every writer probably dreams of being traditionally published. Hell, every writer probably dreams of being the next Stephen King or J.K. Rowling and making tons of fame and fortune from their books. I know I would certainly love to be able to devote myself full-time to writing goofy stories and not have to work a day job. But I also know it can be a really grueling and soul-crushing process trying to get someone in the "biz" to even look at your work. I've got plenty of form letter rejections from Tourist Trap to drive that point home.
Still, I thought maybe I might want to take another crack at it, and writing a second sequel to a weird book that hasn't been traditionally published probably wasn't the best way to go about it. Instead maybe I'd write a new weird book that was a stand-alone story. So I started working on this other story and I'm pretty far along in it now. But I think I'm probably going to post it here on Wattpad. I realized I like being able to interact with my readers and I'm also excited to share my new work. Even if it got instantly accepted by a publisher, it's my understanding that it can take years before it's released. I like being able to have complete creative and editorial control over my writing. Nobody wearing a suit is giving me "notes" about how I need to make it appeal more to a mainstream audience. (I don't know how it really works, but I always like to imagine that every story begins as an amazing creative idea, but there are boring people dressed in suits that are responsible for turning most of it into mediocre, formulaic crap.)
I would give you more details about this new story, but as of the time of this writing I don't even have a title for it yet. Actually titles are usually one of the last things I seem to come up with. As a general rule, I tend to not like to share things before they're completely finished, but I'm thinking about breaking that rule as well. I might start sharing this new story here relatively soon. The pressure of having to stay ahead of my updates might force me to finish it sooner. If you enjoy Tourist Trap and Doorways to Everywhere, I think you'll like this one, too. It's a little bit different, but still plenty goofy. Stay tuned, I expect I will be revealing more about it soon. (Ok... it's been awhile since I wrote this and I can give an update. The new project is called The Shady Adventures of Fabian and I indeed have posted it on Wattpad. Check it out if you're looking for another silly fun story that's just a little bit different from the Tourist Trap world, but should still hopefully appeal to you.)
But what about Tourist Trap book 3? Well, as I started getting near the end of posting Doorways to Everywhere here, I've been getting inspired to work on it, too. I actually started to do more writing on it recently and a ton of ideas about where it's going to go have been coming to me. I've never really worked on two books at the same time before, but a couple days ago I actually wrote several pages for both books on the same day and it wasn't as bad as I thought it might be. It was actually kind of fun to switch from one world to another. So as far as when can you expect to start reading it? I'm not sure, but I'm hoping maybe later in 2017? This might be optimistic, I don't know. I seem to have a pattern of taking fairly lengthy breaks in the middle of writing stories and coming back later. As I've mentioned elsewhere I took a nine year break in the middle of Doorways to Everywhere. Don't worry, as long as I'm alive and healthy enough to write, I won't take that long this time. Being on Wattpad has proven inspirational to me as far as getting writing done goes. I also honestly don't mind if you bug me about it sometimes. It helps provide motivation to finish.
To that end, I want to say thank you to everyone who has stuck it out with me for two books now. I really do feel that stories are meant to be shared and it's been a blast sharing these with everyone who's taken the time to read them. It's nice to know there are other people out there who share my weird sensibilities. I also want you to know that I take your comments very seriously. I've made adjustments to both books based on what readers have told me. Sometimes you spot typos, sometimes you spot plot holes, sometimes you suggest really great ideas that I'm jealous I didn't think of myself. So keep the comments coming. I'm also always happy to answer any questions you might have. Even weird non story related questions. I guess that's about it for now. See you soon both in book 3 and my as yet to be titled non-Tourist Trap book!