A Conversation With Adalyn Grace About the Fun and Challenges of Writing a Sequel
Last year, I interviewed Adalyn Grace about her novel Belladonna, and the opportunity presented itself to do a quick Q&A about Foxglove, the second book in this series that already has a third (Wisteria) expected in 2024. So we discussed writing a sequel, changes in promotion, and more.
Check out Adalyn Grace’s Foxglove here:
(Writer’s Digest uses affiliate links.)
What inspired Foxglove? Did you know there would be a sequel when you finished Belladonna?
Halfway through the first draft, I knew that I wanted to continue writing in this world. There were so many threads that I felt were unexplored, and characters that I wanted to know better. In Belladonna, I barely had the chance to scratch the surface with the magic in this world.
If Death is personified, then what other deities might exist? What might their magic be like? I found myself asking all these questions and more, and knew that my brain would never be settled until I explored them.
In an earlier interview, you told me Belladonna was written as an escape from the pandemic? Does this world still feel like an escape?
This series absolutely still feels like an escape to me, and I hope it will be that to a lot of readers!
I can picture the world so vividly, and there’s nothing more fun than turning on my imagination and letting it run brainstorming all of the different possibilities for the characters and the magic. It’s like there’s this weird playground in my brain that I’ve somehow tricked people into paying me to bring to life, and I can’t think of anything more incredible!
What’s been the biggest challenge in writing a sequel?
The pressure and shortened span of time to write are the most difficult ones for me! I think I do a pretty decent job at drowning out the background noise, but I’m not perfect and sometimes the most sinister side of my brain starts to worry about reader expectations and making sure that I’m working on a story that they’ll be happy with.
(7 Rules for Writing Second Installments.)
There’s also, of course, the added stress of deadlines. Before I sell a book, it’s mine to do with what you want. I can take as long as I want to write it, take my sweet time with edits, spend my days just puttering about and brainstorming . . . But once things are contracted, strict deadlines are imposed.
Writing 120k-word fantasy novels in such a condensed timeframe is always tough, especially as I’m making more of a concentrated effort to not just lock myself in my office all day and to get out of the house more.
What’s been the most fun about writing a sequel?
Getting to explore the new characters has been a blast. There’s also an additional POV that wasn’t in Belladonna, and it’s been a lot of fun to have the freedom to explore more of the world and build up the mystery even more by alternating perspectives.
Foxglove is, in a lot of ways, a very different book from Belladonna. It’s been fun getting to further develop these characters and to challenge all the ways they’ve grown throughout the series.
Have there been any changes on the publishing/promotion side in the past year? Did reader and reviewer feedback affect future books in the series? If so, how?
The biggest change has been the visibility of the book, which has enabled me to reach so many more readers. I’m on social media now more than ever, and while that’s of course a double-edged sword, it’s been incredible to get to chat with so many readers and see their reactions, fan art, sweet messages, and to feel like I have this amazing support system around me.
I’m not saying this to pander; I truly believe that my readers are the best and that I have lucked out with them immensely. I try to keep the readers in mind now more than ever, and to involve them at all steps of the process whenever I can.
I am careful not to let those outside voices influence what happens in the actual story itself, but in terms of promo I’m always keeping readers at the forefront of my thoughts. I’m very aware that I get to do what I do because of them.
How does writing a trilogy (Belladonna) differ from writing a duology (All the Stars and Teeth)?
I feel like there’s really no understanding how publishing works until you’re knee deep in it. With a debut, you’re a small fish wading into a very large ocean for the first time. You just want to stay alive, which for me meant floundering a little and sometimes not staying one hundred percent true to my vision and letting other voices sway me when I shouldn’t have.
With Belladonna, I was no longer a debut. I’d already realized how little control I have over the fate of my books when my first one released and Covid struck and shut bookstores down weeks later, and my family couldn’t even go see my sequel in store because there was no vaccine yet and didn’t feel safe. When something like that happens, I feel like it’s just the biggest sign to take a step back and focus on the only thing I can control—writing stories that I love and letting all the other cards fall where they may.
I wrote the Belladonna series entirely for me. Along every step of the way I’ve taken risks to tell the story exactly how I thought it should be told, adding twists and cliffhangers before sequels were ever confirmed. My goal has been to have fun with the series, stay true to my vision for it, and ultimately put something that feels entirely me out into the world.
These days I listen to my gut way more than I did in the past, and because of that I feel that this series is exactly how I’ve always wanted it to be. It feels right. It feels like me. I’m very proud of it and am no longer so concerned about just trying to survive in this big ocean. I feel like I belong here now.