Borrowing Trouble

My friend Priscilla gives the best writing advice (hi P! *waves*). Every time I start over-thinking and worrying about which publisher to submit to, how the next three sequels of each WIP I have will progress, how I'll never get my synopsis right, she tells me the same thing. "Shut up and write."

I've been worrying about this trilogy I'm planning on completing. Shifting Her World is the first of the three. This week I completed a scorching sex scene. I'm having doubts about whether I should include it. It's so hot it makes the final sex scene pale in comparison, so I'll have to ramp that one up in my edits. If I keep this scene, and the book gets published, I believe I'll have to keep that level of eroticism for the others. This blog entry from agent Jessica Faust at BookEnds confirmed my suspicions. I'm not sure if I can do it.

I've also been having doubts about the second book in the trilogy because it departs in tone from the first pretty drastically. The second one is rather dark where Shifting Her World has been pretty light and quirky.

As a reader, if I enjoyed a book enough to buy a second by the same author, I think I'd be disappointed if it varied too greatly from the first in tone or temperament. But only if it were drastic. Like a huge change in attitude - from hot to inspirational, from dark to everything is sunshine and roses. Though I think I'd be a savvy enough buyer to realize through the excerpt and how it was categorized that it would be so different.

So, hmmmm. I don't know. These types of questions plague me and can some days bring my writing to a halt. I borrow trouble from the future, and if I'd just follow Priscilla's other wonderful advice and, "Just finish, already!" it'd probably be best.