Daniel Aleman: On Books That Break Your Heart Before Mending It

Daniel Aleman is the award-winning author of Indivisible. Born and raised in Mexico City, he has lived in various places across North America and is currently based in Toronto, where he is on a never-ending search for the best tacos in the city.

He invites you to visit him online at danielaleman.com, on Instagram, on Twitter, and on Facebook.

In this post, Daniel discusses how he navigated the dreaded Second Book Syndrome with his new YA novel, Brighter Than the Sun, his hope for readers, and more!

Name: Daniel Aleman
Literary agent: Peter Knapp, Park & Fine Literary and Media
Book title: Brighter Than the Sun
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Release date: March 21, 2023
Genre/category: Contemporary/Young Adult
Previous titles: Indivisible
Elevator pitch for the book: 16-year-old Sol crosses the Tijuana/San Diego border every day to go to school. When her family starts struggling economically, she must give up her life in Mexico and settle more permanently on the U.S. side of the border so she can get a job and help her dad pay the bills.

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As a reader, I love books that break my heart but also mend it. That is one of the main goals I had with Brighter Than the Sun: telling a deeply emotional story that is infused with hope at every turn. There was no better way to achieve this balance than through the character of Sol, a teenage girl who is dealing with enormous responsibilities, but who finds unexpected community in the people around her.

On a more personal level, I wanted to write a book about loneliness, which felt particularly important to me after experiencing several months of isolation during the pandemic. One of the main messages of this novel is “you are not as alone as you feel,” which is a reminder I truly needed while I was working on this story—and a reminder I hope will resonate with readers everywhere.

The idea for this book originated in the spring of 2019, while I was still working on my debut novel, Indivisible. Every time I come up with a new story idea, I like to give myself space to ruminate about characters, possible plot points, and scenes that could fit into the narrative. This is a no-pressure process that can take months or even years, and I typically put pen to paper only once I feel I have enough raw material to create a full story arc.

I started writing the first draft of Brighter Than the Sun in January 2020, but shortly afterward, I was asked by my publisher to return to edits for Indivisible, which shifted my focus for several months. I only returned to Brighter Than the Sun in December 2020, and I spent the following six months working on the first draft. The editing process would take an additional year, so I delivered the final manuscript in the spring of 2022. All things considered, this book took about three years from start to finish!

The idea remained essentially the same from start to finish, but many of the characters and plot points evolved during the editing process. There were certain storylines that didn’t make it into the final draft, and new ones that I created to elevate the story.

I was blissfully naïve when I started drafting Brighter Than the Sun, believing I might just be immune to what authors call “Second Book Syndrome.” I thought I might just be able to put my head down and write my book with no distractions, but things did not turn out to be as simple as that.

Second Book Syndrome is an interesting phenomenon. The vast majority of authors I know who have published more than one novel have fallen victim to it. There are many possible reasons why an author may be afflicted by it, but for me, it had to do with the shifting dynamics of writing for pleasure vs. writing under contract, and the anxiety of knowing there were readers who loved my first book and were awaiting the second.

The most valuable lesson I learned from the process of writing Brighter Than the Sun was that I must write for myself, first and foremost. If I don’t enjoy the process, then it’s not worth it. Once I had this realization, it all went a lot more smoothly.

I’d say the biggest surprise was the way some characters and themes evolved from one draft to the next. While I set out to write a book about loneliness from the start, I wasn’t entirely prepared for the way in which this theme would ultimately manifest itself—which is sweeter and more hopeful than I could’ve ever envisioned.

It’s also true that there are two characters in the book, Ari and Nancy, who have been called out to me by early readers as their favorite characters, and that has been such a nice surprise. As writers, we often assume that the protagonist of our book will automatically be everyone’s favorite, so it feels extra special whenever other characters capture people’s hearts.

I hope readers will feel seen on some level. I love books that reveal truths about myself or about the world that I hadn’t previously considered, and that allow me to find my own reflection in the pages. That is one of my main wishes for Brighter Than the Sun. Ultimately, this book is sad but deeply hopeful, and I would love for readers to feel that their heart has grown about a million sizes by the time they’ve turned the last page.

Do it for yourself first. It is so easy to be influenced by outside pressures: the opinions of other people, the expectations of readers, or even our own dreams of success. And, while those things may ultimately be important, they shouldn’t be the main driver behind your passion for writing.

I’ve started to understand that writing is a safe space for me to speak my mind, gain a deeper understanding of myself and the world, and have a creative outlet, and my main objective is now to simply enjoy the process. That’s what makes it all worth it.

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