It’s the end of the year, the end of a decade. And for a handful of 2018 debuts, it’s the end of the year in which our second books made their way onto bookstore and library shelves. As I wrote at the beginning of my acknowledgments for All Eyes on Us, “Writing a second novel and ushering it into the world is no easy feat (said every author everywhere).”

But it can be done! And in the spirit of the collective sigh of relief heaved by 2019 sophomore novelists the world over, I spoke with four...