How to Write a Sequel

The Pressure
I’ve never been more stressed out writing a book than when I wrote To Darkness Fled. The first book, By Darkness Hid, did rather well. It got excellent professional reviews, sold well, won several awards, and gained me fans who sent me emails saying they couldn’t wait for book two.

I could.

I sat at my computer day after day, panicked. I was so stressed out that there were moments I was near tears. How could I write a book two? I didn’t even know what was going to happen! All I knew was that I needed to get Achan and Vrell up to Ice Island. That’s all I had! How was I going to write 500 pages about that? What if my readers hated it? What if reviewers ripped it to shreds? What if I failed?

Well, I had signed a contract, so I wrote that book, all the while beating myself up with all that worry. But it worked out. Readers liked the book. I lived. And I learned a lot.

Two years ago, Robin Lee Hatcher told me that she hates every book as she’s writing it. She knows it’s the worst book she’s ever written and is certain it will be the book that ruins her career. But once it’s published and readers start reading and reviews start showing up, she is able to relax and move on. Robin has written over seventy books and she still feels insecure about the book she is writing. Hearing that helped me feel better about my own negativity. Now I’m able to recognize it and ignore it.

The Shock
When you sit down to start a sequel, it’s a little horrifying. I mean, you’ve been used to reading over a story that was practically perfect in every way, maybe tweaking a word here and there. But now you’re staring at a blank screen, and no matter what you write, it’s ugly. Starting fresh can be discouraging. But there is nothing to do but dive in and type, type, type.

Its Own Story
Any sequel, whether consecutive or not, needs to be its own story. You must hook your reader. You must have a plot for the book. You must have a character with a goal. Industry professionals and critics talk of something called “book two syndrome.” They say that second books in a trilogy are always the worst because nothing happens. They might even reference The Empire Strikes Back as an example. They’ll mock that the whole book did nothing but get people to book three. And maybe it’s true.

You’ve got to try and avoid that. Make book two the best it can be! Introduce new characters and plot twists. Do something to make the story shine by itself. And make sure that it has its own plot apart from the overarching series plot. Also, it’s okay to have a cliffhanger ending of sorts, but you should resolve the current book’s story. Many a series has lost readers because of cliffhangers that are a little too shocking.

A sequel should also have elements of the overarching series story. Whatever things you left dangling at the end of book one, you need to touch on in book two. Don’t forget them! It always helps me when I’m writing a  book one to brainstorm the ending for each book in the series and to also plan some reveals and conflicts and spread those out over the series. That way I’ll have a general plan of how to continue the story over the course of several books and to keep things interesting. Whether you pick up right where you left off in book one or time has gone by, the reader still needs to experience some action and clues to the overarching series story, which brings me to my next point.

You have to give a little recap. But you don’t need much. Too much recap is a pet peeve for me. I skim it. And since I don’t want people to skim my books, I don’t write any recap when I’m writing the first draft of a sequel. I don’t even describe my characters, (a habit my line editor for Rebels got on me about). But when I’m working on the rewrite, I’ll add in things here and there when I think the reader could use a reminder. 

Another thing I’ve done is give a page or two of recap at the front of the sequel. I did that in my Mission League books in the form of one of Spencer’s reports. That way, if a reader didn’t read book three, he can still pick up book four and know what’s going on.

Make Progress

If readers are reading your sequel, it’s because they like your characters and want to see how things are going to work out. If you forget to make progress on any of your book one cliffhangers, the readers will get frustrated. You’ve got to reveal new things to your readers. You can’t expect them to read a whole book if nothing happens. They need some payoff. And you should also plant some seeds for the next book in the series so that the reader will be enticed to stay with it.

The “promise of the premise” is a Hollywood term from Blake Snyder, author of Save the Cat. It means that the story will deliver what it promised. If book one had a lot of romance and book two has none, readers will be annoyed. If book one has no romance and book two is full of it, again, readers will be annoyed. You set the bar for yourself in your first book. Sequels need to deliver on the type of story you started with. Don’t stray too far. If you want to do something that completely different, save it for a new series.

Circularity is when you bring things full circle. I wrote a whole post about it once that you can read by clicking here. It’s when you tie up all your loose ends and, hopefully, create some “Yes!” moments for your readers. If you’re writing the final book in a series, look for places you can apply circularity. Go back to your first and second book and look for the things you set up, clues you left, and make a list so that you can work them into your last book. This will help you write an ending book that satisfies your readers.

Should you write a sequel to an unpublished book?

If your goal is to be traditionally published, then it doesn’t make good sense to write a sequel to an unpublished or even a self-published book (unless it’s selling amazingly well). Harper Collins won’t invest in a sequel to Replication. It just didn’t sell well enough. And, sure, I could take a year to write books two and three and self-published them, but since book one didn’t sell all that well, book two would sell fewer copies, and book three, even fewer. That’s just the nature of sales for series. Book one always sells the most, and everything else is downhill.

As a writer, it’s hard to let go of the characters you love. And if you aren’t looking to be traditionally published—if you write for your own enjoyment—then write whatever you want. But if it’s your goal to get paid by a publisher for a book you wrote, then you’ve got to practice moving on. Write book one until it’s ready to pitch. Then, while you’re pitching it, write a new project.

I had a terrible time moving on with The New Recruit. It took me three-and-a-half years to finish book one and another six months to write book two. Then I finally put it down and wrote some other books—books that sold! And then, years later, I pulled that baby back out, rewrote The New Recruit yet again—even against my agent’s advice—and it sold. Even so, it’s my lowest selling book, and it’s a seven-book series. Yeeah. Should have listened to my wise agent on that one.

But I loved that series. It was my baby. And, with three books to go, I’m still suffering the consequences of my selfishness. So learn from my mistake and let it go. *grin*

How about you? Have you written a sequel? Any tips to share? Or might you be in that icky place where you need to put the series down and start writing something new?