Sequel Angst
Subsequence, continuation, picking up where I left off. I now have greater respect for those who write sequels. It’s not easy; in fact, it’s very difficult. You would think characters that you lovingly crafted and blew life into could walk on their own. They don’t. They are colored husks with a history, yet no future. Until you breathe animation back into their limbs and pull the strings that make their mouths move, they just sit there and stare at you, seemingly asking for commands. You would think continuation of their story would come easy, but what if you told everything about them you already knew. It’s time to give those legs and thoughts a purpose again.
In a sequel, you can’t tell the same tired story. I suppose you could, I’ve seen it done, but with predictable results. You can’t just bring them to life for the sole purpose of rounding out a hundred thousand words either. That leads to those horrible sequels that are disjointed and lack cohesion. There have been even more of those. No, you need a new story, as gripping as the first without falling back on used prose.
How do you put your creations into a plot that rivals, if not exceed, the previous story.
I’m struggling with Drawing Dead, the sequel to Three of a Kind. There is a story there, but what story. I got excited, I thought I knew what the theme and plot would be, but as I wrote, things became disconnected, ends frayed, and my characters are acting out of sync with their established patterns. I’d given them conflicts and resolutions and now it seems trite to heap more on them, but that is what I need to do. I did too good of a job wrapping things up the first time around that throwing a wrench in the works seems contrived.
I can see the finish line of books two and three, but not the race. This will be a greater challenge than the first one.
This blog has no answer, no resolution. I’m just documenting the wall I’ve hit that I must climb over. And climb I will. Scott Hayes and Johnny Torelli need to live again, the deserve it, and my job is to give them believable future. I am their god and I have a responsibility.
Wish me luck
Hi, Steven. I followed you here from the ABNA forum, scouting websites as I try to get my own together.
Just HAD to comment on this blog entry -- because I have the opposite difficulty -- my characters won't leave me alone, constantly have things they want to share with me -- I've seldom told them anything they didn't already know; they know themselves, and tell me. I've got sequels (and prequels) lined up to the number of three, at least, with individual scenes including dialogue already written. My only real problem is having the time to write everything. (Oh, and time for revision, and finding an agent, publisher, etc.)
I wonder if the difference is in genre, as I'm doing a political fantasy saga, and you're doing realistic crime.
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Leah, don't get me wrong. My characters scream at me. I'm just finding it hard to tell if the sequel will stand on its own. I know the characters, I defined them well in the first book. Am I doing them justice in the sequel? It's hard to detach yourself and look at it objectively because you aren't writing a story from scratch. You already know these guys inside and out.
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Hey, Steven. Just dropping by after reading one of your posts on the thread at ABNA. I have 13 chapters written in a sequel, but haven't been able to do much with it for over a year. I have decided to finish this book by June, and so I have to sit down and decide where the characters go from here. I have tons of posibilities, but can't make up my mind. That is the torture of a writer. For me anyway.
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