On Sequels
On Sequels: Dark Days – Dark Knights
When “The Dark Lady” came out my publisher told me to keep on going. Most of my main characters, both good and bad, were still alive so that was not a problem. I found the trilogy format suited me and this particular tale quite well. One problem with trilogies is deciding how you keep the middle book interesting. Scatter plots and sub-plots throughout the three books.
In book two, “Dark Days,” I moved the heroine along a couple of years and had the coming-of-age and first hints at romance while continuing with the situations and struggles from book one, everyone around her wanting to take over the throne, and the neighbours desiring to seize control. This also provided me with the opportunity to expand and develop the supporting players and their stories. Of course there needed to be desperate situations. For an ending, I came up with a surprise twist that led into the third and final chapter, “Dark Knights.”
The third book, DK, continued developing the growth of the main characters while speeding up the conflicts over a shorter period of time than in the first two volumes. This was also the book where I hinted how our heroine might eventually turn out. One of my early readers commented she was living up to her reputation, and would probably cause those around her much grief. I had a lot of fun writing this series and building the world around these diverse characters.
How do these two books compare with “The Perils of Paul?” PoP takes place over a longer period of time within a single volume and is lighter in tone with more tongue placed firmly in cheek than the tales found in The Dark Lady trilogy. No plans at this time to expand on PoP.
Next time, a look at the second trilogy I wrote, starting with The Queen's Pawn.
When “The Dark Lady” came out my publisher told me to keep on going. Most of my main characters, both good and bad, were still alive so that was not a problem. I found the trilogy format suited me and this particular tale quite well. One problem with trilogies is deciding how you keep the middle book interesting. Scatter plots and sub-plots throughout the three books.
In book two, “Dark Days,” I moved the heroine along a couple of years and had the coming-of-age and first hints at romance while continuing with the situations and struggles from book one, everyone around her wanting to take over the throne, and the neighbours desiring to seize control. This also provided me with the opportunity to expand and develop the supporting players and their stories. Of course there needed to be desperate situations. For an ending, I came up with a surprise twist that led into the third and final chapter, “Dark Knights.”
The third book, DK, continued developing the growth of the main characters while speeding up the conflicts over a shorter period of time than in the first two volumes. This was also the book where I hinted how our heroine might eventually turn out. One of my early readers commented she was living up to her reputation, and would probably cause those around her much grief. I had a lot of fun writing this series and building the world around these diverse characters.
How do these two books compare with “The Perils of Paul?” PoP takes place over a longer period of time within a single volume and is lighter in tone with more tongue placed firmly in cheek than the tales found in The Dark Lady trilogy. No plans at this time to expand on PoP.
Next time, a look at the second trilogy I wrote, starting with The Queen's Pawn.
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