Challenges of writing the sequel
Lord of the Hunt (Sooty Feathers #2), sequel to my debut novel, Resurrection Men, has just been released by Elsewhen Press.
As such, I thought I'd briefly talk about some of the challenges in writing a sequel.
Firstly, there's the question of how much to refer to the previous book's events. Even assuming most people have read the previous book(s), some time may have passed, and it's always good to refresh people's memories. Also, the previous book's events should have shaped the characters to some degree, so it is natural for them to reflect on those events.
But there's the risk of too much exposition at the start of the sequel. So it's best to be brief and drip-feed musings on the earlier book(s).
Another danger I found was that as I feature multiple point-of-view characters, the same events are recapped more than once, which risks irritating the reader. One way to minimise this is to show that the same events affected each character differently. Perhaps they have a different recollection of that event, or took a different meaning from it?
With the sequel, particularly if it's not the last book in the series, there's the risk of there being no beginning or end. I (hopefully) avoided this in Lord of the Hunt by having a self-contained plot in the book that builds on the larger story, but is also resolved to some degree. The Sooty Feathers series is intended to be a quartet, but I want each book to tell a distinct story rather than be just one big story chopped into four books.
I felt it important to wrap up Lord of the Hunt's story, and while it developed the 'hook' at the end of Resurrection Men, I also included a hook (but not a cliffhanger) to hopefully draw readers to book 3 when it's written and (I hope!) published.
When revisiting old characters, I was conscious of the potential for them to become two-dimensional, for them to face no further development than they experienced in the previous book. Or becoming a caricature of themselves. To avoid this, it's important to spend time on each character, even if in that particular book there's not a lot for them to do.
The friendship between Hunt and Foley is an important part of the overall story, but I want it to evolve over the books. Will it be tested, will it endure?
As such, I thought I'd briefly talk about some of the challenges in writing a sequel.
Firstly, there's the question of how much to refer to the previous book's events. Even assuming most people have read the previous book(s), some time may have passed, and it's always good to refresh people's memories. Also, the previous book's events should have shaped the characters to some degree, so it is natural for them to reflect on those events.
But there's the risk of too much exposition at the start of the sequel. So it's best to be brief and drip-feed musings on the earlier book(s).
Another danger I found was that as I feature multiple point-of-view characters, the same events are recapped more than once, which risks irritating the reader. One way to minimise this is to show that the same events affected each character differently. Perhaps they have a different recollection of that event, or took a different meaning from it?
With the sequel, particularly if it's not the last book in the series, there's the risk of there being no beginning or end. I (hopefully) avoided this in Lord of the Hunt by having a self-contained plot in the book that builds on the larger story, but is also resolved to some degree. The Sooty Feathers series is intended to be a quartet, but I want each book to tell a distinct story rather than be just one big story chopped into four books.
I felt it important to wrap up Lord of the Hunt's story, and while it developed the 'hook' at the end of Resurrection Men, I also included a hook (but not a cliffhanger) to hopefully draw readers to book 3 when it's written and (I hope!) published.
When revisiting old characters, I was conscious of the potential for them to become two-dimensional, for them to face no further development than they experienced in the previous book. Or becoming a caricature of themselves. To avoid this, it's important to spend time on each character, even if in that particular book there's not a lot for them to do.
The friendship between Hunt and Foley is an important part of the overall story, but I want it to evolve over the books. Will it be tested, will it endure?
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