Already thinking of a sequel?

[[deleted user]]

I'm currently working on my first full length novel which focuses on a faerie/vampyre hybrid who falls in love with a human. I'm only on chapter 3 but I'm already thinking that I want to write a sequel from the humans point of view. Not as a rewrite of the first story but a continuation of their lives with him as the main character. Does anyone else have this happen to them? I don't even know for sure how the first story is going to end, though I have a good idea, but I'm hoping he doesn't get killed off or something so I can continue the story.

[Reese]

I am planning to do this exact thing with the series I'm writing: each book from a different main character's point of view. It's partly because I have difficulty writing multiple P.O.V.'s in the same book, but I still want to explore different story arcs for each character. Sharon Shinn does this in her Twelve Houses series. I don't think it's done often, but I'm excited about it.

[[deleted user]]

Going to finally stop procrastinating and finish volume two of my series and publish this fall.

[Iffix]

Greetings, Samantha.
The Forgotten Princess series that I have been crafting does a lot of this.
The main characters in my 3rd book were only briefly mentioned in my first two. The idea to take the series in that angle arose naturally and allowed me to tell a parallel story with my first set of main characters.
It also allowed me some space to write the more emotional scenes that are arising in book 4, and allowed me to work on my craft a little more before tackling these complicated scenes head-on.
I've seen the advantage to this, though there is a risk in deserting our audience, if our work doesn't quite meet their expectations. Be cautious, but don't hold back your imagination. It can work.

[Dwayne, Head of Lettuce]

Samantha wrote: "Does anyone else have this happen to them? "

Happens all the time. And it's great. I love slipping little hints and foreshadowing of future stories and novels into the ones I'm currently working on.

[Ellison]

And even if you do "kill him off" the faerie can bring him back to life, no? Wonderful thing when ideas flow when you're not even done with the first one. At least you know you have another story waiting to be told.

[Safa]

I've only decided to write a sequel in the last chapters of my first book. I felt I had more story to tell.

[Owen]

Yes, it does happen -- quite a bit, I'd say. It's always good to be thinking ahead.

[Martin]

This is a formula that may be problematic.

Not knowing where this story ends.
Thinking about the next story only three chapters in.
No outline (I presume).

That pattern kept me from every finishing anything for 30 years. That and constantly revising as I went,

IT'S A TRAP!

[W.]

I had the dubious pleasure of writing the sequel as I was writing the first book. Rather, the book grew out of all proportions and after 150K and 8 months work, I set about to cut the thing in half. Now I am trying to repair the still quivering aft end of the story to make the sequel feel not so violated

[[deleted user]]

W. wrote: "I had the dubious pleasure of writing the sequel as I was writing the first book. Rather, the book grew out of all proportions and after 150K and 8 months work, I set about to cut the thing in half..."

Me, too. I feel your pain.

[Zoltán]

I think it happens to most. Whether it is a good thing or a bad one, depends on how you can handle it. If you just scatter around a lot of hints and open ends without the general concept of how you will handle it, you will get a mess. Too many open leads may frustrate the reader, forgotten leads more so, contradicting ones can crash on you, etc.

Handle them as seasoning. Add just as much as is needed to make it taste good and be aware of the next course. :)

[J.J.]

Always. It's not just about how you can take advantage of a world and expand it to another book, but it's about leaving the door or window open for that sequel if you ever decide to write it.

With my first Timberlands book, I wanted to end it where the main character is seen dying, but I figured with the psycho killer dead, it made sense in the context of the story for the hero to become the villain in a sequel, so I ended the story just before the point of death.

With Plantation, the characters can't stop the ghost, all they can do is take the character anchoring it to this realm and leave its range. For any sequel, the character has to come back, so I ended the story where they're sitting just beyond the imaginary border with police sirens in the background, so if I ever write the sequel, it starts where the police take the characters to the station for statements (and inadvertently bring the medium back into the ghost's range).

Compared to What sees the central character cornered by police, but still alive. If I ever do a sequel, it will be in the future after he gets out of jail.

USS Krakowski had a couple avenues. The alien world is crashed into Jupiter's atmosphere to save the day. One possibility for a sequel involves the alien robots repairing and strengthening the artificial planet to survive the pressure and escape the atmosphere. Another possibility centers around an Earthbased war that one of the character's father served in - sort of a prequel story idea.

[Joe]

Mine are all part of a series, so each builds toward the next while I try to keep them all stand-alone. I think it's good that you're already considering the sequel, because it will help you to add more nuances and details to the first book that will get expounded upon more in the sequel, and readers like little things like that (at least, I do). You'll probably also find that now that you have a sequel in mind, what you write in book 1 will start breathing life into book 2 before you ever outline or even conceptualize it.

Good luck and happy (ink) trails!