How important is the length of a sequel?

[Brittany]

This is something that has been bothering me for a while now. You see, I'm currently working on the first draft of the second installment to the Calypsis Project trilogy, Pulse, which is also a prequel set thirty-odd years before the first book.

The problem I've run in to is that the first book is about 350 pages long (93k words). Pulse, however, has just recently reached 108 pages (roughly 30,000 words), and I believe I only have enough content left to make it to the 40,000 mark. On the bright side, that means it will be classified as a novel rather than a novella. But I'm still worried it's not long enough.

I could be wrong. I might have more content than that, but certainly not enough to come even close to the first book's page/word count.

My question is this: Is it really important? Will readers mind if the second book isn't as long as the first?

The sequel basically serves to prepare for events and characters that will appear in the third book, and to provide some more background information on those in the first. Now, whether that has any impact on the importance of length, I don't know. But I'm hoping you guys might be able to help me figure that out. <3

[Neil]

As long as you've told the story you need to then don't over complicate it.

[Claire]

If this is only the first draft, it may grow when you get to the second draft. Unless you typically pare down. Start worrying later ;-) Bit seriously if the story's all there then you should be fine.

[Dionne]

True enough. I know my Sorceress story was meant to be one story but after I finished, no maybe halfway to the ending, my mc said no way is this the end. I've got to do other things. so I had to rethink the ending so that her destiny didn't come about as I planned in that but will be toward the ending of either book 3 or 4. I wanted 3 but my MC giving me trouble so we're arguing about it. Kind of hard that especially when I'm thinking of something else and my MC intrudes to continue the argument. *sigh*

Eternal Youth: The Big Switch

[P.D.]

Going against what others have said, I would be very disappointed in a sequel that was only a third of the length of the first book. I probably wouldn't read it.

For background: I don't read short stories or novellas, I like longer books. I always check the Amazon page count, and if it's less than 200 pages, chances are, I won't read it. Those are just my preferences.

On the other hand, I did read Meyer's "The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner", which was much shorter than the Twilight series (but still over 200 pages.)

I have one sequel that started as 40,000 words of backstory and is now 150,000 words. I had only hoped to maybe reach 90,000 words, but the characters took over...

[Brittany]

Thanks for the feedback, guys! Hearing your opinions on this had given me some stuff to think about and a lot less to worry about. c:

P.D., I see. I actually have to agree with you a bit there! Then again, I tend to avoid anything over five hundred pages as well, because I feel like I'll never get through the whole thing.

And that's interesting how much your novel grew! Amazing how characters can change a story when you let them run wild. :)

[Samantha]

Hmmm, based on your last paragraph, I'm a little concerned not for the length but for the content. Summing up what you said is, "Book 2 is back story." At least, that's what it sounds like.

Have you plotted it against the main plot points? That is, does it have an over-arcing storyline with the key ingredients? First chapter inciting incident, end of first act "door" to the second, midpoint, final door, moment of truth, lieutenant battle, climax, denouement. If not, maybe that is a starting point to help it stand on its own instead of propping up books 1 & 3.

[Brittany]

Whoops, didn't mean for it to come across that way! I can assure you that this story has all its parts in order. :) Let me try to explain that a little better . . .

Book 2 reveals how the war that the first book is centered around began, who the major players are, and what their motive is. It also focuses mainly on one of the more important supporting characters from book 1, which means that readers will learn what turned her into the cold, guarded woman she they were introduced to. It also sheds light on what happened to planet Earth, why practically everyone gave up hope of saving it, and why they can never return.

Also, most of the characters who appear in this story will be popping up in the third book as well. c: So you get to learn who they are and why they do what they do.

[Trevor]

The story and characters will dictate the length of any piece of work, we just type it out. My novel RANA was 86,000 words, I have maybe two chapters to go on RANA II and will end up around 140,000. I imagined it to be a similar length to the first book, but story and characters knew better.

[J. David]

I'm gonna side with P.D. here. Normally I'd be the one saying the book should be as long as it needs to be, but in the case of a sequel installment, you're dealing with expectations set up, and that can be a limitation on what you do. I think it's okay for sequels to be LONGER, in fact my own sequels are longer than the first volume, because the reader has the feeling of getting even more of what they enjoyed the first time around, but if they are drastically shorter, this could leave the reader feeling disappointed, or even cheated. (Whether fair or not, we're talking about how they feel, not whether it's justified.) I think there's room for variance, but 50k words shorter? I'd be careful about that, personally.

Very good/important question. Good luck with the book!

[Kevin]

I actually did the inverse. Book One of the Witches of the Water, THE GOLDEN MERRA is about 30k, but Book Two, THE YUCATAN ESCAPADE (And Book Three, for that matter) is about 60k. I didn't plan it, it just sort of happened this way. But, like J. David and P.D. said, I would rather work my way up to progressively longer books in a series than go the other way around. Also, I think shorter books leading to longer sequels are more common than shorter sequels: Harry Potter, Eragon, A Song of Ice and Fire, The Dark Tower, etc.