Tips to Writing a Sequel

Lately I’ve been scarce. I’ve locked myself away to write two sequels, CLEAVED and BLESSED MAYHEM, prepare for the debut of Partners In Crime on Oct. 18^th;, help promote a new anthology, RUN—now available for pre-order for only 99c—continue to market my books, as well as the paperback of MARRED, which releases Monday, Oct. 17^th. WINGS OF MAYHEM releases in print at the end of the month, too. Yay!

As if this isn’t enough to shove me over the edge of insanity, Joe Broadmeadow and I have book readings/signings scheduled for Oct. 27^th and 29^th. Which requires a lot of advance planning in order to draw a crowd. You can learn more about our events under “Upcoming Events” in the menu bar. We’d love to have you join us.

This is such a cooler for RUN. My “Partner In Crime” Kim McGath created it. I’m now pestering her to help me create trailers for my books. When you watch it, you’ll understand why.

For the purposes of this post, I’ll focus on CLEAVED, the sequel to MARRED, since I need to finish it within the next week due to my publisher’s schedule. You can find my research videos on my YouTube channel, if you’re interested in some of the murder locations.

Writing a Sequel

There are many things to consider when writing a sequel, reminiscent of juggling a dozen balls at once. Drop one ball, or plot thread in our case, and we could lose readers for the rest of the series.

Often times in crime fiction a sequel means a new murder case that involves the same characters, setting, and perhaps answers one lingering question from the previous novel. Unlike sci-fi or fantasy, where you might find one continuous story that travels across several books, mystery, thriller, and suspense fans need their cases solved. So when I use the term “sequel” that’s the type of sequel I’m referencing.

Without question, writing a sequel is more difficult than penning the first novel. Whether we knew it or not, book one set a certain standard that subsequent books must achieve. For example, in MARRED, Sheriff Niko Quintano teaches his deputy blood spatter analysis. Therefore, fans of MARRED will expect forensic techniques in the sequel, too, which I’m all too happy to provide.

Key Things to Keep in Mind

If someone reads book two before book one, it still needs to make sense and stand on its own. We also need to consider fans who read the books in order, and often times, one right after the other.

This is an important point, because what that means is, we need to re-introduce our characters, their past (if relevant to the story), their fears and flaws, and so on. But we need to do it differently than in book one. It’s a tap dance that can wrench your stomach.

Re-read Book One

This may sound like a silly tip to include. We know our books better than anyone, right?

Wrong.

I was surprised by how much I’d forgotten. By re-reading the first book, we can highlight passages, make notes of important elements, character traits, and become reacquainted with the voices of each character. I can’t stress the importance of this step enough. It’s time-consuming and tedious, but it’s crucial to the success of the sequel. And who knows? You may even enjoy it.

There’s no right or wrong time to re-read book one. I did it after I wrote about three chapters. In fact, during the writing process I’ve had to refer back to MARRED several times. It’s easy to forget something that happened in the first book, especially if it’s a minor but important point. After all, we may have written several different stories in between, whether that be other novels, novellas, short stories, or flash fiction.

For example, after MARRED I wrote WINGS OF MAYHEM, THE RENDERING, a flash fiction story for ONE HUNDRED VOICES anthology and a 10K-word short story, BLACK-OUT, for RUN, all while bouncing between BLESSED MAYHEM, CLEAVED, and A DEADLY YEARNING (a stand-alone thriller/mystery).

I couldn’t even attempt to take on this much work if I wasn’t a detailed planner. Each story, with the exception of flash fiction, had to be meticulously plotted with the precision of a brain surgeon. Pantsers might not like this, but I believe in spending time on planning my stories to ensure I strike the proper milestone at the correct point in the story.

If this concept is foreign to you, perhaps you’ll enjoy How Story Structure Relates to our Lives for a quick review of story structure. For scene structure and rhythm Scene, Sequel, and MRUs in Action might be helpful.

Continuity

Obviously, the characters need to look and act the same. They also need the same attributes, religious views, world views, mannerisms, flaws, voice, dialect, pet peeves, etc. If we’ve nailed the three dimensions of character in book one, we can’t crack the foundation we’ve built by changing our characters’ character, if that makes sense.

Let’s take a look at Bestselling Author Sage Quintano. Three years before MARRED takes place, Sage suffered a brutal attack by the hands of a serial killer, resulting in both physical and emotional scars. While writing CLEAVED, it became crucial that I didn’t forget the scar on her jugular, the white lines on her forearms from the knife, her bad knee, or the fact that she suffers from rheumatoid arthritis, even though it’s mostly controlled by medication. Sage isn’t the only one with scars. Niko has an old shoulder injury that acts up when it rains. He also has a habit of swiping his comments away when he’s frustrated.

Same holds true for emotional scarring. Because this attack devastated Sage’s entire existence, I can’t pretend it didn’t happen. Our past changes us, it helps mold us into the people we are today. Especially if we’ve lived through horrific acts.

There’s a fine line between staying true to our characters and not ruining the plot in book one.

I also had to consider Sage and Niko’s dogs, Colt and Ruger. Colt had K9 cop training, but he was too high-strung to become a service dog. However, he still possess the skills of a highly-trained dog who can fetch almost anything on command. Ruger suffers with arthritis in his hips. He’s gruff and grumbly because his joints ache, but that doesn’t make him any less lovable.

My point is, if I were to leave any one of these things out of CLEAVED, the story wouldn’t ring true. So how do we remember the tiny (but important) details? Well, there are a few ways to do this. If you have other tips, feel free to share in the comments.

Ruth Harris suggests using style sheets that detail the appearance, dress, dialect, mannerisms, and so on. Unfortunately, I didn’t create style sheets when I wrote MARRED, so I had to rely on notes and the book itself. I’ll get into this in more detail later in the post.

Things to Consider

Is the protagonist the same in book two, or did we switch to a different POV character? Readers fall in love with the main characters. Changing the POV is risky. I wouldn’t recommend doing it unless you have a damn good reason. Luckily, I had three POV characters in MARRED, therefore, this wasn’t an issue for me. However, fans wanted to hear more from Frankie Campanelli, Niko’s snarky deputy, so I gave her a much larger role in the sequel.

And that brings up another good point. By reading our reviews we can learn what resonated with our readers. But we need to read them with a critical eye. Meaning, if the majority of readers raved about forensics, for instance, then we better include it in the sequel. If, however, we read a ridiculous comment, then file it away under the can’t-please-everyone category. Dwelling on negativity will only hinder your writing.

Sense of Place

The setting can’t magically transform into another place that’s unrecognizable to the reader. Our story world must match book one. Unless, our POV character travels for work. Jordan Dane does this in her Ryker Townsend FBI series, and it works really well.

In my sequels, I don’t have this luxury.

Passage of Time

This is a biggie. How do we age our characters? Or do they remain the same age throughout an entire series?

Some say ten years equals one year in fictionland. I’m not sure if I agree with the ten-to-one ratio, but it’s probably not that far off. This is where the “don’t date your book” advice comes into play. In MARRED, the date became important. I had no way around it. But now, it’s left me with a different problem. Ruger is a seven-year-old English Mastiff. The average lifespan for this breed is seven to nine years old. But I love him so much that I couldn’t exclude him in CLEAVED, which takes place two years later.

How did I get around it?

His limp has worsened, he still takes his pain cookies every morning, but he still has quality of life. I think my readers would want him to stick around, so I may have to stretch the suspension of disbelief in subsequent books. Oh, well. I can’t harm Ruger; I just can’t. I’ve had to harm a fictional animal before, and it tore me up inside. I cried off and on for three weeks over it. Three weeks! Besides, who’s to say Ruger isn’t one of the lucky ones that defies old age? It could happen in real life. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

Realistic Time Frame

If we’ve put our protagonist through hell in book one, how much time should pass before we can logically put them through the grinder again?

It doesn’t make sense to have the same character get attacked by a serial killer every six months. Two years apart would work, though. Let’s face it, in all works of fiction, regardless of genre, there’s a certain amount of the suspension of disbelief. I mean, come on, in real life Frankie would never get away with half the stuff she pulls. For that matter, neither would Shawnee from WINGS OF MAYHEM. But, in my opinion, it’s the minor quirky details that can really bring our characters alive on the page. Finding that balance between true-to-life scenarios and fiction isn’t easy, but it is necessary. Don’t you agree?

Don’t Forget Minor Characters

We may have readers who loved so-and-so in book one. If we don’t include them in book two, we could risk disappointing them. Here, too, I recommend looking at the majority of reviewers as a whole, rather than trying to please one or two readers. If, and this is a big if, you left them out of the sequel for a reason. Worse case, include them in the sequel and kill them off. No one will be asking for their return if they’re dead. Win win!

Branding

The most important point of all.

We all have our own style that makes our stories uniquely ours…sentence rhythm, fragments, pace, word choices, etc. Same holds true for our brand. For instance, I’m branded as a crime writer who offers an honest peek behind the crime scene tape and who writes fast-paced, heart-pounding,  psychological thrillers and mysteries. Much like music, our stories have their own unique ebb and flow. Paul Dale Anderson wrote an fascinating guest post on this subject a couple of years ago, entitled What Type of Writer Are you?

My point is, I don’t sugar-coat murder. Death is ugly. There’s nothing pretty about violent crime. That’s the reality. For me, I’d much rather have my stories ring true-to-life than downplay the dastardly acts of serial killers. Some readers find it fascinating; some readers find it frightening; and I’m sure some readers won’t ever read my books. And that’s okay with me. It’s much more important to write for our target audience than trying to cast a wide net.

Evident by this blog, I’ve dedicated years to researching crime. It’s my brand. It’s my passion. It’s what I like to read.

If I were to write a cozy mystery, I’d have a lot of disappointed readers. It’s not what they expect when they buy my books. Does that mean we can’t experiment? Hell no. Short fiction is the perfect medium for this. As far as our longer works are concerned, why chance confusing our readers?

Yes, I know, some authors write in different genres. Usually, though, they use a pen name. Take Nora Roberts, for example. She uses several pen names, each branded within a genre. Even though we know it’s her writing the books, we also know that when we pick up a J.D. Robb novel it’ll be heavy on crime, light on romance. That’s the J.D. Robb brand. We don’t have to guess what type of story lives between the covers. Same holds true for us. By staying true to our brand, readers know what to expect when they pick up our new release. Little by little that’s how we build an audience of loyal fans.

I’m certainly no expert in sequel writing. These tips worked for me, is all. If you have tips to share, please tell us in the comments.