Sequel expectations

Mouse

Mouse

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I'm pondering (only pondering, I might not do it) writing a sequel. But... the first one is set out with a lot of the plot happening during flashbacks.

I'm wondering whether you'd expect a sequel to be similar to the first book?

Because I'd expect that. I mean... take the Bartimaeus books with the footnotes and the first person and third person narrative. If the next book came along and there were no footnotes and only one POV I'd be a bit put out. Maybe.
 
Yes, I'd expect the pattern to continue. I enjoy sequels when they meet or exceed the original appeal.
 
If you wrote a sequel, you could have flashbacks, but they needn't be all from the same events as the first novel. You could have another vector feeding into the second, if you wanted.

Alternatively, the second could concentrate on the future of the characters, as opposed to the first novel, which follows the consequences of past events, shown in flashback. Hopefully that makes sense (it's late).

As to what I'd expect.... Perhaps, I'd expect a few flashback scenes, but I'd want the writing to be consistent in style, more than anything else. Flashbacks would be of less importance than reading more about your interesting characters.
 
I think they can be different. Book 2 of my series had a different feel and hree is going its own way already. Thing is people know the characters, so you can take your time a little more cos you already have the depth. (Ps yes, please, more mercer :))
 
Ta all.

Aber, I'm thinking it'd be set a few years after the events of the first one, then the flashbacks would be to what happened in those few years. That's kinda what you said, isn't it.

springs, Mercer's the main reason I'm tempted to write it!
 
Mouse, I really wouldn't know, having not written a sequel (yet), but as Aber and Springs have already said, you already have the first book as a back story; a point of reference, if you like, so do what you like with the second. Have fun with it, take it into directions you daren't in the first.

I don't see a problem with flashbacks, but only when they're truly necessary. I've read books by any number of authors, and half the book is taken up telling what happened previously. I'm sure that if you avoid going down that route, then you'll be good to go.
 
Well this is it, cos I'd want the flashbacks to be relevant to the plot. I've kinda got characters in my head but nothing else at the mo.
 
As long as the flashbacks don't cover too much ground you already have in the first, and go into pages and pages of detail relating to the first story, then I don't see a problem. If the flashbacks are new to the story on a whole, then definitely throw them in.

I recently read a series of books, by an author I like very much, I might add, but by the eighth book I was tearing my hair out. I found each new novel repeating stuff I'd already read four of five books ago, and going into far too much detail about a plot I knew only too well.

If you can find the right balance, I think it can work very well indeed. If you repeat yourself too much, however, then it might have the opposite effect. But given the quality of your writing, Mouse, I very much doubt you'll get it wrong.
 
It would definitely be new stuff. I'm terrible for not repeating stuff - sometimes a wee bit's needed, I think. I tend to think everybody knows what's going on in my head, therefore should know what I'm talking about and doesn't need telling again!

Cheers, dude.
 
Just to be awkward, I wouldn't necessarily expect flashbacks. It was necessary in book one, but book two can have a more linear storyline and doesn't need to look back. I wouldn't object to flashbacks but I wouldn't complain if they weren't there either.
 
Personally I wouldn't worry too much about format. Flashbacks are there to fill in the story - a sequel continues it. I wouldn't have thought there would be a need to continue that aspect.

However, the ccaveat is that I'm rewatching Babylon 5 and they do that quite a lot. While not always necessary, sometimes it adds a nice flavour, simply because we're used to seeing it during some of the stories.

Therefore if you feel it adds something, even to refer to the first novel, it could be a device you could make a lot of.

Alternatively, you could expand on the backstory and prepare a future prologue book release. :)
 
I don't think it will work as well as the first time. The point of flashbacks is to clear up the mystery of the present by delving into the past. The idea being that by the end of the book, you have a complete understanding of where you are now.

It works because it is the same process people go through in their own lives: Trying to make sense of something dramatic that has happened to them

Having reached that point of understanding at the end of book one, to then drag the reader off into the future again and muddy the intervening years wipes all that hard fought reward out
 
Lost (which you're VERY familiar with) was an example of Flashbacks-gone-mad. It got to the point where the flashbacks tripped over each other. Didn't we learn somewhere after season 3 that Jack had a child? Where the hell was he in all the other flashbacks? He should have showed up somewhere. They became more and more contrived to the point where I detested them.
 
Once Upon a Time, the tv show, gives a good example of how you can continue to have flashbacks in sequels. The second season continued to have them, even though all the characters had been introduced. They filled in more details, expanded on what had previously been shown. Introduce more background to show through flashbacks, maybe relating to the protagonist's relationship with a new character from the next book or something.

alchemist said:
Lost (which you're VERY familiar with) was an example of Flashbacks-gone-mad. It got to the point where the flashbacks tripped over each other. Didn't we learn somewhere after season 3 that Jack had a child? Where the hell was he in all the other flashbacks? He should have showed up somewhere. They became more and more contrived to the point where I detested them.
Click to expand...

The problem with Lost was that there was no planning beforehand. They were making stuff up as they went, so of course it got messed up.
 
Alchemist summed it up for me - I wouldn't care. I would rather have a great book than one that was less than it could be because the author shoehorned it into a style of writing.

The first Miss Marple book is first person told from the POV of the vicar. Now it has been a few years since I read the others but I am pretty sure they are not first person because it surprised me as I am rereading it.

Doesn't Conan Doyle use varying POVs as well? Sometimes it is from Watson' POV and sometimes it is not.

Again I am going back around 25 years so I may have that wrong but I don't remember it ever bothering me.

I know that Tom Sawyer is third-person and Huckleberry Finn is first.
 
Abernovo said:
:p I'm of the Joss Whedon school of thought - make the characters suffer.
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Thank assorted deities, I'm not the only one! :D;)

Mouse, having sadly not read your first (a fact which I shall rectify at the earliest possible opportunity!), I think it is safe to say that as long as there is commonality between the books, it will be fine. Personally, I'm a sucker for great characters, but I'm prepared to let them go and look elsewhere if the author's voice is engaging.

From your challenges, I have come to the conclusion that you are a fabulous wordsmith. Jump in to the sequel!
 
Writing a sequel is like getting a second cat - best done with care.

I don't regret writing Glass and Flowercrash (sequels to my debut Memory Seed) but, as is the case with most sequels, they didn't sell as well. These days I'm heading either for standalone books, or a series where the whole work lasts for more than one book. Brian Aldiss' Helliconia is a particularly good case of the latter.
 
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