A Dilemma

[Astro Pen]

I'm in a dilemma, I need help.
I'm half way through a new novel. However So many people who have read Changebringer are asking me when the next one in the series is coming out that I have to consider that.
Now I must admit I did end with a small open door, but I underestimated how much people would want, nay expect a second volume in a series on the basis of that open ending.
So, should I finish what I am writing, which realistically will be a year to completion, or divert immediately to starting volume two in the Changebringer series that I didn't expect people to be gagging for?

The follow on question for you good people is, "How easy have you found it to go back into a world that you last wrote in 2-3 years ago?"

 

[KGeo777]

IMO you shouldn't try to force yourself to work to please others but only do a follow up if you feel it is worthwhile to continue the story. The readers may inspire you to look into the possibility, but you should not make a decision based on what you feel is a reader obligation.
If you prefer working on the current work--diverting attention to something else may water down both.

My two cents.

 

[paranoid marvin]

First and foremost, I would keep your readers informed of your thoughts on the matter. That way, they are not left feeling disappointed or annoyed when the expected story doesn't appear or even more frustrated when an entirely different book comes out.

Some novels do not require a sequel, and forcing one out can sometimes denigrate the original. And your readers will not thank you for that.

My advice would be to finish the book you have started, and see if in the meantime any desire develops in you to write a sequel.

Having said that, if you are a commercial author, and writing puts food on the table and a roof over your head, follow the money and milk that cash cow for all it's worth!

 

[Biskit]

In my experience, unless you have "kept up" with the characters etc in the other book, it is heavy going returning to write a sequel. I started the current WIP in 2010 (yup, nearly 15 years ago) and got completely diverted by writing three vulgar urban fantasies.

It's supposed to be four vulgar urban fantasies, but before I could get into number four we had a bit of a health upset and it got shelved. For reasons that I can't recall, I went back to that stalled WIP from 2010. It was probably as something "easy" that would survive interruptions from regular hospital visits etc.

It was the opposite of easy. I had stopped part way into book 3 of 5. I re-read what I had already written, and found book 3 was a mess, full of stuff that was obviously supposed to go somewhere but I couldn't remember where**, and getting back into the characters' heads was an uphill battle.

I am now writing book 5, which stalled earlier this year and I wrote a couple of novella's for light relief***. I am getting back into book 5 again, but once more it is a struggle to get things straight in my head.****

One day, when I'm feeling I can face it, I might finish that fourth vulgar urban fantasy.


** Perhaps not such a big issue if you're a planner rather than a pantser
*** Oddly enough, I wrote a couple of novellas last year when life was a bit tricky
**** OK, some of this may belong in the "Those moments when you realise how old you are" thread. I'm sure this stuff was easier a few years back.

 

[paranoid marvin]

Have you tried asking GRR Martin for any tips?

 

[Karapace]

I wrote my first novel intending it as a one off, but lots of people liked it and asked when the next was coming out. I had it in my head what happened after the first book but no real story to tell. In the end I jumped a thousand years to a time when the events and characters of the first book had faded into legend and myth. In the process of writing those following books I discovered the story I wanted to tell from the time after the end of the first book.
My driver is I want to write what I feel is a good story.

 

[The Judge]

I've not had the same problems as Biskit over revisiting old stuff -- over the last 12 months or so I've done some editing/revision of each of my shelved works and found it really easy to get back into them, despite not having worked on one for over 10 years. What I've found I can't do easily, though, is switch from one to another without a short gap -- I couldn't, say, work on the SF in the morning and then a fantasy in the afternoon, because the feel of them is so different and I need to get into the mindset of mood and word use.

Personally, if I knew people were wanting a sequel, and I had the ideas and enthusiasm for it, then unless the current project was effectively writing itself and going great guns, so I'd have a good first draft written in only a matter of a few more weeks/ 2 or 3 months, I'd drop it and write the sequel.

If you wait until the current project is completely done, and the sequel itself takes another 12 months to write, then it will be 2 years before it appears, at which time you might have lost the original readership. And if not, you might then have people aching for the sequel to the second project and be faced with much the same problems of which to write/whom to disappoint.

 

[Phyrebrat]

By not writing a part two you’re keeping your audience hooked.

 

[Stephen Palmer]

Write for yourself, not for your readers. But always keep your readers in mind.