Writability: sequels

Showing posts with label sequels. Show all posts

Vlog: On Plotting a Sequel/Series

In which I talk about an integral part of working on a series: plotting sequels and tips for series development.

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Have you ever worked on a series?

Twitter-sized bite:

From plotting sequels to development over a series, author @Ava_Jae vlogs series-writing tips. (Click to tweet)

Discussion: What are Your Favorite Sequels?

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There are a lot of sequels coming out this year, many of which I'm incredibly excited about. From Heidi Heilig's The Ship Beyond Time, to V.E. Schwab's A Conjuring of Light, to Emily Skrutskie's The Edge of the Abyss, to Roshani Chokshi's A Crown of Wishes and more, 2017 is jam-packed full of awesome-sounding sequels.

Between that and impending Into the Black revisions, I've been thinking a lot about sequels lately, specifically what makes a sequel successful. Part of it, I think, is every book should build on the previous book and continue to be better than the last—the author, after all, should be growing as they go along and should, in theory, be able to apply what they've learned from their last book into the next one.

Then of course every sequel should, for the most part at least, stand on its own with a full plot arc and character development and building on whatever the previous book established. Something I love about sequels—especially SFF sequels—is they allow the readers to learn more about the world the books have established, so there are more characters, more twists, more details and nuances to the initial setup. The world of the book can—and should—get bigger with every sequel, and it's something I never really tire of seeing when done well.

Some of my favorite sequels that have accomplished this include Beth Revis's A Million Suns, Sally Green's Half Wild, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Each of these books expanded on what readers knew from the previous books and gave us more—more powerful (and conflicted) characters, more problems built upon problems from prior books, more nuances to the world the author had established earlier in a way that doesn't feel contrived.

When done right, sequels can turn a book you liked into a series you love; they can make you question the way you felt about a particular character and have you cheer or cringe as they develop book to book. They can forge a connection that runs deeper and deeper with every sequel and leave you feeling like you know some of those characters better than you know yourself.

Sequels are pretty magical, and I look forward to enjoying many more this year.

What do you think makes a sequels successful? And what are some of your favorites?

Twitter-sized bite:

What makes a sequel successful? And what are some of your favorites? Join the discussion on @Ava_Jae's blog. (Click to tweet)

Vlog: On Selling a Book on Proposal

What does selling a book on proposal mean? Today I'm talking about the less common—but still very real—method of selling a novel.

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Any questions about the proposal process? I'd be happy to answer them below. :)

Twitter-sized bite:

How does a book or series sell on proposal? Author @Ava_Jae shares her experience in today's vlog. #publishing (Click to tweet)

On (Finally) Drafting a Sequel

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So now that the news is out and I've shared my delight and excitement on just about every platform I have, I can finally talk about writing sequels.

Because for the first time since 2007 when I realized partway through a draft for a sequel for my very first manuscript that said manuscript wasn't going to get published (and good thing), I'm writing a sequel. Have been writing one, actually, since last month.

I've been calling it WIPThing, because until this week I couldn't actually publicly say I was writing a sequel for Beyond the Red, as the publication announcement for books two and three wasn't up yet. But now it is! So I can talk about what's it's been like to write a sequel thus far, because I am doing that thing.

I'd heard from many writers about the struggles involved in writing a sequel. There's a lot more pressure, as readers are expecting certain things after reading the first book, plus the pressure of any second book sequel or not to perform as well or better than before, plus the trials of writing a book at all, plus deadlines, so yeah, traditionally, sequel-writing has been known to be a difficult thing for writers.

I knew this very well. And I fully expected it for myself.

Plotting, as usual, was difficult. It helped that I already had a basic idea of how things would go and had been thinking about it since, oh, 2013 or so, but actually working out the details of this happens and that happens followed by this thing then this has always been difficult for me, and this time didn't prove any differently. Plus I had the added pressure of knowing if what I plotted wasn't good enough, my publisher might not want to publish it, so that complicated matters.

Eventually came time to write the first two chapters for the proposal my agent would submit to my publisher. I remember sitting at my computer, looking at the word sprint timer with a blank page in front of me, and that was the moment where I felt that pressure. Where I knew whatever I wrote had to be really good or it wouldn't get picked up. Slowly, I started writing, and I forced myself not to worry about the quality just yet (because revisions, I knew, would be in a few days, but not right now), and I wrote.

And you know? While I was scared and while I did feel the pressure, it also felt really exciting. Because I'd been dying to write this sequel for so long, and now I could finally write it. Or write two chapters of it, anyway.

After the two chapters were done, then came time to revise, trade with critique partners, revise, trade with betas, revise and send it off to my agent. There were a few more revisions after that, at which point I had to put it away and wait for news and focus on something else.

Then in June I got the thumbs up as well as a deadline and the real pressure began. I started drafting, and it was slow at first— my word counts were lower than I liked, but I was slogging through. And even though my daily sprints were taking longer than I wanted, I was still really excited because I was writing a sequel. And I was having a lot of fun doing it.

Eventually, I hit my stride. I'm now about 61k in, and I've been keeping to my 2k/day goal. Originally I'd planned for this first draft to be around 70k, but my math projections (yes, I know, math) comparing my current word count to the number of scenes I've completed and the number of scenes I have left is projecting the first draft will probably be closer to 86k, which means I may not be done with the first draft by this weekend as I'd originally hoped, but that's okay because I gave myself some wiggle room. But we'll see what happens—I may very well breeze through some scenes with a lower than average word count and finish closer to 70k after all. Or not. (UPDATE: As of this morning I have upped my word count goal to 85k, which is a more realistic expectation.)

As I've been writing, I've been making mental notes about what I'll need to add in revisions. I write drafts sparsely, often adding an average of 20k words in revisions, so knowing that I've missed some things is fine at this stage. But the more I write, the more I've fallen in love with my characters more and more, and the more I've loved returning to this world with deserts and monarchs and aliens and humans. And it's been so fun to deepen the world, to learn new things about the territories and expand upon what I built in Beyond the Red.

I'm not done with the first draft, not yet, but I'm proud of it already. It's felt good to finally work on this book that I hoped I'd be able to write for so long. It's felt amazing to reach this milestone, and I'm so delighted I'll get to do it again next year with book three, too.

I know there will be angsty days in the future, days where the pressure feels heavier and scarier and I'm not so sure about what I'm doing. But today I couldn't be happier, and in terms of first drafts, this one has gone pretty smoothly so far.

Sequels are scary, but being able to finally write a book I've been hoping I'd be able to write for over two years is an amazing amazing thing.

Have you ever written a sequel? Do you plan to?

Twitter-sized bite:

On first drafting and writing a sequel for the first time, @Ava_Jae shares her thoughts. (Click to tweet)

Vlog: On Writing Sequels

Should you write sequels before selling the first book of a series? Today I'm sharing my take on a publishing question with no one right answer.

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Twitter-sized bite:

Is writing sequels before you're agented/published worth it? @Ava_Jae shares her thoughts in today's vlog. #pubtip (Click to tweet)

Is Writing a Series Before You’re Published Worth It?

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So two years ago I wrote this post about why I’ve yet to write a sequel. And, well, I still haven’t written a sequel (but it’s more likely now than it was two years ago, so yay!), but one of you fabulous people sent me a question about the value of writing series vs. standalone and. Well. Here I am again.

Before I go on, please do note that just about everything I’m going to say here applies to those who want to get traditionally published. For those who plan to self-publish, it’s a whole different ball game.

Okay. So.

It’s no secret that for many many years, series books, particularly trilogies, have been massively popular, especially with children’s books. Over the years, however, with the recession and people just in general getting tired of the same series format over and over, series books have started to fall a little out of style. Not entirely, of course—there are loads of totally successful series still being released—but there’s definitely been a push toward companion novels (rather than strict linear series books), dialogues (instead of trilogies), and standalones.

It’s not impossible to sell a series. But there’s also no guarantee that if you sell your novel, you’ll end up with a multi-book deal, even if your book does have series potential.

So what does this mean for unpublished and/or unrepresented writers?

Basically, writing a full series before you sell the first novel (and yes, I mean sell, not find representation for) is really really risky. In the sense that you could potentially lose a lot of time and effort if your book doesn’t sell (or if your book does sell, but it when it hits the shelves it doesn’t do as well as everyone hoped and you don’t get the chance to publish the sequel).

Something that’s equally risky? Writing a book with a cliffhanger-type ending that can’t stand on it’s own. Hell, I’d say this is even riskier, because in most cases, books need to stand on their own to sell at all (though, of course, there are always exceptions). Still, it’s probably best you just don’t do this.

Here’s the thing: sequels are fun—or at least, I think they are—but when you’re a writer, there’s absolutely no guarantee that you’re going to get that multi-book deal. Or that after you sell your debut, you’ll also sell the sequel. I mean, yes, they both happen, but they don’t happen always.

I’m absolutely not saying that you should give up all your hopes and dreams of writing and publishing a successful series. I’m not saying that you should never write a book with series potential again. What I am saying, is when (or if) you do, you need to be a professional and be realistic about it.

Sequels can be good news for everyone—writers, agents and editors alike—but they’re only good news when they sell well. And sometimes you need to prove yourself as a writer before you can get that multi-book deal everyone dreams about. And you know? That’s okay.

In the end, I think the thing to remember is publishing is a business. And if you act like a professional, and listen to your agent and your editor and your book sells well, then you know what? You may very well see a multi-book deal in your future.

But until you’ve reached that point, it’s important to keep yourself grounded and focus on what’s important—writing your books, one at a time.

So those are my thoughts, but I want to hear from you—what do you think?

Twitter-sized bites:

When writing a novel, @Ava_Jae says every book needs to stand on its own. What do you think? (Click to tweet)

Writer @Ava_Jae says writing a series before you sell the first novel is risky. What do you think? (Click to tweet)

Why I Have Yet to Write a Sequel

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When it comes to reading, I’m a big fan of the series. I love watching characters grow over the course of several novels and really getting to know them as they face increasingly difficult challenges. I love diving back into the world the author has created and discovering new rules and aspects of society that I hadn't previously learned about. And most of all, I love being able to spend extra time with characters that I've really connected with.

And yet, I have yet to write a sequel.

Well, that's not entirely true—after writing my very first novel, I wrote half of the sequel before realizing that I wasn't going to be able to sell the first book of the series and I'd be better off spending time writing something new.

And there lies the problem with writing a series while you're unpublished and seeking a traditional publishing route—if you don't get the first book published, you're going to find it very difficult to find representation for the second book.

At this point I've written eight novels—and with each book I had ideas for a series. And yet, when the time came to put those WIPs away (for those that have been shelved, that is), I didn't allow myself to even consider writing the sequel—and not because I didn't want to.

The thing is, when you're an unpublished writer and your goal is to publish traditionally, writing a sequel before you've sold the first book is an enormous risk, because it doesn't matter how fantastic that sequel is if you can't get the first book published.

It may seem like defeatist thinking to refuse to write a sequel because you might not be able to sell the first book, but rather than focusing on the this might not get published part, I like to think of writing a sequel as a reward, or a celebration of sorts. You see, I've made this unwritten pact with myself that I won't write a sequel until I've sold a book, so the ability to write a series has, in a sense, become a sort of milestone for me.

For now, I've written eight different worlds with eight different sets of characters and eight different adventures—and I don't regret not writing a sequel for a second. The experience of starting fresh with every WIP has taught me that I'm capable of writing more than one unrelated novel, and that it's perfectly possible to fall in love with a new cast of characters over and over again.

And those are two important lessons that I might not have learned otherwise.

Have you ever written a sequel? Why or why not? If you don't write, do you prefer reading series or standalone novels?