How To… Write A Sequel
BY
Catherine Fearns
When I was writing my first novel, Reprobation, I envisaged it as a self-contained entity. I didn’t think I’d even get a publishing deal, never mind the opportunity to write more books! But at some point, I began to imagine the characters’ journeys continuing past the end of the story. I realised that the adventure was just beginning, and I was not ready to let go of the world I had created. Consuming Fire came knocking on the door before I’d even finished writing Reprobation.
Writing a sequel is a wonderful opportunity, but it comes with a whole new set of constraints, dilemmas and technical challenges that the author doesn’t have to face with a stand-alone. This is what I have learned so far about that tricky second book:
Crime fiction is made for sequels
Crime fiction lends itself to sequels and series more than most other literary genres. In fact, I can’t even think of that many stand-alone detective thrillers or police procedurals. Detectives work case by case; an investigation follows a process, a formula, which can be repeated ad infinitum. And since the character of the detective tends to take second place to that of the plot, there’s not enough scope within one book to develop him or her fully.
…. but do it for the right reasons
Sequels are notoriously weaker than their predecessors. Think about all the disappointing Hollywood movie franchises. Don’t do it to cash in (ha, not much chance of that for an indie author!), or because you think it will be easy to churn something similar out (it won’t, it will be harder). Do it because you have a story that needs to be told.
Identify your USP, and work it
What was special about your last book? Reprobation was a crime thriller with a slight supernatural twist. the reader can take the police’s practical explanation for the crimes, or he/she can wonder whether there might have been other forces at work. I wanted to develop this idea of the unknowable, of the hidden world beyond our own, and I wanted to watch DI Darren Swift’s gradual journey towards an acceptance of the occult.
…. but change things up too
At the same time, nobody needs to read two books in a row about windswept Merseyside beaches, abandoned churches and grumpy nuns. I certainly didn’t want to write Reprobation again! Consuming Fire picks up Reprobation’s characters and themes but has a complete change of mood; from a cold gothic winter to a fiery Scouse summer. It also brings in a brand new villain and a new literary technique.
It's not just your book anymore
It’s heart-warming and hard to believe, but I actually have some loyal readers now, who are looking forward to my next book! And they will certainly have expectations. I’m terrified of disappointing them, and I do need to keep them in mind and understand what it is they liked about Reprobation.
…but you have to follow your own path
People love the characters of Helen and Mikko. I do too! But they had a lot of time to shine in Reprobation, and writing a Helen-and-Mikko follow-up love story is not what I’m about. They need a rest. It’s too easy otherwise. Darren Swift is my detective, and he is on a character arc. He needs times and pages to develop, for the reader to fall in love with him. Helen features prominently in Consuming Fire too, as she and Darren begin to form an unusual investigative team. But don’t worry, Mikko will make a big comeback in the third book!
You know what you’re doing. Or do you? Keep that beginner’s mind.
You’re a published author now, so that means you’re an expert, right? You don’t need any more help or advice, right? Wrong! You know nothing, Jon Snow. Especially about writing sequels. Keep learning, always. Keep asking questions, worship your beta readers, your editors, your experts. And check your facts. Re-read the first book over and over, because sequels risk being riddled with continuity errors, and readers SPOT these things.
... but don’t be afraid to experiment
People bought and liked your first book, so you must be doing something right. Debut authors can be understandably tentative with their style and plot, so now that you’ve established yourself, it’s time to spread your wings a little. Consuming Fire uses the technique of a ‘book within a book’ – a seventeenth century found text which I had enormous fun writing and interspersing with the main narrative. I wouldn’t have had the confidence to do that first time round. And I hope people love it.
The book needs to work as a standalone too
Marketing is easier now; you’ve got a bigger social media following than you had before; you might even have an agent or publisher where you didn’t first time round. So your second book will reach a wider audience. But the problem is – some of them didn’t read your first book. They won’t know what the hell is going on! You need to view your sequel as a new story within the scope of a larger story. You need to re-introduce some facts and character traits, to situate the new reader and jog the existing reader’s memory.
...but don’t put in spoilers
The huge challenge is to make the sequel work as a standalone without being tedious or clumsy, and crucially, without putting in spoilers. Some people might read your new book and think, ‘wow, this is great, I’ll go back and read the first one!’ But not if you tell them whodunnit!
So that’s what I’ve learned about sequels. I’m currently writing book three, trying to catch up with my characters who have now taken on lives of their own. I can’t keep up with them…
INTRODUCING…
Consuming Fire
What Has Been Seen Cannot Be Unseen…
Liverpool is in the grip of an intense heatwave, and strange things are happening.
Liverpool is in the grip of an intense heatwave, and strange things are happening.
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| Purchase Link |
A woman dies in an apparent case of Spontaneous Human Combustion; a truck explodes on the dock road; the charred corpses of pets litter the city; forest fires ravage the pinewoods…and there are birds everywhere, silent flocks drawing in ominously.
Detective Inspector Darren Swift thinks there are connections, and his investigation delves into the worlds of football, nightclubs and organised crime. But is he imagining things?
Dr. Helen Hope doesn’t think so. And she believes the key lies in a mysterious seventeenth-century occult book which has gone missing from Liverpool Library.
In the blistering sequel to Reprobation, DI Swift is forced to confront some inconvenient ghosts from his past, as a terrifying shadow lies over his city’s reality…
Detective Inspector Darren Swift thinks there are connections, and his investigation delves into the worlds of football, nightclubs and organised crime. But is he imagining things?
Dr. Helen Hope doesn’t think so. And she believes the key lies in a mysterious seventeenth-century occult book which has gone missing from Liverpool Library.
In the blistering sequel to Reprobation, DI Swift is forced to confront some inconvenient ghosts from his past, as a terrifying shadow lies over his city’s reality…
Catherine Fearns is from Liverpool, UK. In previous incarnations, she was a financial analyst, a cocktail pianist and a breastfeeding counsellor, but nowadays she likes to write. Her first novel, Reprobation, was published by Crooked Cat Books in October 2018 and quickly became an Amazon bestseller in several categories. The follow-up, Consuming Fire, is currently on pre-order and will be available in early 2019.
Catherine writes for music website Pure Grain Audio, and her music journalism has also appeared in Broken Amp and Noisey. Her short fiction and non-fiction pieces have been published in Here Comes Everyone, Toasted Cheese, Offshoots & Metal Music Studies. She holds a degree in History from Oxford University, a Masters from the London School of Economics, and is a member of the Crime Writers’ Association.
When Catherine is not writing, she plays guitar in a heavy metal band, mainly to annoy her four children.
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