Sequels are awesome. A continuation of an awesome book or movie that allows you to spend more time with the character you love in a world you adore? Sign me up please! There’s something amazing about being able to really sink into a world through multiple instalments, getting to know the people, the places, and the struggles better. Well-written sequels compliment and extend the story built in the first book. But, on the flip side, badly written sequels can put readers off the entire series. Writing a great sequel is definitely not any easy to thing to do. You have to try and live up to the first book while making the second book engaging, familiar, and unique in its own right. Every book is different, but there are some things that you should definitely keep in mind while writing the next instalment. Here is a list of a few I’ve come up with:

Break-Ups Shouldn’t Be Added Just For Conflict

This is a trend I personally have seen too much of, and really don’t enjoy. You’ve just spent an entire book or even more watching these characters FINALLY get together, or grow as a couple. And all of a sudden that hard work and emotional attachment is rendered void by a sudden, unnecessary break-up between instalments. It feels almost like a betrayal. We loved this pair, and now you split them up just for a bit of tension? Having characters break-up can work if it’s set up right, building up to it gradually either throughout the course of the sequel, or in the book before. But starting your sequel with the characters having magically broken up just so you can add a bit of angst or conflict is lazy writing and can seriously annoy your readers.

Characters Progress, Not Regress

Throughout the first book, the characters should be growing and changing so that, at the end of the book, they’re to how they were at the beginning. Not perfect certainly, but having learned something and developed as a person. This means that, in the second book, these same characters should be starting as the people they were at the end of the previous book. They will need to face new challenges and learn new things over the course of the sequel. The reset button shouldn’t exist for their personalities. Having a character learn to put other people before themselves, and then coming into book two and finding they’re a selfish little so-and-so again is frustrating for readers.

Major Changes Should Feel Natural

Having read the previous book/s, readers feel like they have a pretty good handle on the world and the characters. So springing a surprise on them like a character suddenly switching sides, a large personality change, or a switch in focus from one major problem to another, has to feel natural for readers to accept it. This doesn’t mean that you have to signpost it overtly, but the changes do need to be foreshadowed carefully, either in the previous book, if you plan your series in advance, or throughout the course of the sequel, so that when the reveal happens, readers can see that this isn’t spur of the moment, but actually makes sense.

The Sequel Should Contain A Full Story

A sequel is, of course, a continuation in some form, of the story that you presented in the first book. However, just like the first book needs to have a complete story that has a climax and a resolution, so too does your sequel. Readers have to be able to finish the book feeling satisfied that what you gave them was a story in its own right, as well as being part of a series. Every book in the series needs to have a point, a story to tell, rather than just being there as filler, its only purpose to get you on to the cool action in book three.

Continuity is Key

Readers are smart people and they remember a whole lot more details than even the writer does sometimes. So they’re going to notice if you suddenly change a part of a character’s backstory, rewrite events that happened in a previous book, or if you start adding elements that make sense in the world you presented previously. A good sequel continues the storyline and world seamlessly.

These are just a few of the elements that stand out to me as things writers should consider when writing a sequel. There are certainly plenty of other helpful things to think about. These blog posts and articles have a bunch of helpful advice if you’re looking for more:

Go Teen Writers: How To Write A Sequel

Screencraft: The Ten Commandments Of Writing A Great Sequel

Helping Writers Become Authors: How To Write A Sequel That’sBETTER Than The First Book

Looking for more in the series? Check out some of the other posts HERE.

What other elements do you think go into making a great sequel? What are some sequels you think are really well written (books or movies)? Have you ever written a sequel? Are you planning to write one in the future? Do you enjoy series, or are you more of a stand-alone book kind of person?

It may be the end of the month, but there’s still time for me to join in with this month’s Beautiful People link up, hosted by the ever amazing Cait@Paper Fury and Sky@FurtherUp And Further In (gold star me for leaving it so very late in the month). I’m currently editing my Snow White/superhero retelling, so I’ll be answering the questions for the two main characters, Eric and Nicola. If you want to know more about the book, click HERE. Here we go!

How often do they smile? Would they smile at a stranger?

Eric: He’s a pretty serious type of guy, and doesn’t smile much, especially after the death of his month. He’s much more likely to give a stranger a blank look than a smile. Eric also has quite a few trust issues so he’s not likely to be welcoming to strangers.

Nicola: She smiles constantly. Humour of all kinds is her weapon. Would she smile at a stranger? Absolutely. Especially if she needed to make them like her in order to gain their trust. Does she trust the strangers? Absolutely not! But a smile is like a mask sometimes.

What is the cruelest thing they’ve ever been told? And what was their reaction?

Eric: Probably the cruellest thing anyone’s ever told him is that his mutantness is unnatural and wrong and he’s less because of it. His reaction is to bottle everything up until it all bursts out in a huge flood, so he doesn’t retaliate at once, but takes it all out on bullies later.

Nicola: The cruellest thing anyone’s ever said to her was that she was never going to amount to anything, which pretty much sums up the way her childhood went. She reacted by rebelling, and acting like she didn’t care. When really inside she’s absolutely terrified that it’s true.

What is the kindest thing they’ve ever been told? And what was their reaction?

Eric: The kindest thing anyone has ever said to him would be that they love him. Which was his mother. Being loved and accepted is a big thing to him. Back then he really accepted and believe it.

Nicola: Thank you. Nicola comes from a pretty rough background, and having people appreciate anything she does is a big deal for her. Her reaction is usually a nice warm feeling that she usually keeps to herself.

What is one strong memory that has stuck with your character from childhood? Why is it so powerful and lasting?

Eric: His strongest memories are always sad ones. Probably his strongest one is when his dad died when he was small. Not that he remembers the death. Just his mother crying when she thought he couldn’t see her. He does have a lot or strong happy memories with his mum, but that’s definitely his strongest childhood memory

Nicola: Facing off against her father for the first time when she was twelve. He’s not a very pleasant man, and little Nicola finally decided she’d had enough and took him on. Which ended badly, and it’s wasn’t a nice fight all-round. But it was the first time she’d been brave enough to stand up for herself. She remembers it, firstly for all the problems it caused later, and secondly because that was the first time she really found some courage.

What book (a real actual published book!) do you think your character would benefit from reading?

Eric: Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson books. People with unusual abilities are awesome. That would really appeal to him.

Nicola: Basically anything by Derek Landy. The sense of humour would really appeal to her. All that delicious sarcasm.

Have they ever been seriously injured? How severely? How did they react?

Eric: Before the book starts, he’s been beaten up after a few times garnering a good few bruises. Nothing severe though, and he gives as good as he gets. Black eyes all round! During the book, well, that would be telling, wouldn’t it?

Nicola: Before the book starts, she’s had her fair share of bumps and bruises, and even broke her collarbone at one point doing stupid tricks. In the book, she gets her fair share of injuries, including trying to destroy a wardrobe with her head. She usually shrugs injuries off and keeps going.

Do they like and get along with their neighbours?

Eric: He only likes one of his neighbours. Most of them are snooty, stuck up people. The general agreement is that they’ll move in their separate orbits and not bother each other. Except for Mr Frank who bakes brownies. Mm, brownies…

Nicola: Her neighbours are her team now and she has to get on with them for the most part. But back when she actually had neighbours, she didn’t really get on with the people around her. Usually everyone tried to ignore everyone else, but occasionally people got mean and she got mean right back.

On a scale from 1 to 10 (1 being easy and 10 being difficult) how easy are they to get along with?

Eric: 7. He’s usually pretty accommodating and easy to live with. Don’t bother him and he won’t bother you. He’s not really interested in making trouble, except when it comes to mutants and bullies and school. Then you’d better watch out.

Nicola: 5. She can be really fun. Or she’ll take on the world if she feels like someone’s picking on her, or someone she likes. Or if she doesn’t like you much. She’s a pretty warlike little thing when she gets going.

If they could travel anywhere in the world, where would they go?

Eric: He’d take a backpacking trip across Europe and see all the famous sites and cities. The independence and adventure would really appeal to him.

Nicola: Hawaii, or anywhere with awesome beaches and waves. As a former surfer and mutant with aquatic abilities, she appreciates a good surf.

Who was the last person they held hands with?

Eric: Probably his mother, before she died. There isn’t really anyone in his life that he would want to hold hands with now.

Nicola: Her younger sister. One of the few members of her family that she really likes and gets along with. She’s not much of the hand holding type though.

Phew, some of those questions were pretty tricky to answer. And I just realised what sad lives I tend to give my poor characters! Are you taking part in Beautiful People this month? Link me to your post! If your main character could travel anywhere in the world, where would they go, and why? And tell me, based on just these answers, who do you like better, Nicola or Eric? Or neither!

Occasionally, in my musical discoveries, I’ll stumble across a piece that then becomes my theme tune for the next few weeks. It’ll be that piece that I always have open, and I’ll listen to it about 6,774,221 before I finally move on. This week’s Writing Music is one of those pieces. Now, I’ve never actually seen A Goofy Movie, but I did find this song, and basically it sums up a lot of what I’ve been thinking about recently.

For me, this piece isn’t so much about the inspiration for writing, or how good it is for listening to while writing (which, to be perfectly honest, it’s not really suited for) but more about what it actually says. We writers are always working hard, trying to reach people, trying to write a book, get it published, connect with an audience, achieve something towards our goals. And sometimes, to me certainly, it doesn’t feel like I’m making much progress at all. This song is a reminder to not give up but to keep pushing on, working towards dreams, even if it doesn’t seem like we’re actually getting anywhereAnd to me, this song is a reminder that I might not be there now, but if I keep going, I might get there one day. And that’s a reminder I think we all need sometimes.

What are you listening to at the moment? What do you listen to when you need a creative boost? 

Wow, it’s been quite a while since I wrote any kind of an update post. Not since Camp NaNo I think actually. And, as everything’s been rather quiet on the blog for the past couple of weeks, it’s probably time to write a goodly update post to explain everything that’s been happening for me in the past couple of weeks in all important areas.

Blogging: Has been very quiet, obviously. I have plans for posts and ideas for things to do and everything, just very little time to do any of them. I am very behind on post writing, comment answering and blog visiting at the moment *sigh* However! I am attempting to sort my schedule out better so I actually have a chance of keeping up with blogging things. I feel so out of the loop at the moment…

Writing Editing: Is happening. Slowly. I’m back to editing Snow at the moment, which currently means taking about a million years over finishing the initial readthrough and making notes. To be fair, the amount of notes I’m making rivals the length of the actual book. I’m actually feeling really good about the book at the moment. Not that I’m saying it’s great yet by any means. But it’s inching closer and I can feel it and I have so many awesome plans and ideas that I’m getting rather excited.

Also I’m hoping that maybe after this round of edits it might be close to a point where I can bribe some people into beta reading it for me. Which is a terrifying and exciting thought. But we’ll see. Gotta finish this round of edits first. Which is moving a lot slower than I’d like.

As well as that, somehow I appear to be planning a Red Riding Hood retelling. I blame the people on Twitter for that one. Peer pressure! I have no idea what it’s about at the moment, but the Pinterest board looks exciting.

Music: This is kind of ruling my life at the moment. Music everywhere! From concerts to upcoming singing exams, (those things are so sneaky at creeping up on you…) and especially running my Youtube channel, which I adore, but takes a lot of time to make videos for (if you like music, maybe go over and check it out?). I'm loving all my musical things at the moment though. And, light of the fact that this is probably the area I've achieved the most progress in recently, here, have a song.

And that’s about everything that’s been happening recently. I’m being kept very busy at the moment, but in the best possible way, and with all the things that I love to do. I do apologise for being so behind on comments, and generally everything to do with blogging. I’m working on being back on track very soon.

What have you been doing lately? What are you working on? What blog posts should I be reading right now? Do you ever have times where you’ve got too many awesome things to work on all at once and can’t quite keep up?

I’m editing Snow at the moment, which means that I’m feeling rather vulnerable as I face the awfulness that is my own writing (I swear editing read-throughs are one of the hardest parts of writing). Which means that this is obviously the perfect time for me to be participating in this month’s Snazzy Snippets link-up, hosted by the amazing Alyssa@The Devil Orders Takeout and Emily@Loony Literate, the prompts for which are simply made for making you feel vulnerable. However, be that as it may, I shall gather the shreds of my courage and share some snippets from last month’s Camp NaNo novel, The Dragon Thief, in all their unedited glory.

A snippet that was difficult to write

The door slid open, and Xavier appeared round it. He didn’t come the whole way through, but held some of the door between them, almost like he was trying to shield himself. Smart thinking, because Maya was about to kill him if she didn’t get a good explanation very soon.

“What was that all about?” she said.

“It was easier,” he said. “You get sick easy.” At least he had the grace to look awkward and ashamed. “You’re back at least.”

“Doesn’t make me any happier.”

“I brought food.” Maya considered this. “Ok, you can come in. I promise I won’t try to hurt you.”

I’m editing again at the moment, so of course I’m thinking a lot about the editing process. Mine is evolving all the time as I try new things and as each new book has different needs. For example, in the past, whenever I’ve edited a draft, I’ve edited it straight through, just like how I do when I write them, fixing whatever major issues it had, and making notes about any problems I discovered partway through that affected whatever I had edited before, leaving those changes until the next draft. Now I do a lot more going back and forth, fixing the draft as much as possible before leaving it, trying to perfect the plot as it stands so there is less work for next time.

I’ve written about my editing process on the blog before, and if you’d like to see my humorous rendition of the way I edit, I highly recommend you check out my post HERE. But basically, my editing process goes a little something like this:

What I don’t do is fuss over the language in the first drafts. I like to get my plot and characters hammered out first, and then worry about making it all pretty when the storyline actually hangs together (and boy doesn’t that end up taking a while). But while that’s how I edit, it’s probably not your process, so today I thought we could discuss editing processes.

Do you make a single pass through your book, or do you go back and forth fixing problems as you discover more? Do you like to make sure the text reads smoothly as you go, or do you save that for later drafts? What does your overall process look like? How many passes does it usually take for you to get that pesky plot in order? And what piece of advice would you give to someone (i.e. me) going into a new round of edits? Let’s discuss!

Non-writers are amazing people. They can be super supportive, even if they don’t quite get what you’re doing, interested in everything you’re up to, and happy to dissect books/characters/plots all day. Or they can say the most annoying things writers ever have to endure in a casual conversation. I think every writer has their own list of comments non-writers make to them on a regular basis that they wish people would stop saying. Even the most well-meaning people can unthinkingly annoy a writer through an off-hand comment. I, like most people, have a list of these comments, and today I thought I’d share some of them with you. So, here are 6 of my least favourite things non-writers say to me.

“Oh you’re a writer. So you’re doing journalism then?”

No. No I am not. I have the highest respect for journalist. I did two units in university that involved journalism and from that I know two facts: a) journalists are awesome people, and b) I am not one of them. There are plenty of other kinds of writers apart from journalists. I happen to be of the novel writing variety. Those novels don’t write themselves you know.

“There’s no money in writing you know.”

This is often the follow up to the last remark, after I’ve cleared up the misunderstanding of exactly what it is I write. And I get it. You mean well. But anyone who goes into writing for the money is either delusional or not really a writer. We know most writers don’t make a fortune out of their books. We also don’t care. Writing is our passion and we’re going to write, money or no.

“So, what have you published?”

This is the point where I start squirming and wishing I hadn’t said so forthrightly that I am a writer. I mean, it’s nice you’re asking about my work, but please, not everyone who calls themselves a writer has achieved a published status yet. And every time someone says this to me, I feel like I have somehow failed as a writer.

“Haven’t you finished writing that book yet?/When will you be published?”

Used interchangeably and equally frustrating. No, I haven’t finished writing this book, because books take a very long time to get right. They don’t come out of my head in perfect polished prose. I so wish they did. And getting published takes equally as long. I so wish I knew when I was going to be published. But alas, the writing gods haven’t granted me that knowledge. Trust me, when they do, you’ll be the first to know.

“Oh, I read a book just like that.”

Thank you for crushing my beloved idea. A little piece of my writerly soul dies whenever people say they’ve already read the idea. It’s like my book is being written off before they’ve even tried it. Yes, you probably have read a book with a similar idea. Doesn’t mean mine can’t be good too. This statement is a lot less encouraging than this random person thinks it is.

*blank stare*

Well, you did ask. I am a writer of books, a creator of worlds and a lover of words. And I am very proud of that fact. Good day to you

These are some of the comments that most annoy me. Your list is probably different. What comment do you hear the most often that annoys you? What is the worst comment you’ve ever received from a non-writer?

Cait@Paper Fury has an amazing post on things you should never say to bookworms if you want more of these random comments outsiders say. You should definitely check it out if you haven't already.