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On February 1, 2025, Kasie and Rex took on the preparation to writing a sequel. Here are the show notes:

Theme for the day

Writing Sequels

Agenda

• Quick Catch Up
• Do you need to know on book 1 that there’s gonna be a book 2?
• How do you avoid leaving too much on the table in book 1?
• How to make sure you have a complete story in book 1

Segment 1

Rex has written a series before and working on a new one now. I’m working on book 2 in the vampire series. So we’re going to talk about what you should know going into a sequel story.

Why you should do a series: this will encourage readers to commit to you for multiple titles. Some advice is to have a lot of content ready to publish after the first one comes out. The Amazon algorithm rewards you for having attached titles.

Readers like to fall into a world and stay there for multiple books.

At what point can you write stand alones again because people will buy whatever has your name on it?

Rules of a series:

• In a series, the main character should remain static, everything around them is dynamic.
• Each book should be self-contained, meaning it has its own beginning, middle and end.
• Books can be brought on by the story that precedes it, something discovered or hinted at, but you shouldn’t have to depend on the previous book to understand this one.
• The series should have its own meta arc but each book should also have its own arc.

Segment 2

Once you start writing book two, what should you know?

What does book 2 have to do to not end up in a sophomore slump?

• The beats, the tone, the setting of the world – don’t underestimate what the readers have invested in – it may be the location. Hold those static elements to keep continuity.
• We need to learn new things about the character, the world, the magic, the people around them. But we should get to know the character in a different way.
• Or some character at least, so we’re curious or want to keep turning the pages.
• Keep the rules the same in the second one, contradicting what the first book taught us makes the reader feel stupid.
• Have something planted in the first book that you can expand upon in the second book. Probably needs to be rooted in some kind of expositional piece – if it’s a character driven story. But the plot driven stories can be about bringing a minor character back for a major role.

Segment 3

Some successful sequels (Goodreads list):

Catching Fire (Hunger Games)

Chamber of Secrets (Harry Potter)

The Two Towers (Lord of the Rings)

The reason can be better is we’re not all bogged down with the explanation of rules and the exposition. 

Ask yourself why do you want to write the sequel?

How far into the future do you want to set the sequel? How much time has passed? That in-between time is feeding your exposition, so consider how much of it you’ll need.

What are the themes you want to explore? Same? New?

Segment 4

Some other tips for getting ready for the sequel (from this link):

• Re-read the original story. Especially if it’s been a while.
• Increase the stakes. 
• Introduce something new.
• Keeping doing what worked about the first.

And here’s what Writer’s Digest has to say about writing sequels (link):

• Don’t just pick up where the last one left off (boy do I know a few books that commit this error)
• Don’t just resolve the unresolved from book one, give the reader something new.
• Make the stakes different – which might mean expanding the scope.
• Include at least one great new character.
• Don’t be afraid to let beloved characters go. Killing them is best, but you can just let them walk away.