Sequel Writing
Nov. 7th, 2010 08:21 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mmerriamThis is something new for me. I've never written a sequel before (and am still a bit concerned that I'm writing the sequel to a novel I haven't sold yet).
It seems the vampire novel I was poking at earlier is really the second book in the Monster-Hunting Barista series of novels (remember: I said it was the most commercial novel I had written). On the one hand, this is not unexpected. I knew when I finished Dead Brew I would probably be writing more novels featuring Sharisha Zajicova. I didn't expect to be jumping into the next one right away, but you write the thing you've got.
Which means I'm learning a new skill: recapping the incidents in the previous novel. I need to do this so that when they sell, readers won't be totally out to sea if they accidentally pick up the second book first. But it has to be subtle, concise, and small enough not to annoy anyone who read the first book. All that those readers would need is small refresher.
This writing gig really is a never-ending quest to learn the next valuable skill-set to add to your toolbox.
It seems the vampire novel I was poking at earlier is really the second book in the Monster-Hunting Barista series of novels (remember: I said it was the most commercial novel I had written). On the one hand, this is not unexpected. I knew when I finished Dead Brew I would probably be writing more novels featuring Sharisha Zajicova. I didn't expect to be jumping into the next one right away, but you write the thing you've got.
Which means I'm learning a new skill: recapping the incidents in the previous novel. I need to do this so that when they sell, readers won't be totally out to sea if they accidentally pick up the second book first. But it has to be subtle, concise, and small enough not to annoy anyone who read the first book. All that those readers would need is small refresher.
This writing gig really is a never-ending quest to learn the next valuable skill-set to add to your toolbox.
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Date: 2010-11-08 09:15 pm (UTC)BTW: I had three beta readers for Veil of Whispers: the first reader had read Spell Keeper and pointed out the ares he thought had over-done recaps. Then I gave it to two betas who hadn't read SK to let me know if they could follow everything without feeling like they were missing information. They were able to tell me where more background explanation was needed.
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Date: 2010-11-09 02:49 am (UTC)