Inevitably as a writer, you will end up publishing a story that becomes extremely popular at some point.
Maybe you'll have fans writing and begging you to write a sequel to the original story.
My question is... what are your thoughts on sequels?
In the movie industry, this is often a tricky thing to master because usually there is a lot of pressure and expectation and inevitably it ends up getting compared to the first film. A lot of times it's hard to capture that original magic. On the other hand, you have a ready audience for the material ahead of time.
Have you tried creating sequels to popular stories that you've written? Was the reception to the new story what you were expecting? Or do you avoid this concept at all costs, and if so, what are the reasons?
As for readers... do you think sequels are successful when it comes to erotica?
as a reader, yes, there's that desire, when i read something that is SO good and SO hot to want to see more, to recapture that magic, as you say, and i think: wow, if there was a sequel as good as this, or several, omg! i think that's only natural - of course, sometimes it's better to leave your audience wanting then disappoint them - i have read some amazing sequels, that fulfilled, or came close, or even exceeded the promise of the original - that said, i've also read some that really just feel flat and disappointed me beyond belief.
as a writer, here we go again - sometimes, you just capture the magic and you want to do it again - i think there's more pressure, usually self applied, to create the perfect, magical story that you did the first time, and it can be daunting!
the pluses are: you've already established characters and a setting, you know the material, you are confident that you pulled it off at least once
the minuses: the pressure to recreate something amazing, the fact that, the first time, it was fresh and new, the second time it loses that freshness and becomes more of a job - i'll take my Jenny Grimm series as an example - the first chapter just flowed, it was fun, fresh, it got good response, so i sat down to write another one - it was much harder. for one, i needed to check my source to make sure i got the details right, i felt compelled to try to make it better somehow, in a way, it was a little like rewriting something, and therefore not quite as fun to do - i found myself wanting to explore other ideas that had nothing to do with Jenny, or would be out of place in her story...
don't get me wrong - i LIKE doing sequels, giving characters a life of their own, but it's different then writing a one off story - plus, there is the pressure of getting a story out while it's still fresh in the readers mind - putting out a story once a week, keeping them rolling as fast as people would like to read them, isn't easy, and it can kill your creativity or love of the story, and yet, putting them out months apart can kill the momentum as a reader...
just my thoughts.
You can’t truly call yourself peaceful unless you are capable of violence. If you’re not capable of violence, you’re not peaceful. You’re harmless.
I've had people write me asking for sequels to stories I've written in the two years I've been writing, and yes it's two years this month...
Most notably I've got a lot of request for a sequel to "Getting A Raise" probably in part because it has somewhat of a "cliff-hanger" ending which sets itself up for a second part...it's also my most popular story...
I almost caved into the idea early last year, and actually started a Part II, but didn't finish it for various reasons I won't get into in this space...what I had written was lost in Sept. '10 when my computer got stolen, so that won't happen...
If I have not written a sequel since the story came out in April 2009, there's a real good chance I never will...
Quote by Dancing_Doll Inevitably as a writer, you will end up publishing a story that becomes extremely popular at some point.
Maybe you'll have fans writing and begging you to write a sequel to the original story.
My question is... what are your thoughts on sequels?
In the movie industry, this is often a tricky thing to master because usually there is a lot of pressure and expectation and inevitably it ends up getting compared to the first film. A lot of times it's hard to capture that original magic. On the other hand, you have a ready audience for the material ahead of time.
Have you tried creating sequels to popular stories that you've written? Was the reception to the new story what you were expecting? Or do you avoid this concept at all costs, and if so, what are the reasons?
As for readers... do you think sequels are successful when it comes to erotica?
First off, I don't write for the movie industry, and no one from there has approached me, which is hardly surprising, so I'll skip over that aspect of your question.
Yes, I have written sequels to several stories I have written. The reception outstripped what was expected. Still, when the time came to END the series, it was ended. I truly believe it is better to end a story when the right time comes along than to milk it for all it is worth and beyond that. I've always kept in mind that my stories and characters are my responsibility, and I don't want to exploit or betray them by turning them into caricatures or stock characters.
I have also had requests for sequels to stories I've written, but if I consider the story to have reached its conclusion, I just take the request as a compliment on the quality of the story and writing.
If the story line has been exhausted, there are others waiting to be exploited.
Are sequels successful in erotica? I don't know, I'm sure they can be, just as I'm sure they can fail.
It isn't different from any other genre. If the story line supports the sequel and the writing standard matches it, then yes, it can work. There aren't any guarantees, though, and perhaps the expectations are even higher for a sequel than for a first round, since the sequel is the supposed follow up.
If my readers demand a sequel, usually that means there's something left hanging in the original. With my first M/M book, a lot of people said "I loved it, BUT...it seems like there's more to their story!!" I wrote a sequel, and it has been very popular. Another book, same deal...readers kept asking "What happens to character X?" So I wrote the sequel, and it'll be out in a few months. That's not to say the original books don't come to a conclusion. The conflict is resolved, but they don't necessarily resolve *all* of their issues. i.e., in one book, the POV character is still estranged from his brother. So in the sequel, their relationship was addressed. In the other book, there's a three-way sexual relationship, but only two of the guys are romantically involved (they have a casual relationship with the third)...a lot of readers wanted to see #3 have a chance to fall in love with someone. They ask, they receive.
In another instance, it wasn't so much that I left the characters hanging. I came up with another story, and the more I thought about it, the more I realized it would fit perfectly into the world of that particular group of characters. That sequel has been as popular, if not more so, than the first book. (And there may be a third in the series...I haven't settled on it yet)
So, in short, I've had a lot of success with sequels, but I don't necessarily write them for every book. Just depends on the story. Also depends on reader demand...if a lot of people are asking for a sequel for the same reason ("we want to see #3 fall in love!"), then I will. If it's just "I love these guys and want to see them again", then it depends on if there's any story left to tell.
If the story was complete to begin with I see no point in a sequel. Some people however break it down into chapters and make a novel out of it. It really depends on the quality of the story on weather or not it should have a follow up written. Some stories with sequels I have noticed are pretty short. Like broken into 3 parts with about 5000 characters each when it all could have been just a single 15000 character story.
I have succumbed to the will of readers before and written a sequel I had not originally intended to. Naturally, it was not as popular as the first (although the third in the eventual trilogy came close). I was fortunate enough that the characters were pretty well-formed in my mind and I quickly got a clear idea of where I wanted their story to go.
Conversely, I have also done the opposite. I have written stories with the intention of giving it a sequel and then never done so. This is usually when I fall out of love with the story or the characters and just don't get the right feeling about carrying on. That said, none of my stories are such that they cannot be read as stand-alone pieces, so any cliffhangers I set up are simply to leave a little to the reader's imagination, an air of mystery, not because there's necessarily more to be told.
It's important for me, as a writer, to really enjoy what I'm writing, or it won't be any good. If I don't feel I can do justice to a sequel or if I feel I've taken the characters far enough, then I won't write one, no matter how much the readers beg and plead (HA!). Likewise, if I get a strong urge to write a sequel to one of my stories, even if it was relatively unpopular, I will go ahead and do that. I think most writer know, themselves, when it feels right.
As a reader, I have seen some wonderful examples on this site of excellent follow-ups and long-running series. Some writers carry it off extraordinarily well. However, I've read some abysmal stories as a result of writer being pressured into writing an unnecessary, unplanned, rushed sequel. Avoid this!
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