Fic Talk > General Discussion
Question of the day part 9 (even though days go by lol)
mare:
New question for all of you veteran fanfic writers (so, like, everyone but me. lol) If you are a sequel writer, how much of the previous story do you reveal in your sequel?
Hrmm I guess it depends on the nature of the sequel. As you know for Scars, it's more of a continuation of the first story and really can't stand alone. When I came up with the idea, I always knew it was going to be a two story arc and designed it that way. So, I really don't think anyone could read the second story without feeling totally in the dark unless they read the first one. I haven't written a whole lot of sequels, but I think the three I have done all follow this similar pattern.
So, I guess it really depends on the nature of your sequel. Is it a continuation of the story from the previous one or is it just the same characters in a different situation? If it's the latter, you could probably get away with letting it stand on it's own as long as you spent some of the earlier chapters re-introducing your characters and their relationships to one another.
I can't really think of any fanfics that have done that because well...surpris e surprise... I tend to not read series or sequels with a very few exceptions. But, I will use Dan Brown as an example, even though I'm not a huge fan of his latest book, you can read all the Robert Langdon books out of sequence and they would still make sense because Brown always does kind of a quick this is what you missed in the last book, type of explanation when it comes to his characters.
Here's another question for you which relates to Emily's!
How do you feel about sequels and series in general? Do you write them and or read them? Do you know ahead of time that you will be writing a bunch of stories or do you make that decision later on?
emilo:
As far as sequels and series go, I like them when I've fallen in love with the characters from the original and care about what happens to them next. That being said, I tend to prefer when the same characters are put into a different situation instead of just having a continuation of the story, especially in a romance. I tend to get a little bored with a continuation of a romance story, with the exception of a few what can stand on great writing alone. So, to answer your questions within the answer to my question, I'm putting my characters into a different situation, but there are some big, plot-related references to the old story that readers need to be aware of so that they understand the premise of the second story. So..... I think maybe I have a plan. ;D Thanks!
RokofAges75:
--- Quote from: emilo on July 12, 2013, 07:37:58 PM ---In real life, I'm a pharmacist. I work part-time at our local hospital and stay home with my almost three year old the rest of the time. I have definitely incorporated some medical knowledge into my fics, and some "toddler knowledge" too. Like a lot of the rest of you, I do have some background music knowledge, and I'm somewhat of a vocalist (like church and the company talent show at this point). I was also in band and choir (show choir, actually, so I know how to put on a production..lo l).
--- End quote ---
You are actually what inspired my question, after the review I left you on FILA and your response to it. I could tell you knew your stuff when it came to the medical aspect of it, and what impressed me most was how detailed you were with the medications, knowing the right dosages and whatnot, so it makes total sense that you're a pharmacist. I wasn't sure, but also suspected you must be a mom, because the way you wrote Drew also seemed spot-on! Same with the musical stuff, now that I think about it, especially the parts where they were arranging songs and recording. You had the perfect background to write that story realistically! :)
emilo:
This is true! Now to attempt to branch out and write about something I don't know so much about!
RokofAges75:
--- Quote from: emilo on July 12, 2013, 07:51:42 PM ---New question for all of you veteran fanfic writers (so, like, everyone but me. lol) If you are a sequel writer, how much of the previous story do you reveal in your sequel?
The reason I ask is that I'm writing one right now, and it's going to be a totally different genre from the original, so I feel like I may have a bit of a different group of readers this time around who may not particularly enjoy reading the original. I don't want to completely confuse them by leaving plot holes in the story that can only be explained by reading the original, but I don't want to give away so much that if someone decides to go back and read the original, they already know everything that's going to happen. This is a completely selfish question, but I thought it would also be appropriate discussion for this thread.
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I haven't written many sequels in the last ten years, mainly just By My Side, but when I do sequels, they're almost always, like Mare said, a continuation of the last story, so I assume that the people who will be reading them are the same people who have read the first story. In fact, I usually put some kind of a disclaimer in the beginning warning readers that they better have read the first story first. For that reason, I don't do a lot of recapping, but I do realize that even readers who have read the first story might have forgotten some of it, so I put in little reminders about things that have happened or reference specific parts from the first story to keep them fresh in my readers' minds if they're going to be relevant later. I used little flashbacks sometimes in BMS, which is kind of a clunky way to do it, but it's still effective. Just having the characters reminisce either in their thoughts or in a conversation works too and is more realistic.
In your case, Emily, since your sequel is going to be a totally different genre and you're wanting it to sort of stand alone so you can attract other readers, I would suggest giving just enough information that people who haven't read the first one can figure out who the characters are and what their relationship is to each other, but don't retell their whole back story. You don't want to bore readers who have read it already, and you also don't want to spoil the first story for new readers who might want to go back and read it later. If you just drop some hints at important things that have happened in the characters' pasts without revealing everything, you may even attract some of those new readers to WANT to go back and read about what really happened. You got me to do that with The Sisterhood of the Red Sweatpants - I had to do some inferring about the characters, but I really had no trouble understanding that story even without reading its companion, but I found myself curious about the characters and how they got to that point, so I ended up reading Falling in Love Again anyway. And in that story, the little hints you dropped about Annie's back story (especially regarding Andrew) kept me reading, mainly because I wanted to find out the whole story of what happened. It's good to keep your readers guessing and wanting to know more. Use that same strategy in your sequel, and you should be good to go!
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