Mar 13 2009
The Art of the Sequel
Whenever a great book or film comes out, people start talking sequel. Why? A number of reasons:
1. Lots of people like the first one, so publishers/producers think a second would also generate a lot of profit.
I said “a number of reasons” because publishers/producers/authors/screenwriters have said a number of other reasons:
1. The story isn’t complete yet.
2. A good idea is worth repeating.
3. This book/film is starting out a whole genre/saga/world/religion/movement, and to keep going, it needs to be furthered.
Honestly, though, I don’t think any of those later reasons are actually the reason… it’s the first one. And it’s the reason we have 482 tales from Babysitter’s Club, Goosebumps and The Magic Treehouse… because publishers have figured out that readers, especially young readers, will devour books along the same lines or by the same writers as books they already love, and it will often take them several hundred volumes of those writings to figure out that the 47th installment isn’t nearly as good as the first one was. Money makes the world go ’round, doesn’t it?
It may very well make the world go ’round–though in this economy, I’m surprised the world isn’t grinding to a halt–but money does NOT, in any way, make for a good sequel.
So what does make a good sequel?
The best sequels, I have found, were intended all along. J. K. Rowling had her plan for book seven figured out before book one was even published, and Tolkien Lord of the Rings trilogy is really more of a three-part book than three separate novels. Other writers have centered each book around a particular character, making each book stand alone and complement the other books in the series. For a sequel to happen well, it must have a reason for being, beyond money. If the first story isn’t finished, the sequel can offer the next step in the drama. But there must be truly something more to tell, something that is left behind, undiscovered, if the sequel doesn’t come out.
And it’s amazing how bad so many sequels turn out. They rehash the same plot lines, or simply bore us to death offering more backstory on characters than we could ever want. But if the sequel doesn’t have a true plot line that makes it worth reading, if it doesn’t offer us readers something new, it isn’t worth printing. It will be forgotten over time, if it isn’t criticized at the beginning.
If you’re writing (or have written) a novel, have you thought of a sequel? Do you already have one in mind? Does it have its own purpose, beyond making a little more money for you once the first one has been published?
I hope it does. If it’s only purpose is profit, it likely won’t be the sequel I’m looking for.
Come to think of it, if the first novel is only written for profit, I probably won’t like it, either.
