Sci-Fi, fantasy and speculative Indie Authors Review discussion

Hi, I'm currently a few weeks into writing the sequel to my book Thalassa: the world beneath the waves and I was wondering what people look for and what they like in a sequel. 'More of the same, but different', is the mantra I've been following up to now, but of course there's a story to be told too...

Oh, and Kindle copies of Thalassa are free on Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, etc. until 30th September.

So, what works in a sequel, and what doesn't? I'd be interested to hear.

M.

The biggest problem I found was the conflict between the needs of readers who'd read my first book, and those who hadn't. You need to write down what new readers need to know, and introduce it in small enough doses that it won't annoy the experienced reader.

I agree with the previous comment. You can't assume people will have read or remember the previous novel. Try to drip feed background information into the first few chapters.

Of course the problem is compounded in science fiction, because you have to convey so much background about the world the story is set in, at the same time. This was (hopefully) covered in the first few chapters of your first book. Now you have to cover it again, in the same way. This is why some writers throw up their hands and include a "story so far" prologue, but I think this is frowned on by those in the know.

(As posted in another group, but I wanted to repost here in case some people didn't agree with what I said.)

Definitely no info dump. Spread across is better and most of all, try to make it sounds natural within the story. Avoid the "As you know, Bob, so and so did that last month and we had to do so and so to stop them..."

Also remember that there is such thing as too much recounting. Robert Jordan has explanations/retelling that has had lots of readers quit reading (including me). Yet, it worked for some obviously since he is a best seller.

Now I think you may get away without, depending on your story. I didn't put any in mine, at least, not at the beginning because I wanted the reader to be as lost as the protagonist. (He lost his memory and it's written in first person POV. Did I really have a choice?)

Now for the rest...it's hard to tell. Of course, if readers loved your first book they will expect the sequel to be about the same style and genre or at least with your same voice. I won't generalize because obviously some thing might still work, but I am having a hard time imagining someone enjoying an action thriller liking much the sequel if it turned into a romance or erotica style. So style/genre is important...although a bit of a change if not too dramatic should work too.

Avoid going the way of repeating the same events with only names and or place changed. In other words, don't plagiarize your own book. :P

Also, since it's a sequel, it should advance the story. (At least enough for the readers not to think they lost their time reading it.)

Hope this helps a bit... :P

That makes sense. In terms of world-briefing (if we can call it that) a common ruse is to introduce a character who's from somewhere else (the girl from Earth, or even a time traveller), who can relate what they see from a perspective more like the reader's. I have an isolated colony that gets no visitors, so I couldn't do that. Instead, I have my MC work with someone from another planet, and she gets the explanations. I also have a glossary, but I'm guessing nobody reads that, as it's never mentioned in reviews.
I devised a story arc that's supposed to span across three or four books, which is a bit of a problem. In the currently-stalled third book, it's taking the characters to a very different place, so the flavour of story is quite different. I hadn't anticipated that back when I was laying things out. So, I've gone off and started another series in the same universe. You can get away with all sorts of stuff with no publisher to annoy :-)

If it's the worldbuilding that you're worried about, you could just have them go to a different world within the universe. That way you're not re-writing that aspect of the first book for the sake of those jumping on in the second, and it gives fans of the first a new world to explore.

Another thing I've seen with authors of multiple series is that all the series are set in the same universe, but different times, so you don't have to read the first series to pick up the second or third because they dynamics have changed with the times, though fans will recognize elements that do carry throughout.

I'll soon be looking at this dilemma myself... fortunately, my characters will be in a different location, which will mean it is going to be fresh for old and new readers.

I suppose you could also just simple write a quick "what has gone before"... that readers who have just finished book 1, can skip over:)