Sequel before first book is sold?

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RJ Keith

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Hello friends,

I recently signed with a literary agency, and my first novel is out on submission. It's a psychological thriller set in the deep South.

So what to do while it makes the rounds? Write another book, of course! I have several ideas, but the one I'm most passionate about and eager to write is a sequel. I've written the opening chapters, and it's off to a great start.

My agent points out that publishers won't be interested in the sequel unless the first book does well, so it's best to wait and see. But, she added, "I always tell writers to go with their passion."

What would you do? Slam the brakes on the sequel, or go ahead and invest the time needed to write it while the idea is red hot?

Thanks in advance for your thoughts ...
 

jjdebenedictis

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Do both?

Dive into the book you're passionate about, but push yourself to finish it fast enough that you can write another book too.
 

Kerosene

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If you have a good feeling of the first book and you feel it can sell, write the next.

Otherwise, are you going to stall and not write? Then write either the second book, or work on another project.

I'd just write the second regardless.
 

Witch_turtle

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Would you be able to work on two separate books at the same time? You could write the sequel, and also be writing something unrelated--two paths to choose from in the end.

Alternatively, you could write the sequel in such a way that it could stand entirely on its own, possibly be sold that way even if the first one isn't.

Congrats on the agent and good luck :)
 

GiddyUpGo

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Yeah, I agree with pretty much everyone else. If you write the book you feel driven to write, you'll turn out much better quality work then you will if you write something you're only ho-hum about.
 

Broadswordbabe

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Agree with what's been said above, to a degree. But I would strongly suggest getting another, unrelated book at least sketched out and ready to go, and get to it as soon as you're done with the sequel. Sometimes books just don't sell, however enthusiastic one's agent is about them :(
 

John342

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Dare I offer an opposing opinion?

I, like you, always write with a sequel in mind. By the end of my work I already have the rough outline in my head for it. However, you have to examine your motives for submitting it to an agent... Mine is to get published.

At the end of a MS I write a couple thousand word outline for the sequel and start a fresh project. Why?

  1. Signing with an agent is not a guarantee you will get an acceptance. Waiting for this to happen could take months.
  2. If accepted, your novel probably won't be released for 3-6 months (I've seen 12). That is if you don't have to make revisions....
  3. All this time you are writing a sequel that may be wasted effort if the first isn't a success.
My advice is to start a new project if you can. Of course its your call and I can't blame you for wanting to keep what you think is a good thing going.
 

Anninyn

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I'd write the sequel, but possibly only to a rough/first draft standard, then work on something else. That way if the book sells, you can say 'I have a sequel that just needs editing.' and if it doesn't, you have another book to work on to stop yourself getting too depressed.

(Congrats on finding yourself an agent, by the way!)
 

allenparker

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Alternatively, you could write the sequel in such a way that it could stand entirely on its own, possibly be sold that way even if the first one isn't.

This. Writing a sequel that can stand alone hedges your bet enough that you can continue on even if the first book doesn't sell or fails to sell well.


(Congrats on finding yourself an agent, by the way!)

This as well.
 

RJ Keith

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Thank you all so much! All great thoughts.

Right now, I'm thinking I'll write a draft of the sequel as quickly as possible, then move on to the next project. But I'm still thinking about it, and your advice will help me decide.
 

Jonathan Dalar

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This is an interesting quandary, and a little different than most "should I write a sequel" musings.

I've written two sequels to a book that hasn't been picked up yet. I did it knowing full well they could go nowhere, and I'm fine with that. They helped refine and direct my writing enough that writing them alone was worth it. They also contributed to major revisions to the original story, making it a far better story than otherwise would have been the case.

But writing a sequel in your case wouldn't do that. Your book is already out on sub by an agent, meaning that unless a publisher had a major issue with it, rewrites are likely minimal from this point on.

I'd personally go with the majority vote here and say try to do both quickly enough to matter, but then again, you don't want to either rush the works too much and produce shoddy material, or sacrifice one for the other.

What are your agent's thoughts on the feasibility of a sequel? Sure, no one will be interested in it if the first book doesn't sell well, but does she believe it has real potential for a series, that it really needs more material to really close out the story, or that it just could work if you wanted it to? If it's the former, I'd seriously consider writing the sequel. If the latter, I'd probably hold off, at least until I saw what the first book did.
 

ccarver30

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Alternatively, you could write the sequel in such a way that it could stand entirely on its own, possibly be sold that way even if the first one isn't.

Yeah, this is what I was thinking. I have a lot of characters that show up in other novels and hint about THEIR story. They are related, but none are in a sequence, per se.
 

VanessaNorth

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I wrote a book with every intention of it being the first of a three book series. When it went out on sub, I wrote the second book, and then the third.

When the first book sold, the publisher contracted both sequels.

I'm really glad I wrote the sequels. ;)
 

CJ.Wolfe

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For me, I'd write the second regardless of whether or not it would sell. If that's what I wanted, because it would finish the story for me. Then I'd focus on something else to publish.

If I felt my characters story wasn't done yet, then I'd keep going. Regardless. Isn't that why we write in the first place?

Alternatively, with that in mind, I might start a new project, but work on the sequel in spare time. That way I get the satisfaction of slowly working through the sequel, but also having a lot more of the new project done.
 

RJ Keith

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Write the sequel as if it were a stand-alone. That is, as if the first book never existed.

Okay, a few people have recommended this course of action, and it makes a lot of sense ... but the main characters have a background together in the first book that sets the stage for the second. Any tips out there on making a sequel read like it isn't?
 

thothguard51

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I think everyone should write 6 sequels before the first one is even sold.

Reason...

As a reader I hate waiting years for the next book in the sequel. Of course if I don't like the first one then I don't care how many years it takes between books in a sequel.

I also think writers should offer lap dances at signings...
 

rwm4768

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I'd write the second. You're ahead of a lot of people in the game by simply having an agent.
 

James D. Macdonald

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Okay, a few people have recommended this course of action, and it makes a lot of sense ... but the main characters have a background together in the first book that sets the stage for the second. Any tips out there on making a sequel read like it isn't?

The main characters were presumably doing things before the first book, too. How did you put in that backstory in your first book?

Let's look at The Maltese Falcon. It's a stand-alone; Sam Spade doesn't appear in any of Hammett's other novels. But suppose The Maltese Falcon were #3 in a series. In the first book we had Miles Archer and Sam Spade separately working on a mystery, then deciding to join forces and form a detective agency. Suppose that book #2 had another mystery, but also detailed how Sam got involved with Miles' wife, and the day Sam and Miles hired Effie Perine to be their receptionist/secretary. All those things set the stage for The Maltese Falcon.

How much of that is in The Maltese Falcon? How is it revealed for the folks who never read the first two books in the series? That's how you do the backstory in the second (and subsequent) books in your own series.

(If, however, what you are actually writing is a two-part novel, where the first book in the series is actually part one ... don't. Write a different book instead.)
 

Debeucci

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I would recommend against writing a sequel. Or if you feel like you must, get a strong synopsis and an outline down so if you get the book deal and they want a sequel, you can start out of the gate running.

An agent is great, but it's no guarantee of a deal. So what if the agent doesn't sell the book? You're stuck with a sequel that you can't do anything with.
 

JasonChirevas

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Before I realized I was writing the wrong thing entirely and started something completely different, I was writing a sequel to my first novel just as Uncle Jim suggested, as if the first book was just background for the second.

So, chuck me on the stand-alone sequel pile, I guess.

-Jason
 
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