Writing a sequel is something that can be very exciting but equally very difficult for a writer. A sequel may not have been something that you planned for, but if you’re going through a publisher or even if you are self-published, you may find that readers want to see more of your story. A sequel builds upon the foundation of the original story but must have its own plot and essentially its own story as well. It requires quite a bit of work and planning, so here is how to come up with ideas for a sequel for your book!
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Make Sure You Understand the Core of Book 1
Before you really get into the details of a sequel, you should be sure that you really understand what was happening in Book 1 and that you understand the heart/core of that particular story. This is important because even if your sequel is a whole new story, it still needs to contain the essence of the first book otherwise it’ll feel jarringly different.
What you want to do is basically sit down with your book and decide the following things:
- What were the main themes?
- Who are the main characters? What were their arcs?
- What was the major conflict? How was that conflict resolved, if it was resolved
- What was the tone?
- What genre is the book?
The reason you want to identify these things in particular is because you want to continue the themes and expand upon them. You also want to either introduce new characters or maintain the original character. You also want to identify what the major conflict was so that you can understand if you need to expand upon it or introduce a new conflict instead. You also want to maintain consistency with your world and genre, as these are important components of the story.
Find Plot Points Left Unresolved
One of the best ways to come up with ideas for a sequel is to look back at points in the plot or events that happened that were left unresolved. Maybe a certain character’s fate wasn’t really shown or maybe there were questions posed that happened to be left unanswered. These sorts of things are great sources of ideas.
You can look at some of the minor/side characters in a story to explore more in the sequel. You can also take a subplot that you can expand upon or potentially offer a more finite resolution to in the sequel.
Additionally, maybe there were things written in Book 1 that could be used as foreshadowing and you can take that thing and expand it in Book 2.
Look to the World Building
In many stories out there in speculative fiction genres like sci-fi and fantasy, world building plays a significant role in the progression of the plot. World building impacts many elements in the story and impacts things like cities, countries, cultures, languages, and more.
You can expand even more into your world building with a sequel such as adding a new setting or region in the world with new challenges, cultures, languages, and more.
You can expand on things like the mythology and lore of your world and add new backdrops for some fresh conflicts. You might bring about something related to the religious system of your culture and create a story out of that.
There is also the ability to introduce new magical systems, technologies, political dynamics, and more in your world. So long as your world can be expanded, this is a great way to create something new and fresh for a sequel.
High Stakes Conflicts
Even if your book had really high stakes, you want to keep readers interested and engaged, and adding even higher stakes in your sequel is actually a great way to do just that. You can introduce a more powerful and even more dangerous antagonist to fight against your main character. You can create situations where your character must make difficult decisions, thus adding more to their characterization if you are maintaining the same character in both books.
Furthermore, you can add even higher stakes internal conflicts such as challenges in a character’s relationships.
Character Arcs
Another great idea to add more to a sequel is to expand upon character arcs in your first book. You can continue to expand a character’s arc and grow/evolve the character. Testing the character will show how they grew and changed over the course of the first book and if that growth is something they are able to maintain consistently.
You can introduce new conflicts into the story that create tension in relation to the character’s arc and introduce new relationships or conflicts in relationships. These are interesting ways to continue to expand upon a character arc that exists and add more length to it.
If You’re Planning a Series
If you went into Book 1 knowing that you would be writing a series, you likely already have an idea of what the overall major conflict of your series is. From there, you can add subplots, character arcs, and more to each book after Book 1 to contribute to the overall story. A series is typically something that progresses onward and things introduced into each book should contribute to the overall story of the series.
If you are planning a series, in Book 1 you should ensure that you have arcs that can be expanded over a series and that you have enough room to add conflicts to add onto the overall conflict of the series.
Get Feedback from Readers
A lot of writers look to their readers and fans for inspiration and ideas for sequels and there’s a reason. When you see readers loving certain aspects and elements of your book, then you can look at what those things were as a source of inspiration for what to include in your sequel. You can also address things that readers were more critical about and fix those with your next title. No book will ever be perfect, so don’t go striving for perfection, but you should at the very least try to improve upon your writing with each story you release.
Get Inspired!
Reading other books that have had sequels and even more, such as a series, is a great way to see how other authors came up with ideas for their own stories. Consider it sort of like teaching yourself what other successful writers did in order to successfully write a sequel.
You can take inspiration from history, mythology, or the real world around you in order to include in your book. I’ve seen plenty of books take inspiration from history, such as Django Wexler’s The Shadow Campaigns, which seemed to take inspiration from things like the French Revolution. Books often take from mythology as inspiration because of the fantastical tales told in many famous mythologies.
Conclusion
Coming up with ideas for a sequel for your book may seem a little difficult at first, but all-in-all, it’s actually a much easier process than you think. If you take my advice into account, you’ll actually be able to identify what plotlines you want to take in the next book and you might actually be on your way to writing an entire series from a simple idea for Book 2!
Before you head on out, be sure to check out my series, The Fallen Age Saga, and don’t forget to sign up for my newsletter so you can get updates on all my latest book releases, WIPs, posts and more!