Writing A Sequel...Yikes!

I recently published the sequel to my first novel, Into the Shadows. I took awhile to get it out -- it's been 18 months! My biggest mistake was following the traditional publishing route in the sense that when I start writing, I wrote Into the Shadows, and then moved on to something else. At that time (2008) the standard was to do that -- write the book and then keep writing other things. Writing a sequel was seen as a silly idea. Why write a sequel if no publishers buy the first book?

But now the game has changed and in epublishing, you really need to get the next book out as soon as you can.

This brought up my second problem. It's easy to SAY you're writing a trilogy, it's another thing to actually figure out what the other books are going to be about. I said it was a trilogy, but other than knowing how I wanted the second and third books to end, I had NO idea what else I was going to write. And I was completely terrified I wouldn't be able to come up with anything good. Eventually, I was able to brainstorm my way through it, and have already started the third book and have a solid list/outline of how I want it to go. I keep adding to that weekly as well! My advice...really plan that trilogy/series out if it's going to continue the story.

I have a second series that is not a trilogy. Bloody Little Secrets was initially written as a stand-alone novel, but the interest is there and I had already been taking notes for a sequel, which I hope to write this summer. I'm approaching this one differently than the Into the Shadows trilogy. My plan is to write another stand-alone novel, using the same characters. I don't want to leave cliffhangers or anything. It'll just be another story with a solid ending. That way I'm free to either continue the series with as many books as I choose, and really, whenever I want. Or I can stop at 2 books and not feel guilty that I left anyone hanging.

It has been quite the experience and although I swear I'll never do another trilogy again, I'm sure I will! Happy writing!



Karly Kirkpatrick is an obsessed Harry Potter fan and the author of such books as Into the Shadows, Darkness Rising, The Green, and Bloody Little Secrets. She likes her pizza hot and her beer cold. You can also visit her and her books and wave hello at www.karlykirkpatrick.com.