Category: prequels

Before

On May 25, 2016, Christie V Powell wrote, I’m thinking about writing a prequel, but a lot of the information already came up in backstory. Do you have any advice for putting a new spin on a story where the basic plot is already known?

In this case, my book begins several months after an evil group took over the kingdoms. I’ve included enough backstory that most of the original takeover is understood but I thought it might be fun to write out the prequel if I can find a way to make it unique enough.

First off, if the original isn’t published, we can move the backstory out and put it in the prequel. In Christie V Powell’s instance, this would be the history of the takeover, and then–hooray!–we can end the prequel on a cliffhanger. Our reader, panting for what comes next, can rush to her bookstore to be saved from her agony. The example of this that I know best is The Lord of the Rings trilogy. I pity the readers who had to wait for the next book while J. R. R. Tolkien was writing them.

I’ve never managed to do this. Maybe someday, because it sure would be neat.

A nice aspect of the immediate prequel is that we can write a tragic or seemingly tragic ending even if we intend for everything to work out well eventually.

However, an immediate prequel isn’t the only option. I googled the word and read the Wikipedia entry. Here’s a little of it: “Like sequels, prequels may or may not concern the same plot as the work from which they are derived. Often, they explain the background which led to the events in the original, but sometimes the connections are not as explicit. Sometimes, prequels play on the fact that the audience knows what will happen next…” You can look up the rest, which I found interesting.

An important and encouraging word in Christie V Powell’s question is fun, which suggests that there are elements in this world she wants to explore more. That’s great!

I’ve now written a prequel and am in the middle of a second, and there’s Fairest, which is in Ella’s world, just a little earlier than the events in Ella, so loosely another prequel. I approached each one differently, and I have ideas about where to look for inspiration.

Lucinda has been invaluable for generating new ideas in the universe of Ella Enchanted. In Fairest, she’s behind the creature in Queen Ivy’s mirror–the magic mirror in “Snow White.” In my WIP, Ogre Enchanted, she casts the ogre spell. I never know what she’ll get into next. Thank you, Lucinda!

We can ask ourselves if we, too, have a character in our original book who can set a new plot spinning. Lucinda, who means well or thinks she does, makes trouble almost every time she intervenes. In a way, she’s the villain, so a villain may be the right place to start our inquiry. Do we have a villain who can create new conflict?

That Lucinda is a fairy with a lot of power is helpful, too, but not necessary. Any character with bad intentions can be terrific for prequel purposes. For example, a gossip can set an entire world spinning if word spreads. A bumbler, who means no harm, may still cause major damage.

We can look at our other characters, too, not necessarily for their power to change a universe, just for story. Which ones fascinate us? Is there a corner of their backstories we can expand? We may discover more than one character and more than one prequel. I find myself thinking about Anne of Green Gables and Anne’s friend Diana. L. M. Montgomery isn’t very kind to Diana, who’s painted as beloved by Anne but dull. Is Diana aware of the way she’s perceived? Does she suffer? What about Josie Pye, who’s painted in an unflattering light. What’s her story? Is she misunderstood?

We can also add characters who don’t appear in our original but exist in the world. When I started writing Fairest, I thought Ella’s friend Areida would be my MC, but I describe her in Ella as dark-skinned, and my MC had to have a snow-white complexion, so I gave Areida an older, adopted sister. Anyone can do that. We can add siblings, uncles, long-lost friends who, we think, will slot right into our world.

The world itself can suggest prequel ideas, as is the case with me and The Two Princesses of Bamarre. The novel begins with lines from an ancient epic poem, “Out of a land laid waste,” which got me going. And now, because of elements of the world I set up in the forthcoming prequel, I have an idea for a sequel to it, although the idea is still vague.

My favorite example of a fascinating world, as I’ve mentioned here a zillion times, is Terry Pratchett’s Discworld, which he exploits beautifully. Within the world, he sets books in the Watch (the constabulary of the city of Ankh-Morpork), the witches in the hinterlands, the guilds, and the character of DEATH himself. So that’s another source: groups in our world.

An aspect of Christie V Powell’s project that especially interests me is the genesis of evil. I’ve read or heard on the radio that many criminals start with small missteps. Recently, I listened to a podcast interview with a former police officer who had become corrupt. His badness began with a small rule-breaking to help a friend, which didn’t benefit him at all. Getting away with it, however, led to trouble.

A prequel that explores the roots of the takeover sounds fascinating.

Just one more thing: worry about uniqueness. I think this may be a waste of good anxiety, which might be more usefully applied to obsessing over what favorite earring is going to fall out of my ear next and be lost forever. From everything I’ve read, there aren’t many possible plots, so repetition rather than uniqueness is inevitable. What’s guaranteed to be unique, however, is the way we pursue our plots, the way the narration unfolds, the words we–because no one else can–put in our character’s mouths.

Here are four prompts:

• Let’s borrow from Christie V Powell. Imagine a kingdom. Write the development of a coup. Consider the conditions that might lead up to it. Think about the people–possibly villains, possibly idealists, possibly some of each–who might start conspiring. Historical research and/or reading about current events may be useful. I’m remembering the recent failed coup in Turkey. Write the first meeting of the cabal. If you like, write the whole saga.

• If you’re a fan of Anne of Green Gables, as I am, or if you know it well, write a story about a secondary character. Could be Diana or Josie, as I’ve already suggested, but the childhoods of siblings Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert might be interesting, too. They turn out to be just what Anne needs, but they have limited lives. What stunted them? Write a crucial backstory scene for any of them. If you don’t know Anne of Green Gables well enough to do this, pick a minor character in a book or movie you love and write a backstory scene.

• There are helper characters in many fairy tales. In particular, I’ve always wondered about the cat in “Puss In Boots” and the genies in “Aladdin.” Pick one of them and write a prequel to the fairy tale.

• This is a sequel idea. In my opinion, Hansel and Gretel are abused by their parents. Sure, the father was remorseful, but if he felt so bad, why didn’t he go after his children? The fairy tale ends long before their story is over. How do they recover from the treatment they received from the witch and their own parents? Write a scene or the whole saga.

Have fun, and save what you write!

Serial Writing

On August 19, 2010, Yvonne wrote, Ms. Levine, do you have any advice on writing sequels, prequels, or writing books set in the same world as a previous one? I know you did this with Fairest, and I was wondering how you did it and kept the same characteristics of the kingdom that you had in the first book.

Actually, in Fairest, in one important regard, I failed. In Ella Enchanted, Char describes the people of Ayortha as taciturn. But when I wrote Fairest I couldn’t stay with that. I couldn’t write a semi-serious novel about people who barely speak. If Fairest had been one of my Princess Tales, which were mostly comic, I could have pulled it off. In an early draft of the book, I put in a sentence explaining how Ayorthaians were terse with strangers, but I think even that got cut. A reader once called me on this, and probably many other readers have noticed. It’s a fine example of an imperfection.

Maybe one rule of sequel and prequel writing would be not to put anything in the starter book that you can’t live with in future volumes. But I’m not sure. I don’t want to encourage timid writing, which would be worse than my Fairest mistake.

Seems to me there are two kinds of series. In one kind each book tells a complete story and the end is a full stop. Books can be read out of sequence and it doesn’t matter. In the other kind, the Harry Potter kind, each book has its own conflicts, but they’re part of a larger story that isn’t over until the final page of the last book, and the books should be read in order. I haven’t written this second kind of series, although my Fairy Haven and the Quest for the Wand is easier to get into if you’ve read Fairy Dust and the Quest for the Egg. I assume that writers who write a continuous series know the entire arc of the plot and where each book fits into it.

At the moment I’m writing a second mystery in the world of my heroine, Elodie. If I can, I’d like to stay with her and her dragon employer, Masteress Meenore, and her friend the ogre Count Jonty Um for a bunch of books. Each novel will be its own separate story (the first sort of series), but some life events for the main characters may evolve over time. Elodie and Jonty Um will get older. One or both of them may find love. There may be loss. Dragons age more slowly, and there’s something immutable about Meenore, so he’s unlikely to change much. Or maybe he will. I don’t know.

Some series have a villain who provides story continuity. I’ve read only the first Harry Potter book, but I figure Voldemort is that villain. In the Sherlock Holmes series Moriarty is the villain, but those books can be read in any order.

I’ve mentioned before that for each novel I keep a  document called “Remember.” In it go the details, which vary somewhat from book to book. For the mystery series I’ve continued the same “Remember” from one book to the next. These are some of my categories:  geography, monetary system, apprenticeship system, Elodie’s mother’s rules for her, character descriptions, the attributes of an acting troupe, the dragon diet. I could continue, but you get the idea. A “Remember” document will help you be consistent and will save time, because you won’t have to hunt through your earlier books for the particulars you need.

Before I wrote Fairest I reread Ella Enchanted. I’d like to say I took notes, but I don’t remember whether I did or not. I should have. So read and take notes. Originally I’d thought Ella’s best friend Areida could be the heroine of Fairest, but I was reminded that Areida is dark-skinned and the Snow White character, obviously, needed to be pale.

You may want a similar tone from book to book. If you’re writing an adventure series, you probably wouldn’t make one book a brooding character study with little action. My Princess Tales are humorous. Fun is the point. I couldn’t have written a tragic Princess Tale and made it fit. However, you might change point of view from book to book. You could have a series about a group of friends. If a different character told each book, the voice and tone would have to vary or each narrator would seem like the same person. But you still probably wouldn’t want one book to be completely lighthearted when the others were utterly serious.

I tied my Princess Tales loosely together with humor and with features that readers would recognize from one book to the next. All of them take place in the kingdom of Biddle and most in the town of Snettering-on-Snoakes. The king’s name is always Humphrey, and the queen is always Hermione, Humphrey I and Hermione I in the first book, higher numbers in each succeeding volume. The fairies are always seven feet tall with huge, fleshy wings. In this kind of series you may not need much more than a few recognizable features like these and a relatively consistent tone to unify the books.

You probably need to think about whether or not you want character growth from book to book. Since I haven’t read more than one but I don’t live in a cave, I gather that Harry and Hermione and the others change as the series progresses. In contrast, Sherlock Holmes doesn’t evolve. He’s the same brilliant, easily bored, self-destructive fellow all the way through. His failure to grow gives the series poignancy. The reader sympathizes with Holmes and worries about him. Both are valid choices.

Here are some questions you can ask yourself as you decide whether or not you want to attempt a series:

Do these characters interest you enough to want to be with them for more than one book? There is no dishonor in a no answer. The characters in my Princess Tales, because the stories are so light, are paper thin. They were invented for a single situation, and they wouldn’t know what to do with themselves outside their original tales.

Do you have a big and complicated enough idea to carry a bunch of books? At one point while I was writing Ever I thought I had a series on my hands, but I didn’t. My concept sewed itself together in a single volume.

Do you know what themes you’d like to explore from book to book? I’m optimistic about the mysteries as a series because I plan to rely on fairytales, and it’s always been the mysteries that have fascinated me about them. For example, one of my favorite blog postings along with your responses was about the puzzling “Twelve Dancing Princesses.”

Three prompts:

•    It’s a cloud, composition unknown, threatening the world of your story. It can begin small or full-blown. Write a paragraph or two about each book in a four-book series that starts with the cloud. The cloud can be the problem for the entire series, or not.

•    Describe (in writing) the most fascinating person you know. Now add interesting – not necessarily good – qualities of other people in your life. Imagine this amalgamated being as the main character of a series. What would challenge her? What kinds of conflicts would she get involved in? Write notes about a series with this main character.

•    Write a page of back story for your current project. Make up new material for this, not what you already know. Consider whether you have a potential prequel. Write about what it might be.

Have fun and save what you write!