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!
Chicory says:
I am glad you mentioned the slight inconsistency with the Ayorthan court between Ella Enchanted and Fairest. I am happy to know it was a case of artistic license and not carelessness.
The explanation that the court is more reticent around outsiders is one that makes a lot of sense to me, and would also explain why Ivi was so anxious to impress the courtiers. It's easy to think people who are shy in your presence are judging you, even if they're not.
I am looking forward to your fantasy/mysteries. My two favorite genres! There are so many wonderful fairy-tale mysteries. 🙂 One of my favorites is `Water of Life' where the evil brothers frame the hero in order to steal the credit for his exploits.
Angie says:
Great topic! I had also wondered at first about the Ayorthaian court differing between the two books, but (whether it ended up being mentioned or not) had taken it for granted that you meant for them to be only terse around strangers, so it never bothered me.
Did you plan on writing another book in the Ella Enchanted world, or did the idea come about later, after finishing Ella Enchanted?
Also, I've wondered if you've ever had plans to write another story set in the world of The Two Princesses of Bamarre? I would love that 🙂
Rose says:
Oh, I definitely second Angie. More Bamarre for me too! Maybe Meryl can make a cameo appearance.
I'm not much at doing sequels or series because sometimes I can't think of a good enough plot. It's very daunting especially if the first story was really good (in my opinion, at least) and hard to follow up. I had a story I really liked, once, and when I tried to write a sequel it was a great big flop. On the other hand, I had another story I loved, and I got an idea for a sequel set when the main character was thirteen (she was eight in the first story) and it turned out pretty good. There was another time when I wrote a little companion short story to a longer one, and it also was set several years after the original events.
So maybe those with sequel trouble might want to set the sequel a longer time after the first story? I don't know. It helps with me.
Grace says:
This was quite an excellent post!
I think I need to make a "remember" file for myself, for I have bad issues with forgetting things. A long time ago I wrote a four book series (I guess it would be called a saga?) and I'm editing them now. But while doing so, I noticed that a character who had her heart stabbed in a previous book (she didn't die though because she's immortal) was nervous and so her heart started beating faster…epic fail. I then scanned over it some more and realized I had completely forgotten to take out her heartbeat out of the rest of the books and grumbled loudly as I took out all the references to her pulse…so in other words a "remember" file would do wonderfully for me.
I am now starting to write the first book in a planned series of three and this blog post will surely come in handy with those.
As for Harry Potter…J.K. Rowling amazes me, like wows me quite deeply. She was able to tie the 7th book in with events that happened in the first and second ones and each one of them so perfectly, so that it seemed like everything that ever happened in all of the books tied in with the last one. All her plot threads connected perfectly and when I read the last book I was like "wow…this is how series writing is done!" In other words: J.K. Rowling rocks!
I agree with above posters, Bamarre is a totally awesome place, I would love to see more of it. I think "The Two Princess of Bamarre" is perhaps my favorite book of yours, Ms. Levine, and I love the characters as well.
Thank you for the post, Ms. Levine, this will definately come in handy…
Jenna Royal says:
I agree, another Bamarre book would be awesome. I loved The Two Princesses, and I would love to read a sequel.
My biggest problem with writing series is that when I finish my first book, I tie everything up in it, and I'm so happy to be done, I don't want to tackle another problem with the same characters. However, I do have an idea for a series of shorter books that I'd like to work on more.
My only current series, for which I am writing book 2, is set in the same world but in a different country, and with no reference to the other book whatsoever. There's a new cast and a new setting, but the basic elements of the setting remain the same, as do those of the plot and meaning.
@ Grace – I agree, J.K. Rowling was awesome! It was amazing to read her books, how it all tied in together. I was also studying her time lapse . . . she writes events that happened months apart side by side, and I've always struggled with that. I've known where I was going, but wondered how to get there. J.K. Rowling pulls it off with a few sentences about the weather or the owls or something! I could learn a lot from that.
F says:
Oh, yes, I noticed that inconsistency when I was skimming through Ella Enchanted and laughed. I'm glad it wasn't an oversight, though, and I would love to see more stories in the same world…maybe in Frell with a certain Cook's Helper? Hehe. 🙂
I loved Bamarre as well, and think there's a whole new story that can be told at the end when Meryl stays with Drualt, though I loved the new-beginning ending.
Aaand…yeah, I get annoyed by the lack of stand alone books in the publishing world, because that means you can't sit down for a book to read, but that you're tied to a whole forthcoming-you'll-have-to-wait-for-the-rest series. And I tip my hat to those who write series, because I'm sure it isn't easy. However, much as I enjoy them, I miss those times when you could pick up a book and know it wasn't attached to others.
@Grace and Others: Oh, JKRowling is amazing. What you said up there, Grace, perfectly defines it. AMAZING. I mean, seriously. From the third sentence of Chapter One she sets up the major plot point of Book three. How awesome can you get?
Wendy says:
I really liked this post! I often think about if I want my current projects to become a series, or if I want to start a series. Very interesting.
I also agree that a sequel to "The Two Princesses of Bamarre" would be awesome. I once had the thought that a story set way later on would be kind of cool, with some descendant of Addie so Meryl would be her fairy godmother. Sooner would be cool to see too, with Meryl and Drualt and Addie and Rhys. But I also love the book itself standing alone… it's noce to not have everything a series. It's not my choice anyhow. 🙂
I can't wait to read "A Tale of Two Castles!"
Maddie says:
I agree with everyone who extolled JK Rowling's awesomeness. I mean, for anyone to tie together seven fairly long books as well as she did either requires some serious planning or some serious thinking, maybe both.
However, Mrs. Levine does an awesome job too- and quite honestly, I don't remember noticing a discrepancy with Fairest and Ella Enchanted. My guess is that the rest of your writing was so good it didn't matter. 😀 I, too, would love to see a sequal to "Two Princesses" but I also agree with F about stand-alone books being nice too.
I was wondering- do you have any thoughts about sequal vs. prequal? Like, does it depend on the author or the type of story? Or is it one of those, "you wrote the story, so you decide" kind of things? 😀 Does anyone prefer one or the other?
Mya says:
Personally, I cannot fanthom writing an entire series. So many details to keep track of. I agree with F, its rather hard these days with stand alone books in the fantasy section. But with sequels and prequels, the idea is very alluring.=) In fact, I've quite despised my NaNo novel, but now the season's over, I quite miss it, and perhaps a sequel is on the way.=D
As for books from different viewpoints, I think if its done right, the result is great. There was a really lovely series back from my primary school days called The Girls of the Lighthouse Lane. Each book described a certain event happening to each of the protagonists, 4 girls living in the USA in 1905. Every girl had their own personality and the plot progressed through 4 years. The style was quite simple, but the entire series was so satisfying, truly getting to know every character's secrets and achievements.
On looking back, what made the books come together was the little village they lived in. So I suppose its not always necessary to have antagonists through a series.=D
Its meant for children I think, ages 8 and up, but it was such a sweet series I recommend it to anyone interested.=)
I'm sooo excited about the new mystery book!! Wish it would be released sooner.
Ah, I definitely noticed the differences in Fairest and Ella Enchanted too, but I rather liked it, it made Fairest stand out on its own.=) After all, why can't we play around with the world we create, so long as the facts don't gets comepletely tangled up?=)
@Grace: I agree with F, you are spot on about JK Rowling! To create such a world and stringing it together, its mindblowing. When a plot sheet she had drawn up surfaced on the internet, it really was quite insightful. All those graphs and marks about what would happen in each chapter. Hmm, I never did think writing could be like Math, only you come up with the equations yourself.=D
April says:
I keep checking Amazon to see if I can preorder Tale of Two Castles yet. 🙂
I won't request a certain book from you—I love everything you write, so write where your heart takes you!
Erin Edwards says:
I definitely need to make myself a "remember" file for my book, because as many times as I have read ELLA ENCHANTED, I didn't notice that inconsistency between ELLA and FAIREST!
@ Jenna – I remember with struggling with how to link together events that don't happen one right after another. Somehow, when I got to the end of my most recent book, I had solved that problem and I'm not quite sure how. I do remember studying both ELLA ENCHANTED and the first HARRY POTTER to try and figure this out.
I think, in part, it evolves from not writing a sequence of what happens to the character during the day and worrying about how they get from point to point to point; it happens from writing only key scenes and then linking them together afterward. I think this is another blog topic for Ms. Levine!
@Maddie – As a rule, I prefer sequels to prequels. Maybe because I'm thinking of the WHEEL OF TIME series where the prequel felt like just another delay in getting to the end of the series. And in STAR WARS I don't like that the prequels end so sadly. I have never seen the 3rd (prequel) because I was so disappointed that it broke what I thought was one of STAR WARS strengths, peril but with main good characters without gore.
But, to contradict what I just said, in the book I just finished, I came up with a *really* interesting back story that I would love to tell (and it would be YA whereas my current book is MG). To me, I think it would matter if the "prequel" could be a satisfying story in it's own right with a conclusive ending, and not just setting up the start of the series.
F says:
@Mya: So true! My last year's NaNoWriMo novel, I thought it could never have a sequel. Then I realized, lo and behold, what if THIS were to happen? :O And now I'm thinking about it. It'll be really different, but it seems like a good possibility now…
And here I am, the series writer. 😛 But I'll definitely try to write one properly mapped out one someday, too. It's alluring, writing a series.
Jenna Royal says:
I never really noticed the inconsistencies between Ella Enchanted and Fairest. I thought it was because I had read them with a long time span in between, but maybe they just weren't that noticeable. The writing and story definitely made up for it, though. I was too caught up in Fairest to even think about looking for differences.
@ Erin – I think you're right. I've sometimes tried writing a story by skipping around and writing the important bits, and then linking them together. I did that with my NaNoWriMo novel. I was getting so stuck, and I didn't quite know how to get where I was going, so I wrote the scene I was aiming for and all the stuff that happened in between the two points just kind of happened. It was really nice. That's also how I've written most of my endings, by jumping around and filling in later.
The thing I noticed about Harry Potter is that the things linking the two events is something that they both have in common, like the owls sending messages or all the rain they were getting or something. I don't know how easy it would be to incorporate something like that into a story, but it is worth considering when you get stuck, at least.
@ Erin and Maddie – I prefer sequels, I think, because you want to know what happens next, not what happens before, but on some occasions a prequel is fun, too, if you have a good enough back story to tell. It can be fun to have some idea of how things are going to turn out when you read the story. It's cool to see it all fall into place.
I had a decent back story in a story I wrote recently, and I considered writing a prequel about it, but I wasn't sure how I could connect all the events, and I didn't want to clutter up the series of semi-related books I had planned out with multiple smaller series of prequels and sequels. However, I might still use the basic ideas and twist them into a new, stand-alone book, because I still like some of the elements.
gailcarsonlevine says:
Angie–My editor asked me to write another book set in Ella's world. This was about five or six years after ELLA ENCHANTED was published. I probably wouldn't have thought of it on my own.
I haven't written any of it so far, and I don't know when I'll get to it, but I have a vague idea for a prequel to TWO PRINCESSES, which would take place during the time of Drualt.
Maddie–I have no preference between sequel and prequel. I like them both.
Erin Edwards–Can you elaborate a little on the problem of linking scenes together? I'll be happy to write a post on the subject, but I want to understand better what you're asking.
Stormy Winters says:
Hi! I have been reading this blog for a little while, and I am currently working on a story. I'm not sure if you have posted this anywhere else, but I am currently obsessing over a name for my character. You always have great names, so how do you come up with them? Thanks!
Erin Edwards says:
I think what Jenna was referring to is that it's very hard not to start with the character waking up and cover getting dressed, breakfast, how they got to school, what happened before lunch, and everything else that happened that day before you get to, say, dinner, when something important happened.
Or, say it's two to three days, before the next important event happens. When you first write out a story, it's quite tempting to sketch out what happens on each day leading up to a more important event, even though it's not important.
Or say the character is at home, and the next important thing happens at the library. Well, you feel like you have to "show" how the character gets to the library, especially since it has been pounded into writers that "telling" is bad. And it is a little bit tricky, because you certainly don't want a reader wondering how the character got to the library during an important scene.
I don't think I said it very well, but maybe that makes more sense now?
Erin Edwards says:
@ Jenna and Maddie – I think maybe it might be the case that if you are going to write a prequel, then it better be *really* good. 🙂
@ Maddie – If you are a writer working toward getting published, I think, perhaps, you are better of working on a completely new idea (unless your sequel or prequel really could be a stand-alone). Leave sequel writing for when you know you have an idea and editor is interested in and interested in seeing more of it. Or maybe not. The only sure thing is that there is nothing certain on the road to publication.
gailcarsonlevine says:
Erin Edwards and Jenna Royal–I think I did talk about this in my posts going back to 9/16/09 and 9/22/09. If you reread it and have more questions of the subject, please ask.
April says:
@Stormy Winters
Here's an entry about naming characters that I found using Gail's search bar: http://gailcarsonlevine.blogspot.com/2009/08/nomenclature.html
It's kind of funny that one of the name examples she uses is "Stormy." 🙂
@Gail
Maybe that entry needs a "names" or "naming characters" tag?
Erin Edwards says:
Aha! Yes, evidence that passage of time was something I struggled with, as posts on that topic were in response to my question. And I guess also that it shows evidence that your answer helped, because I think time worked out on the book I was working on. 🙂
Maddie says:
Thanks to everyone who answered my question- as of right now, I'm not thinking of a sequal OR a prequal- I was just curious what everyone's opinions were! I actually can't think of any prequal that i've read, which is probably a sign that if I did read any, they weren't very good.
Stormy Winters- I own an AWESOME book called "Beyond Jennifer and Jason" and it's sort of like a baby name book, only it goes into detail about the sort of impressions each name gives, origins of names, time-period names, and just general impact of names that are PERFECT for writers. There's even a chapter on sibling names, which is helpful for selecting multiple names in a story that mesh well.
However, Mrs. Levine's post was also great and gave me some great new insights!
Kathleen says:
Hello-
This was a great post, though I'm nowhere near the point of publishing. I've read this blog many times, but this is my first time commenting. 🙂
I was wondering if any of you knew any good young adult books about writing poetry.
Thanks!
Josie and Wayne says:
I just discovered your blog today and I love it! You have so much great advice, even though I don't have much of a desire to write, I'd rather just read and let everyone else do the hard work.
Anyway, I just wanted to say how thrilled I am that you are working on more books with Elodie and the dragon (which I pictured to be a girl). I won an ARC copy of that book from goodreads and loved it! I usually don't care to get into series of books but I liked the characters so much and it ended leaving me wanting more (which is rare for me). I hope Elodie can grow up a little bit and then find a love interest:)