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Sequel Success

© Erica Davis

We often see sequels of movies released, and have become accustomed to seeing Part II after a blockbuster hit. This is true in books as well, forso many great books have had sequels or spin offs written. The sequels in either case are not always written by the same author as the first piece,and the myth goes that the sequel can never be as good as the original. This is an opinion of course, because so many sequels have not only been successful, but also merited the good reviews and attention they received.

Some books were not written with a sequel in mind, for example Gone With The Wind by Margaret Mitchell was the only book with those characters she intended to write, and the sequel, Scarlett by Alexandra Ripley, was not written until many years after Ms. Mitchell's death. Although Scarlett may have received some good reviews, it never reached the success or notoriety of its predecessor. In contrast, The Hobbit was written in 1937 by J.R.R. Tolkien, and it's sequel, The Fellowship of The Ring was not written until 1954. Tolkien penned both books, along with The Return of the King. They were all successful.

Book series are a little different. The Harry Potter series became an international success almost overnight and skyrocketed author J.K. Rowling into instant stardom, and wealth. Rowling planned from the beginning to write seven Potter books, one for each of his years at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Book two, three and so on are technically each books in the series instead of sequels. However, this doesn't stop comparisons to The Sorcerer's Stone the original first book. On a larger scale, such a the Nancy Drew or Hardy Boys mysteries, all of those books would be part of the series and you would not refer to those as sequels of the original book. There are far too many.

What makes a bad sequel? Each piece is different. Often times sequels are written for the wrong reason, and that is money. The old "strike when the iron is hot," theory is almost overused in the sequel business because many authors try to capitalize on the success of their first book/movie, and find that they are not able to recapture what was in the original piece. That is why we have the saying that the sequel is never as good as the original, mostly because so many bad sequels have been made. Trying to write another "hit" based on the one you already had can lead to pitfalls if your ingredients aren’t' right. A couple of ways to analyze your work for sequel possibilities is to ask yourself these questions:

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