One Book or More?

My husband asked me this morning how I decide whether to stop writing a story after the first book or continue into a series. This is not the first time he's asked me this question, nor is he the first person to ask me.

Today, I thought it would be fun to take a look at how I decide to end a story at one book or follow up with a sequel (or a series). I especially love this topic because as an indie author publishing under my own imprint rather than publishing traditionally, this is another area where I enjoy total freedom and decision making power. 

When my husband and I were talking this morning - as he was beta reading and I kept interrupting to talk about the sequel I'm outlining - he asked me how I decided to write a sequel for my upcoming release but not for others. He mentioned that the world I built for my 2022 novel Clairvoyance has potential for a series, as does a romantic comedy type novel I have written that may be coming out next year. We had a brief discussion about why I make those decisions, and I thought I'd share my process of how I decide with you all. 

When I'm working on a story, and I'm trying to decide whether or not I want to follow it up with a sequel, there are a number questions I ask or things I think about. I typically start thinking these things fairly on in the draft, so I can start tying things into my first book that will connect to the next.

• First, is there more story here that I feel needs to be explored? If yes, I start making those connections and trying to figure out where I want the story to go. If I don't feel the story needs to be explored, but I could do some cool things with it, I also consider drafting another book within the series.

 

• Second, will the story continue, or will it go in a new direction? This question is one I use to prepare my general outline when I actually start drafting the sequel.
  • If the story goes in a new direction, is it experienced by the same characters? Is it connected enough to live within the bounds of the series?
  • If the story continues, is there enough substance for a whole other book, or do I need to extend the length of (or rewrite) this book?

 

• Third, if I were to follow up with another book, what will that do to the integrity of the story I already created? This is where I came back to when I looked at Clairvoyance and the other book my husband was asking about. Yes, I think I could easily expand the story into multiple books. However, I felt that, rather than adding value to the story I wrote, I felt it would be washed out. So, I decided to keep these books as stand-alone works.

 

• Fourth, do I feel passionate about the sequel? Do I have enough steam to finish the draft and take the book all the way through marketing and release? If not, perhaps this is something I would rather not create. After all, there are many books that do perfectly well in their one little bubble. 

Like what you see here? Scroll down for more entries, and check back next week. Next weekend, we will be taking a look at using travel in your writing!