First is good, Second better, the Third...

HAHAHA I almost jumped to my certain death off my chair thinking this was another POV question.

I don't think I'd ever write sequels, but I agree with you that in that some writers just seems to run out of steam and are milking it for the money. Some series are okay still, like the Nick Stone series by Andy Mcnab and the Jack Reacher series by Lee Child is still okay but they've both had some bad ones in there and I think the Jack Reacher series is about done. But from what I hear the stephany plum series is on its deathbed and the laurell K Hamilton Anita Blake series should have been buried already.

I think what happens is the author gets so comfortable with a character that maybe it's a little scary to think about working with a new character. And she's confined with how much character growth a character can have in a series so it ends up stagnant. And the same old crazy things happen because it worked out so well before and without that character growth there's only so much you can do to a character because her response is going to be the same because of the lack of growth. it's a vicious cycle.

My sister is a series freak. She cruises the bookstore looking for series. Doesn't matter what genre. Last week, she decided it had to be a sci fi series. I pointed her to the Lois McMaster-Bujold books. Me, I'm not so crazy about series for just what we discussed about.

Suzanne Brockmann writes a series of sorts where each book is about a different character but they all work for the same team and they all have recurring roles in the other books sometimes as POV characters. It worked okay for a while but I'm really tired of it now. Some characters end up having a 4 or 5 book story arc before they get their own story and it was cool the first time she did it but not so cool the 4th time. I think her series is done and needs to be wrapped up. soon.

I think every author goes into a panic while writing a sequel (at least the ones under contract) because the second book has to be better than the first to prove they aren't a one-hit wonder. After a second success, they don't panic so much and maybe don't polish that third book as well.

I know that I'm just finishing up the first draft of book two now, and I've been sweating it the whole time, hoping I can make it better than the first. I'm trying to keep it fresh by finding new things to reveal and new directions for my protag to go in. I'm also letting the secondary characters play bigger roles and develop them more. I want it to be a great adventure like book one, but not the same adventure. I have a similar plan for book three, which I'll write next year.

As for series, I tend to lose interest with a lot of writers after book three, because the stories are lacking, and rehash too much of the first books. Some people like this since they get to visit the same characters and read the same basic book over and over, but it's not for everyone.

I always worry if my sequels will be as good as the stories before them. Then again, I worry that ANYTHING of mine will turn out good or not, so...maybe it's not necessarily a sequel thing for me!

My fears usually seem to prove unfounded. But that's just my opinion. I'm not published so I couldn't judge, but I have yet to have somebody say, "The first story was great but the second one SUCKED!"

If the three books are a trilogy rather than more loosely related sequels, I've always heard that the second one is the least good. This is because the first one gets the good worldbuilding and initial character development, the last one gets the action and satisfaction of the ending, but the middle one only gets the blahs of plot development.

My question? When you write your sequels, do you ever have this fear that it won't live up to the ones before it ( depending on how good you or others thought it was)? I'm in a rut now because I wrote two books in a trilogy and now I'm on the third, but I can't find a new dynamic to throw into it to make it stand out more than the last two... Well I found a couple, I just can't find that edge that kept me writing the first two.

What do you think? Has it happened to anyone here before?[/quote]

Yes. The first one came out in 2000 the second in 2004 and the third is out this May. I was desperate to write the final part - in 2004 and when I finally got the go ahead from my publisher I was elated. (This was the third story synopsis I'd proposed for the final sequel.)

It was a struggle to find that voice again after a long break, working on stand alones and it was a struggle to complete the story arc in a way which resolved the issues raised in the previous two but which did not repeat the pattern of either.
I think its OK. I've had some positive feedback from people I trust, but I won't know till later in the year if readers like it.

I had to give myself a serious talking to at one point when I lost faith in my ability to pull it off, so you have my sympathy.