"Series funk" a part of writer's block?

I'm currently writing the second book of a series, and it is a struggle at times. Mainly, this is because the fun of discovering the characters and world has passed. I'm also scared that I might let things get too repetitive.

Maybe the key is to switch between different writing projects before continuing on to the sequels? Maybe writing other characters and other stories will give you the time to get over the one you just wrote, and then you can revisit the characters again when you've nearly forgotten them and they're "fresh" again?

I think it could be a form of writer's block, considering you are blocked on how to continue their story, or, more accurately, find the will to.

Full disclosure: I've never written a novel series, but I'm wiritng serialized comics and am working on a new long story that may or may not become part of a series. So I know only partly what I'm talking about here. I have, however, failed at least once to write a sequel to a long-form comic. So there's that.

Personally, I'm not a fan of Writing For The Series. It leaves too many otherwise good stories frustratingly unresolved, especially in the wake of current YA hits like The Hunger Games. A good book wraps up its story in a satisfying fashion. A good book that's supposed to be part of a series introduces a world that is much richer than what the main plot covers while being fully and satisfyingly resolved. A good sequel then explores new aspects of that world and the character configuration you've introduced. In my book, unless you have that new aspect you really are dying to explore, maybe you just shouldn't write a sequel. (Unless you're contractually bound, obviously.)

Maybe your sequels are too close to what you've already covered or achieved in the first? (Even if you're exploring new ground, this may be the case.) Maybe they're too far away and don't really connect as neatly as you'd like? Maybe the new aspects you're exploring aren't as naturally endemic to the world you built than the first book's? Does the world limit you? Maybe some of the characters you feel obliged to use get in the way? Or maybe you've chosen the wrong characters from the first book to focus on?

That one sequel I failed to write years ago was a mix of all these hindrances. As for the original question: It's related to writer's block in the sense that quite often, writer's block is your storytelling spider sense tingling telling you there's something off about this story and it still needs wortk before seetting it to the page. (And quite often it's your fear of success disguising itself as your storytelling spider sense, but that 's another story.)

No, it has nothing to do with the mythical "writer's block". You just don't want to write books in a series. You don't enjoy it. What's the problem? If you don't want to write them, don't write them.

I second that. Write something else.

Jamesaritchie said:

No, it has nothing to do with the mythical "writer's block". You just don't want to write books in a series. You don't enjoy it. What's the problem? If you don't want to write them, don't write them.

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Oi. Read the rules.

• This isn't the place to discuss the existence of writer's block. The basic operating assumption is that it does exist for many writers.
• This is a place to discuss methods of coping, outwitting, or circumventing writer's block.

While you may not have experienced writer's block yourself, it is nonetheless unkind, unhelpful and potentially harmful to doubt or dismiss the difficulties of other writers. Don't do that here.

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Maybe you're finished or "burnt out" onto the world or series? Maybe by the time you finished the first story, you're already subconsciously ready to move on to another story or feel that the story is complete. Maybe there's not enough material for a sequel or series?