Got any tips for writing a prequel?

Gregg Bell · Oct 11, 2019

I have a series that's a farce. It's about two early twenties bumbling Navy SEALs. (Kind of like the old TV show "McHale's Navy.") Book one starts when the SEALs are matched up as partners and get their first mission.

I tried to write a prequel but I just basically told where the characters were born, what they were like in school, blah blah blah, and it just came out as episodic mush. (There was no story to ground it.)

Got any tips to make a prequel come alive? (And I'm totally willing to scrap what I wrote and start from scratch.)

Kat M · Oct 11, 2019

You're going to need a compelling story that can stand on its own.

Take the Star Wars prequels, and leave aside the bitterly divided popular opinion about them. One thing they did right was creating a story that stood on its own. Not a tale of how Luke and Leia came to be (even though they do), but the tale of young Anakin and his conflict and the person it drives him to become. Yes, it's an origin story for three of the main characters in the original trilogy, but if you stopped watching after Episode III you'd have a complete arc. A sad arc, but complete.

So what compelling, stand-alone story arc can you make of these characters before the first story?

Gregg Bell · Oct 11, 2019

Kat M said:
You're going to need a compelling story that can stand on its own.

Take the Star Wars prequels, and leave aside the bitterly divided popular opinion about them. One thing they did right was creating a story that stood on its own. Not a tale of how Luke and Leia came to be (even though they do), but the tale of young Anakin and his conflict and the person it drives him to become. Yes, it's an origin story for three of the main characters in the original trilogy, but if you stopped watching after Episode III you'd have a complete arc. A sad arc, but complete.

So what compelling, stand-alone story arc can you make of these characters before the first story?

Hmm. I don't know yet. I looked at the Anakin thing and that seems to be about bloodlines and ancestry. These two SEALs (one is female and grew up in a small town in Kansas, the other is male and grew up in Chicago) have very little in common (besides not being very bright) until they become SEALs. A friend suggested having them have near misses until they get together, but I don't see a kernel of a story there, either. I'll keep thinking. (Thanks for the feedback.)

Brightdreamer · Oct 11, 2019

Seconding the "compelling stand-alone story arc" as a necessity.

You would almost need two separate stories, if they don't meet until they're already SEALs. (And, as a side-note, be careful how bumbling you make them - to be a SEAL implies a certain base level of competence that I'd think would be tough to fake all the way through training. One could more easily "fail upwards" in the general Navy than in a specialty program like the SEALs, IMHO.) Consider what led them to the Navy - misadventures in high school perhaps, or a dare that got out of hand leading to a series of disasters ending with enlistment being the best option they could come up with. Was there a hero or relative they were trying to emulate or impress, perhaps with hilariously poor consequences? If the Navy wasn't their first career choice, what was... and why didn't it work out/how did their incompetence sabotage it?

Consider, too, that you just may not find enough to hold interest for a novel, just a novella or even a short. Also consider that this may be for your own edification as a writer, to flesh out characters and motivations, rather than something the reading public would be interested in.

Best of luck!

frimble3 · Oct 11, 2019

Why not start at the point where their lives join? SEAL training. Or, just before, when a man and a woman, from landlocked areas (okay, Chicago is on a Great Lake, but I'll bet a kid could go his whole life without getting into that lake) with a lot of ambition but not much smarts decide to go into the Navy, and, go big or go home, want to become SEALS.
They buddy up because no-one else particularly wants them, each shores up the other's deficiencies and a friendship is born!

MaeZe · Oct 11, 2019

Does your story actually have a prequel or are you simply trying to manufacture one?

I wrote a short story prequel to my duology because there was an actual backstory there which stood alone.

Did something happen that is backstory to your story?

Gregg Bell · Oct 12, 2019

Brightdreamer said:
Seconding the "compelling stand-alone story arc" as a necessity.

You would almost need two separate stories, if they don't meet until they're already SEALs. (And, as a side-note, be careful how bumbling you make them - to be a SEAL implies a certain base level of competence that I'd think would be tough to fake all the way through training. One could more easily "fail upwards" in the general Navy than in a specialty program like the SEALs, IMHO.) Consider what led them to the Navy - misadventures in high school perhaps, or a dare that got out of hand leading to a series of disasters ending with enlistment being the best option they could come up with. Was there a hero or relative they were trying to emulate or impress, perhaps with hilariously poor consequences? If the Navy wasn't their first career choice, what was... and why didn't it work out/how did their incompetence sabotage it?

Consider, too, that you just may not find enough to hold interest for a novel, just a novella or even a short. Also consider that this may be for your own edification as a writer, to flesh out characters and motivations, rather than something the reading public would be interested in.

Best of luck!

Thanks a lot, dreamer. Great suggestions. And I can have at least one of them getting coached to get in enough shape to be a SEAL (the one guy comes from a rich family and could hire a personal trainer). And yeah, why the first career choice failed. Great stuff. Thank you.

Gregg Bell · Oct 12, 2019

frimble3 said:
Why not start at the point where their lives join? SEAL training. Or, just before, when a man and a woman, from landlocked areas (okay, Chicago is on a Great Lake, but I'll bet a kid could go his whole life without getting into that lake) with a lot of ambition but not much smarts decide to go into the Navy, and, go big or go home, want to become SEALS.
They buddy up because no-one else particularly wants them, each shores up the other's deficiencies and a friendship is born!

Hey frimble. Thanks. I like the idea of starting it pretty close to when they start their SEAL training. (Originally I was trying to do a childhood thing and it was unwieldy.) And yeah, the "go big or go home" is good, because they'll have to have plenty of ego strength (however misguided) because they're lacking the mental strength.

Gregg Bell · Oct 12, 2019

MaeZe said:
Does your story actually have a prequel or are you simply trying to manufacture one?

I wrote a short story prequel to my duology because there was an actual backstory there which stood alone.

Did something happen that is backstory to your story?

Thanks Mae. I'm manufacturing the prequel. But the characters do have relatives and back stories in the extant books, so it's not like starting from scratch.

P.S. Like your quote. Just tweeted it.

frimble3 · Oct 12, 2019

Gregg Bell said:
. (Originally I was trying to do a childhood thing and it was unwieldy.) .

It's really hard to imagine a boy and a girl both going down the same difficult path together from childhood. Maybe more believable under different circumstances (small, one industry town where everyone ends up working in the mill), or, if the country is at war and people are encouraged to 'do their bit'.
to
But, by starting at their Navy enlistment, you have a chance to show what they have in common, as adults, as well as their different backstories.

Dan Rhys · Oct 12, 2019

You may be going about it in reverse of how you should. Instead of trying to find a part in their lives that they meet and basing the story on that, perhaps come up with an entirely new story involving the two main characters that is entirely separate and can stand alone and THEN figure out a way to set it before the the next (or original) story.

Gregg Bell · Oct 12, 2019

frimble3 said:
It's really hard to imagine a boy and a girl both going down the same difficult path together from childhood. Maybe more believable under different circumstances (small, one industry town where everyone ends up working in the mill), or, if the country is at war and people are encouraged to 'do their bit'.
to
But, by starting at their Navy enlistment, you have a chance to show what they have in common, as adults, as well as their different backstories.

Thanks frimble. I think I was hooked on the childhood thing because I'm always hearing about these characters who had some traumatic experience in their childhood. (Batman's parents getting murdered. lol)

But I think I have to go back a little bit, though, because in the books out there now, I already share a few back stories. But I just won't go back too far.

Gregg Bell · Oct 12, 2019

Dan Rhys said:
You may be going about it in reverse of how you should. Instead of trying to find a part in their lives that they meet and basing the story on that, perhaps come up with an entirely new story involving the two main characters that is entirely separate and can stand alone and THEN figure out a way to set it before the the next (or original) story.

Thanks Dan. I hear you but I haven't been able to come up with a single story about the two characters. Like Kat M. was saying about the Star Wars prequels. One of them focuses on a common distant ancestor's story. But my two characters have nothing in common except that they eventually become Navy SEALs. But I'll keep thinking.

Woollybear · Oct 12, 2019

I've written five or six short stories/novellas that pre-date my novel's timeframe and involve the same characters.

Two work as prequels. They each have unique protagonist/antagonist relationships, and they each have their own independent reason to 'exist.' They also sprung from beta readers who wanted more detail about some plot point in the novel.

The three or four that don't work are backstory. They're just backstory. There's a difference between backstory and prequel.

Main thing: Find your ANTAGONIST for your prequel, and his/her reason to exist. That's where you get the oomph for your story. And make sure your prequel has a theme that stands strong.

MythMonger · Oct 13, 2019

Are you already set on writing the prequel about your two protagonists? Have you considered writing about another character from your series, such as the antagonist or an interesting secondary character?

Gregg Bell · Oct 13, 2019

Patty said:
I've written five or six short stories/novellas that pre-date my novel's timeframe and involve the same characters.

Two work as prequels. They each have unique protagonist/antagonist relationships, and they each have their own independent reason to 'exist.' They also sprung from beta readers who wanted more detail about some plot point in the novel.

The three or four that don't work are backstory. They're just backstory. There's a difference between backstory and prequel.

Main thing: Find your ANTAGONIST for your prequel, and his/her reason to exist. That's where you get the oomph for your story. And make sure your prequel has a theme that stands strong.

Thanks Patty. That makes great sense. I hadn't really thought of having an antagonist at all. In the series the two main characters are each other's antagonists. And maybe Communism is a mutual antagonist. I'll have to think more on this.

Gregg Bell · Oct 13, 2019

MythMonger said:
Are you already set on writing the prequel about your two protagonists? Have you considered writing about another character from your series, such as the antagonist or an interesting secondary character?

Thanks MythMonger. That's thinking outside the box. I hadn't thought of that at all. The SEAL partners have an eighty-five-year-old commander that kind of ties the two partners, who are very disparate, together. Maybe I can have something about her. But my first reaction to that is, no, because the partners are the bread and butter of the series. But you may have the way to go. I'll keep thinking. Appreciate the help.

Elenitsa · Oct 14, 2019

Patty said:
I've written five or six short stories/novellas that pre-date my novel's timeframe and involve the same characters.

Two work as prequels. The three or four that don't work are backstory. They're just backstory. There's a difference between backstory and prequel.

Why? I have always thought that backstory is prequel, because it happens before the main story... Or, rather, which are these differences?

benbenberi · Oct 15, 2019

Prequels, in my experience, work when they answer a question that was set up in the main story that the main story never addresses. Since it's prequel, there are a lot of givens about the end state -- you can't invalidate the main story by, frex, killing in the prequel a character who's still alive & kicking later (unless you're doing something very strange and time-twisty). It's hard to build a lot of suspense around a known conclusion beyond the simple "How do they get out of this one?". Which is valid, but ultimately not very satisfying. If there's no story question prompting the prequel, why does the prequel even exist?

I think that touches on the distinction Patty is getting at. Of course there are lots of things that have happened to all the characters before the main story opens. But unless there are things about what happened to them before that the reader really wants to know, all that backstory is just backstory. Nobody is out looking for it. You may want to write it for your own enjoyment/information. Readers who like your characters may enjoy spending some more time with them in their immature stage, or seeing more of their early activities & relationships. It may possibly include things that might enhance a re-reading of the main story, which is a nice bonus. But the main story doesn't need it.

Woollybear · Oct 15, 2019

Elenitsa said:
Why? I have always thought that backstory is prequel, because it happens before the main story... Or, rather, which are these differences?

I mean, it sort of is, but if there's no story to the back-story, then it's boring. Backstory would be sort of like all the early stuff a beginning writer is advised to cut out of the first draft, like the first three chapters or whatever, to get to the story. It's worldbuilding.

One of the short stories I wrote was to figure out how my villains became so villainous. I decided to write their first hit job. I did. I fleshed it out--who the victim was, how she ran from these villains, how they tracked her, and how they killed her and in so doing, how they became broken. The point of the story (for me) was to make them kill someone (and try to make it believable) so that they are more legitimately... pathetic and evil in the novel itself. I don't think I'll ever use that back-story as a story though, because even though it shows their first victim, it's boring. The reason it's boring is because she has no story of her own, no purpose--she's just on the run.

Backstory would be like a story of Luke Skywalker tending the moisture condensers or whatever at his uncle's farm, while his buddy Biggs is joining up with the resistance (the alliance)--and Luke is frustrated he can't go with Biggs. I don't know, it's possibly necessary for an author to figure out why Luke is so hell-bent to join the alliance in episode IV, and so maybe the author needs to world-build and write a prequel about Biggs. Maybe how he joined up is necessary to explain Luke's own frustration, but do we the reader really want to read a story about Luke hanging out with Biggs and shooting womp rats and throwing back beers after and then dragging himself out of bed the next day to fix condensers while he thinks about Biggs signing up? I mean, maybe. But it's just backstory, to my way of thinking. And a person could write endless back story.

YMMV.

ETA: What Benbenberi said.

ETA2: I think an arc is necessary. If Biggs had a character arc, then the prequel might work better. It'd end up being about him and his story--like was done in Solo.

Gregg Bell · Oct 15, 2019

benbenberi said:
Prequels, in my experience, work when they answer a question that was set up in the main story that the main story never addresses. Since it's prequel, there are a lot of givens about the end state -- you can't invalidate the main story by, frex, killing in the prequel a character who's still alive & kicking later (unless you're doing something very strange and time-twisty). It's hard to build a lot of suspense around a known conclusion beyond the simple "How do they get out of this one?". Which is valid, but ultimately not very satisfying. If there's no story question prompting the prequel, why does the prequel even exist?

I think that touches on the distinction Patty is getting at. Of course there are lots of things that have happened to all the characters before the main story opens. But unless there are things about what happened to them before that the reader really wants to know, all that backstory is just backstory. Nobody is out looking for it. You may want to write it for your own enjoyment/information. Readers who like your characters may enjoy spending some more time with them in their immature stage, or seeing more of their early activities & relationships. It may possibly include things that might enhance a re-reading of the main story, which is a nice bonus. But the main story doesn't need it.

Thanks benbenberi. I can see what your saying. I've never been a big fan of backstory and to write a 100% backstory prequel sounds incredibly boring. Like Patty and MythMonder said an antagonist is going to be very helpful. Someone suggested using something like, 'Since your characters in the books aren't very bright or SEAL-like, why not write about how they became SEALs against such great odds.' I can see one antagonist in that the one SEAL's mother wanted him to become a doctor, so she could try to foil his plans. But the other SEAL just comes from hardscrabble roots, and a clearly identifiable antagonist is hard to find for her. And even if I did find one, it doesn't sound like it would be too interesting.

Someone else suggested (esp. since one SEAL is male and the other female) doing a "How I Met Your Mother" kind of thing. Near misses of them meeting until they finally do (at the end of the prequel) at the Navy SEAL tryouts.

And really I'm writing the prequel to draw people to book one of the series, not necessarily for current readers to enjoy learning more about the characters.

I almost feel like I need a murder in here somewhere. Although the one SEAL's parents were murdered by the Russians.

I'll keep searching. Something's bound to show up.

benbenberi · Oct 15, 2019

Gregg Bell said:
But the other SEAL just comes from hardscrabble roots, and a clearly identifiable antagonist is hard to find for her. And even if I did find one, it doesn't sound like it would be too interesting.

An antagonist doesn't have to be an enemy or a villain. If your SEAL is coming from hardscrabble roots, she may be struggling against her family/community's expectations for her. They think she thinks she's too good for them. They think she's just going through a phase and soon enough she'll settle down to a job and have a kid & be normal like everyone else. SHE's got the internalized "you can't do that, only smart kids with connections get to do what you want to do and you ain't that special anyway" dragging at her, so she has to fight for every tiny piece of success she achieves and they STILL don't think she can make it all the way...

Gregg Bell · Oct 16, 2019

benbenberi said:
An antagonist doesn't have to be an enemy or a villain. If your SEAL is coming from hardscrabble roots, she may be struggling against her family/community's expectations for her. They think she thinks she's too good for them. They think she's just going through a phase and soon enough she'll settle down to a job and have a kid & be normal like everyone else. SHE's got the internalized "you can't do that, only smart kids with connections get to do what you want to do and you ain't that special anyway" dragging at her, so she has to fight for every tiny piece of success she achieves and they STILL don't think she can make it all the way...

Thanks for the help with this. So I have the goal (becoming a SEAL) for both main characters. And I have antagonists (like the male SEAL's mother is insistent that he marry a Jewish wife and become and M.D. and, as you suggest, the female has the community against her, especially since she would be the first female SEAL) for both characters. But in a prequel how would I pull this off? Alternating chapters? One with the guy's struggles, the other with the woman's? It seems I'm missing a unifying aspect that would make the prequel be interesting as a whole. And perhaps there's something more interesting than just the community or a Jewish mother being antagonists. The female SEAL was somewhat tricked into joining a white supremacy group. Maybe in her getting out of the group, she has to toughen up and she sees being a SEAL as her avenue to that. But still what would unify the two separate story lines?

Kat M · Oct 16, 2019

If they have an obvious and genuine connection by the end of the book, it doesn't make sense to me for the prequel to contain both of them. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm thinking a prequel should be able to stand alone no matter what. So I'm imagining myself reading your prequel without having even heard of your other novel. If these two viewpoint characters never meet or have no connection, I'm going to be very frustrated by the end.

I usually see this in historicals. One storyline takes place in the past, the other in the present-day. The two protagonists never meet, but the events of the past directly influence the events of the present.

I can't think of the title off the top of my head, but I read this one. In the 1820s (?), the protagonist was the daughter of a lighthouse keeper. She achieved international fame by assisting in a dangerous rescue. In the 1930s, the protagonist was a young woman who had an heirloom from the lighthouse-keeper's daughter, but there was no family connection. That was the beginning; by the end, we understood why the heirloom was in the family. Meanwhile, we had experienced both of their individual journeys.

So taking it back to your story, I'm thinking your protags will need a greater connection to each other than "and then they started SEAL school and met each other" (I don't know how Navy SEALs are trained, so fill it in with the proper terminology). Otherwise it's just two stories alternating for no particular reason.

Hope this helps?

NINA28 · Oct 16, 2019

Try watching and reading novels that returned for a prequel and see how they done.

You'll need a story that can stand on it's own and be compelling.
You'll need to know your previous to stories well and be consistent with date, places, times and so on.

That's all I can offer as I've never done it.

Got any tips for writing a prequel?

Gregg Bell

Kat M

Ooh, look! String!

Gregg Bell

Brightdreamer

Just Another Lazy Perfectionist

frimble3

Heckuva good sport

MaeZe

Gregg Bell

Gregg Bell

Gregg Bell

frimble3

Heckuva good sport

Dan Rhys

Gregg Bell

Gregg Bell

Woollybear

MythMonger

Willing to Learn

Gregg Bell

Gregg Bell

Elenitsa

writing as Marina Costa

benbenberi

practical experience, FTW

Woollybear

Gregg Bell

benbenberi

practical experience, FTW

Gregg Bell

Kat M

Ooh, look! String!

NINA28