The Hardest Part of Writing Sequels

Sequels are ways for authors to continue their story in a new light, giving the story new conflicts and characters and change the theme that the original story had. It's a way for us to continue something that we thought complete, or a way to adapt the story with current capabilities and writing techniques that we may have learned. It's also a way to give fans of those stories more of what they love.

Yet, sequels are not so easy to write.

The hardest part of writing sequels is the fact that there is already a pre-established story. You do not have freedom to do whatever you may like. You do not have complete choice in what you want to establish. What's established, is established. You cannot change that unless you change that first story, which would be highly unlikely. You lose out on that creative freedom for that world-building and atmosphere.

I'm experiencing this right now with a sequel of my own, which is extremely hard to write. I'm having difficulties trying to establish a new story within the same universe, while trying to keep true to the first story. Doing this is a balancing act and usually requires authors to go back and re-read their own stories to make sure that they got it right. We don't remember everything we write, after all, but someone else reading our story might remember something and point it out. You don't want to make that mistake and end up ruining an entire chapter because of one small detail that you went haywire with.

Make sure that if you intend to write a sequel that you will have to deal with this problem too. It's not a bad problem, nor a good one. It's simply an obstacle for you to get over when you're writing your own story.