Why I Probably Won't Write the Sequel You're Hoping I'll Write

I used to write more blog posts like this one—not a specific announcement, but more my thoughts on some book-related subject or another. I don’t do it much anymore, because people subscribe to this blog now, and I feel a sense of responsibility. It’s important to me not to fill up your inbox with posts that are not the reason you subscribed.

So, this will not happen often.

But sometimes I get a question by email so frequently that I feel I need to address it at greater length, to help people understand.

I’m flattered when people ask for a sequel, because I like knowing that they want to spend more time with the characters. That said, I’m not a fan of sequels. For several reasons.

One: Sequels are famous for not living up to the originals.

Two: Though I realize readers don’t necessarily think of this, to get a good novel out of a set of characters, the author has to put them through hell. After holding these poor characters’ feet to the fire for the length of a novel, I like to picture them having a happy future. Happy futures are wonderful to live, but hopelessly boring to read about. When’s the last time you read a “gripping” novel about a person having a pleasant and relatively uneventful day?

Three: By the time people have read a book and requested a sequel, I’ve gone on to write at least two or three more novels, and I have lots of new fictional people I want you to meet. I realize that readers are faithful by nature, and I like that. I like that you got attached to the characters I presented. That’s a good thing. But I hope you’ll trust me. You might like the new ones, too.

The other reason people state for asking me to write a sequel: They want to know what happens to the characters. They are fictional characters (though I’m glad they seemed like more), so, in a strictly realistic sense, nothing happens to them. In a fictional sense, you have an imagination, too, and whatever you think happens to them is valid. In fact, I wrote a whole blog post about that HERE.

And while we’re on the subject of questions I get a lot, two or three times a week someone writes saying they can’t find book club questions online. If they are not on this website, they are hiding in plain sight in the back of the book.

Please feel free to share thoughts in the comments below. And, again, please be assured that I don’t do this sort of post very often. But sometimes it’s nice to take a minute to talk over the subjects readers clearly have on their minds.

Happy reading.