I loved Candace's post on writing her sequel (and it not working). I'm writing a sequel myself. Every test reader having read Invisible (my novel out February 2009) has asked me for Tavos' story. Every single one. You know what that means. I don't have much of a choice about the sequel. I have to write it.
Tavos Santos is a knife wielding vigilante with a mouth that would make a trucker blush (most truckers I know are quite polite so I don't exactly know where that phrase came from). His favorite English word is the F bomb (note to self: never write secondary characters I wouldn't want to write an entire book around).
I was honestly intimidated by this character. So intimidated that I wrote a novel and novella after the request. I couldn't find a heroine strong enough to hold her own against Tavos without coming across as a total beyotch. After I finally 'met' her, I caved under the pressure of expectations.
The other issue I had was consistency. I dislike it when a character changes significantly between their secondary character role and their main character role. I was determined not to do that with my own sequel. That meant using the same words, mannerisms, etc. It also meant having an anti-hero. Tavos is a bad man. He kills people. There's no getting around it.
All this makes a sequel more challenging than a fresh book. Yeah, I know. I thought it would be easier too. Nope. More challenging.
I've written the first draft. There is a lot of work left to do on it but I'm happy with it. I don't yet know if my test readers will be. That I'll find out in the fall (after two more drafts). 'Til then I'm biting my nails and eating Nutella straight out of the jar.
Kimber Chin's first novel Breach Of Trust is now available from Champagne Books. She isn't planning on writing a sequel based on this novel, though more stories about Anne, Stanley, and Nancy can be found on her website.
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