Fanfic Writing Meme #21
Jul. 17th, 2014 05:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shivverThere's a big fire in the town next to mine, about 3 miles away. We can see the huge smoke cloud from here, and it looks like it's only about 4 blocks away.
21. Sequels – Have you ever written a sequel to a fic you wrote, and if so, why, and if not, how do you feel about sequels?
I suppose technically, I have written a sequel. I wrote "A Fragment of the Timestream" as a one-shot exercise in writing the Fourth Doctor and Leela, and for some reason, I decided to have them encounter John Smith (the chameleon-arched Tenth Doctor). I guess this idea tickled a lot of people, because I got a lot of requests for a second installment. (By "a lot," I mean like three or four. That's "a lot," since my fics rarely even get three or four comments, let alone requests for anything specific.) So I wrote a sequel: Martha finds out that John met someone from his dreams, and, realizing that anyone from his dreams has to be a real person who he's met before as the Doctor, goes to find this person and figure out if he's a threat. So, that counts as a sequel. It certainly wasn't intentional.
I think that sequels are just fine. I don't see any particular problem with adding a second installment of a story you've already completed. The thing that's important - and I think that this is important whether you're talking about any type of sequel - is that the sequel has to stand on its own. I'm not talking about having to reconstruct all of the characters and plot points from the previous work: you can rely on the reader having read the first work and knows what happened and who everyone is. I'm talking about the sequel being a good story by itself. You can't rely on the success of the previous one to prop up a poorly-constructed sequel. There also has to be a reason why it's a sequel. If there's a character you want to explore more, or a story that follows on the footsteps of the first one, then great! But if it's unrelated, why make it a sequel?
I have ideas for sequels for The Actor, though if I ever get to them, it won't be for a long time. One of them is specifically for exploring David's character a little bit more, though he will actually be a very minor character in it. The other takes advantage of a situation that I set up in The Actor, which would otherwise be difficult to set up on its own. We'll see if I ever get to either of them. (The first one I mentioned is actually somewhat plotted out and partially written, but occurs chronologically after the second one I mentioned, so I feel like I can't actually finish it until I finish the story before it. *shrug*)
Meme Master Post
21. Sequels – Have you ever written a sequel to a fic you wrote, and if so, why, and if not, how do you feel about sequels?
I suppose technically, I have written a sequel. I wrote "A Fragment of the Timestream" as a one-shot exercise in writing the Fourth Doctor and Leela, and for some reason, I decided to have them encounter John Smith (the chameleon-arched Tenth Doctor). I guess this idea tickled a lot of people, because I got a lot of requests for a second installment. (By "a lot," I mean like three or four. That's "a lot," since my fics rarely even get three or four comments, let alone requests for anything specific.) So I wrote a sequel: Martha finds out that John met someone from his dreams, and, realizing that anyone from his dreams has to be a real person who he's met before as the Doctor, goes to find this person and figure out if he's a threat. So, that counts as a sequel. It certainly wasn't intentional.
I think that sequels are just fine. I don't see any particular problem with adding a second installment of a story you've already completed. The thing that's important - and I think that this is important whether you're talking about any type of sequel - is that the sequel has to stand on its own. I'm not talking about having to reconstruct all of the characters and plot points from the previous work: you can rely on the reader having read the first work and knows what happened and who everyone is. I'm talking about the sequel being a good story by itself. You can't rely on the success of the previous one to prop up a poorly-constructed sequel. There also has to be a reason why it's a sequel. If there's a character you want to explore more, or a story that follows on the footsteps of the first one, then great! But if it's unrelated, why make it a sequel?
I have ideas for sequels for The Actor, though if I ever get to them, it won't be for a long time. One of them is specifically for exploring David's character a little bit more, though he will actually be a very minor character in it. The other takes advantage of a situation that I set up in The Actor, which would otherwise be difficult to set up on its own. We'll see if I ever get to either of them. (The first one I mentioned is actually somewhat plotted out and partially written, but occurs chronologically after the second one I mentioned, so I feel like I can't actually finish it until I finish the story before it. *shrug*)
