Comments demanding sequels

[sirhugs]

sometimes in ALL CAPS

What do you do when you think you have wrapped a story line into a nice bow but the (relatively few) commentators demand more?
What if they actually suggest plot points they want to see?

 

[smutarranger]

sometimes in ALL CAPS

What do you do when you think you have wrapped a story line into a nice bow but the (relatively few) commentators demand more?
What if they actually suggest plot points they want to see?

I think it depends on how polite the demands, it is quite a big compliment. I can understand some writers not liking suggestions but I personally appreciate them.

 

[Bamagan]

I recommend ignoring people who write in all caps as a matter of principle.
UNLESS YOU CAN TELL IT'S REALLY NOISY WHERE THEY ARE, OF COURSE!!!

 

[Ssbbw4u1974]

I write short, to the point..erotica..
I've received comments like that about readers wanting more, another chapter..

I write what I want... They honestly can take it, or leave it....

 

[sister jenny]

I can’t honestly write anything I am not 100% interested in.
I’ve tried writing sequels when comments have asked for it, and either I get really bored halfway or they are crap. So I stopped trying.

 

[sirhugs]

I can’t honestly write anything I am not 100% interested in.
I’ve tried writing sequels when comments have asked for it, and either I get really bored halfway or they are crap. So I stopped trying.

What about if you're like 75% not interested. I mean, I might be curious about what happens next in the lives of some characters, but just don't see a way to make it different from the earlier chapters. For example, I just got a sequel request on chapter 5 of a series I concluded in 2021, after pretty much everybody in the family, plus a few friends, had sex with each other in just about every combination and position I could think of. So what do they expect? That Sally, the FMC, returns from college four years after the last action, and finds new ways to put tab A in slot B? I love Sally, and Grandpa's funeral would be a novel setting, but isn't it better to let Sally be? The poor girl is probably still aching...

 

[iwatchus]

This was one of my very first comments on my very first story. I didn't know enough not to listen to them, so I gave them more than they asked for -- another 22 stories for 330K words directly in their universe. Counting every story with some crossovers, it's approaching half a million words. That will teach them for asking.

 

[sister jenny]

What about if you're like 75% not interested. I mean, I might be curious about what happens next in the lives of some characters, but just don't see a way to make it different from the earlier chapters. For example, I just got a sequel request on chapter 5 of a series I concluded in 2021, after pretty much everybody in the family, plus a few friends, had sex with each other in just about every combination and position I could think of. So what do they expect? That Sally, the FMC, returns from college four years after the last action, and finds new ways to put tab A in slot B? I love Sally, and Grandpa's funeral would be a novel setting, but isn't it better to let Sally be? The poor girl is probably still aching...

If I can not come up with a good story that gets me interested, it will not happen.

 

[SimonDoom]

Don't do it. Don't do it unless you already want to write a sequel to the story and writing a sequel to the story will be more artistically satisfying for you than moving on to another story.

I get these requests to most of the incest stories I write, and I don't respond. On the few occasions where I did give in and wrote a sequel, I regretted doing so, because I realized when writing the next story that I just wasn't really into it. I didn't feel I was doing it for a good creative purpose.

I'm writing a sequel right now, because the first story clearly hinted at a second chapter and the second chapter will end the story appropriately. Not leaving the readers hanging, so to speak.

 

[sirhugs]

Don't do it. Don't do it unless you already want to write a sequel to the story and writing a sequel to the story will be more artistically satisfying for you than moving on to another story.

I get these requests to most of the incest stories I write, and I don't respond. On the few occasions where I did give in and wrote a sequel, I regretted doing so, because I realized when writing the next story that I just wasn't really into it. I didn't feel I was doing it for a good creative purpose.

I'm writing a sequel right now, because the first story clearly hinted at a second chapter and the second chapter will end the story appropriately. Not leaving the readers hanging, so to speak.

the other story that got a comment requesting a sequel today is my new story. I deliberately left an ambiguity at the end, but no to tease another chapter. It just made sense to me as a way to tie up the end(without really answering the mystery, but it's erotica, not a mystery novel). Plus I sort of tied it off by saying "And I didn't really care."

That commenter proposed at least three things they wanted more about. The other two of the three are of zero interest to me, or I would have included them in this chapter. The third "mystery" one I don't care enough about to hurt my brain. It hurts enough already.
And for now at least I'm bored with these characters, who as my characters go are extra two dimensional. So much so that if they could be one dimensional they would be. They didn't start out that way, but I feel like I've squished them flat. They are purely vehicles for the sex scenes at this stage.

 

[lovecraft68]

I don't think about it. I know I'm not writing one and I don't find it flattering either because they always ask for sequels. You can write a 12 chapter story and wrap everything up and they still want more.

The only time I ever give any thought to it is do they ever look to see how old a story is? I have people asking for a sequel on stories that are 12 year old. I'd think by now its obvious you're not getting one.

 

[NotWise]

Those comments annoy me. You can't make everybody happy, but I eventually came to believe that too many of those comments meant that I hadn't ended the story in a way that satisfied the readers.

It's extremely difficult to wrap up all your story lines--especially if readers see story lines that you didn't intend--but there are ways you can end the story that give readers a sense of closure. I researched it, and since then I've used "Chekhov's Gun," and final scenes that recall the opening scene. I think there are other tricks, but they have to be planned into the story from early on.

 

[StillStunned]

Better to leave your readers wanting more than disappointed with something you weren't truly motivated to write.

 

[SimonDoom]

Better to leave your readers wanting more than disappointed with something you weren't truly motivated to write.

Absolutely, 100 percent true. This says it exactly.

 

[lovecraft68]

Those comments annoy me. You can't make everybody happy, but I eventually came to believe that too many of those comments meant that I hadn't ended the story in a way that satisfied the readers.

It's extremely difficult to wrap up all your story lines--especially if readers see story lines that you didn't intend--but there are ways you can end the story that give readers a sense of closure. I researched it, and since then I've used "Chekhov's Gun," and final scenes that recall the opening scene. I think there are other tricks, but they have to be planned into the story from early on.

There's something to be said for letting the reader make up their own minds on what happens to so and so after you end your story. This was a great thing about movies with great characters, you could make up your own ideas but now there's endless sequels to everything and most of them have been trash and damaged the originals because they just crap all over them.

People can and should use their imaginations more.

Besides, minutes after telling us they want a sequel they're reading another story and probably telling that author the same thing. They're like morons in a strip club "look at those boobs" until another pair walks by.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

In most instances, I would be disappointed if readers requested a sequel.

I would interpret it as me not providing the proper closure to the story in question.

Requests of that nature have only happened for me with one of the incest stories I had published for the Valentines Day contest a few years back. It was mentioned in the story that the pair might make additional videos, so I had a couple of readers interested in the same brother and sister coming back for more holidays. I haven't discounted the possibility, but it certainly won't be a priority for me.

 

[Candy_Kane54]

The only times I wrote more on a character was when @Maonaigh commented on two of my stories that he felt there was more to the story. He was right and I wrote follow-up stories to both of them (one in four parts) which I consider some of my best work. He loved the first one and, unfortunately, he passed before I finished the second one (the one in four parts). I'll always wonder if he would have liked it or not.

 

[ronde]

I read somewhere that the mark of a good writer is when his work leaves the reader wanting more, so I appreciate the requests for more. They tell me I've reached the reader.

I don't write sequels though, because I can't. When I write a story, I've thought it through from beginning to end and there's nothing more to write. There are a few of my stories where I've sort of left a character hanging, so to speak, and at some point I might write the story of what that character does next, but it won't be a sequel. It will be another stand-alone story.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

They basically want more; it's a generic compliment.

I do often reuse characters, but only when I have a story that I want to tell, which generally isn't just 'a sequel'.

 

[Five_Inch_Heels]

D.I.F.


Delete.

Ignore.

Fuggeddabouddem.

 

[SouthernCrossfire]

I’ve had a few requests for continuations on some stories over time but I’ve only done them or sequels where I already had something planned.

One exception was when SisterJezabel beta read my Christmas story a few years ago and made an excellent suggestion for an avenue I hadn’t considered. Expanding on her suggestion, I wrote a second part after the contest ended and Part 2 ended up with a much better score than the first. However, in that case, NO ALL CAPS were involved!

 

[Actingup]

In most instances, I would be disappointed if readers requested a sequel.

I would interpret it as me not providing the proper closure to the story in question.

Requests of that nature have only happened for me with one of the incest stories I had published for the Valentines Day contest a few years back. It was mentioned in the story that the pair might make additional videos, so I had a couple of readers interested in the same brother and sister coming back for more holidays. I haven't discounted the possibility, but it certainly won't be a priority for me.

When in doubt, I go back to Pride and Prejudice. Universally loved and a stand alone story. Never any possibility of a sequel until you look at the fan fiction. The extraordinary amount of fan sequels, new adaptations and so on do not represent a deficiency in the story or the readers, but the degree of love felt for the characters.

That said, if Jane Austen had written 50 pages of domestic bliss at the end of the book, it would have detracted from a perfect novel. So, I think the default response is to politely decline to do a sequel, but to accept the compliment that’s being offered.

 

[THBGato]

This is partly why I link my stories together, making the protagonists of earlier stories side-characters in later ones. It's not that they are sequels of each other per se, but it means that readers who really like Kate and Priya in The Third Date, and want to see how the future turned out for them, can catch glimpses of them on holiday in Desire & Duende, see how Priya's professional career is going in Clara and the Star and attend their wedding in Love is the Place. HelenL, DawnDuckie and BrokenSpokes all do this very well too.

 

[sirhugs]

This is partly why I link my stories together, making the protagonists of earlier stories side-characters in later ones. It's not that they are sequels of each other per se, but it means that readers who really like Kate and Priya in The Third Date, and want to see how the future turned out for them, can catch glimpses of them on holiday in Desire & Duende, see how Priya's professional career is going in Clara and the Star and attend their wedding in Love is the Place. HelenL, DawnDuckie and BrokenSpokes all do this very well too.

Very neat.
My characters all seem to inhabit distinct universes. Have yet to have any crossover.

 

[TaniaTulle]

I’ve had this request quite a few times—sometimes for stories that, to me, already had a complete and satisfying ending. Early on, I did write a few sequels, sometimes due to requests and how popular the stories were, other times because I just enjoyed writing about the characters. But most were never finished (usually because I came up with a better idea for a new story while writing).

The one sequel I did complete—for two characters I really enjoyed—it just didn’t feel true to who they were, well one in particular who was the key protagonist. I even had someone else look over it, and they agreed that it didn't feel natural character progression. So it still sits on my hard drive.

Like others have said, I now take it as a compliment that readers wanted more of my characters—to spend more time with them. But unless I can see an ongoing story from the start, I doubt I’ll go back and add anything more.