Commenters asking for sequels

[BobbyBrandt]

Sometimes it seems like every second or third comment or e-mail I receive is someone requesting more of my writing, but not necessarily a sequel to an existing story, although I get those too.

Many of my stories are either part of a "universe" of connected stories, or a satellite story where characters from the universe make appearances.

That is something that anyone with requests for a sequel to a completed story might want to consider: Incorporate characters from other stories into a new one. The genre and theme doesn't matter. What matters is giving your readers a familiarity that keeps them invested in your work through characters that they recognize.

Just be careful not to ruin your characters in the process. The hero from one story should not become the villain is a subsequent story. The slutty stepmom should not become a cloistered nun. Find a way to blend the established personality and traits of an established character into the story or leave that character out.

 

[PrincessArianrhod]

I've only once acquiesced to a sequel request. In fact it was a sequel request from multiple people all asking for the same thing; a bit part character in a previous story seemed to capture the hearts of a few readers who then asked for her to be given her own happy ending. The requests elicited enough sympathy in me to duly do exactly that and I wrote a standalone sequel based around that premise. Glad I did now. It never got as much attention or votes/comments as the original story but the comments it did gather were gratifying.

 

[Cacatua_Galerita]

All three of my published stories have an obvious opening for a sequel. Not because I’m planning one, I just want to give the reader some latitude to think for themselves. I prefer to read stand-alone stories, so that’s what I write. I don’t even recycle characters (to date).

My current competition entry has three comments specifically asking for a follow-up story, pairing two of the characters. But, so far, I’ve only been slightly tempted to write a continuation to ‘Marching in March’ – to give Liz her promised spanking.

So I’ll stick to writing whatever I’m inspired to write. I don’t think I’m ready to do ‘commission’ type work yet.

 

[Devinter]

I take it as a compliment, and whilst I have not always obliged and given in to these requests (sometimes a story really doesn't have anywhere natural to go from its original conclusion) it also tells me that the readers enjoyed that TYPE of story, so then I might write something else with a similar feel. It might explore some different themes but include the same type of sexual encounters, for instance. Or the other way around.

But I also like when my readers interact with the story. I am working on a rather niche series, where I ask at the end of each chapter what readers would like to see next. And then I try to oblige. Writing that way can actually be a lot of fun too, because you challenge yourself to write about kinks and fetishes that you do not hold yourself, which I think is helpful in the long run for any writer of erotica. (Most of the requests are about kinks they'd like to see - such as bondage being introduced, for instance - rather than major plot points..)

 

[MediocreAuthor]

To be fair, some people's lives are sufficiently exciting that they have multiple peaks which might be considered 'the most interesting,' leaving aside that what constitutes 'most interesting' is likely to be debatable and variable.
Or, put another way, some people/stories are just naturally multi-orgasmic.

That's certainly true, but doesn't exactly align with how I write my stories.

I subscribed to the rule of rising tension. Each new portion of a story should either be increasing the tension, or it should be part of the resolution (obviously there's some filler, but that just adds to the upcoming tension, when done right).

Irl, I enjoy vanilla sex, and that's all I'm interested in.

But in my stories, the sex is always filled with unsustainable (read unhealthy ) sexual experiences. Each one of my characters endures a handful of those, and then I released them to their ending. I don't like to wallow around, writing about the 23rd time they experienced the same type of encounter. That's boring (to me at least, I'm sure plenty of people would love to read a billion iterations of the exact same story premise).

 

[Publius68]

I get the requests quite commonly. To be honest, I sort of invite it, in that I tend to deliberately end my stories with lots of possibilities left on the table, even dangling plot threads (usually unfucked characters) to tantalize. My idea is to leave the reader engaged at the end, and fire their own imaginations.

I have obliged with sequels in the past. My best series (I think), Alistaire was done after six chapters. I was finished. But I got a metric crap-ton of requests for more stories, including a bunch of actually interesting suggestions. So I wrote and entire second six-chapter series, Alistaire Too, that worked beautifully. I still get requests to continue even further, even a year later.

Usually, however, I don't write sequels to stories I consider finished. The story is the point, right? Once the original conflict is resolved, or original inciting weirdness is past, there is no story left to tell, just a string of sex scenes, hopefully well-executed. That's kind of lame. You are just recycling your IP at that point.

Who am I supposed to be? Hollywood?

 

[Bamagan]

That's certainly true, but doesn't exactly align with how I write my stories.

I subscribed to the rule of rising tension. Each new portion of a story should either be increasing the tension, or it should be part of the resolution (obviously there's some filler, but that just adds to the upcoming tension, when done right).

Irl, I enjoy vanilla sex, and that's all I'm interested in.

But in my stories, the sex is always filled with unsustainable (read unhealthy ) sexual experiences. Each one of my characters endures a handful of those, and then I released them to their ending. I don't like to wallow around, writing about the 23rd time they experienced the same type of encounter. That's boring (to me at least, I'm sure plenty of people would love to read a billion iterations of the exact same story premise).

I'm essentially on the same page as you in those terms. And to be fair, a lot of sequels do fall pretty flat, at least when they're true sequels and not just part of a longer narrative intentionally told in parts. But I also believe that characters can have more than one 'most interesting point' of their lives, or at the very least, that good stories can be written about them at different points of their lives. There's little point in writing a sequel to deliver more of the same, but sometimes familiar characters can be dropped into a new story, whether as guides and advisors, or to show how they deal with loss, or to tell a tale about what happens when the things you strove for at a younger age lose meaning when you get old.