For an author that I’ve never read before, Shannon Knight’s name keeps showing up on this site. Almost one year ago, she was here talking about the cover design of her novel, Grave Cold. She’s back today talking about it’s sequel and some of the thinking that went into it. A lot of this lines up with what I assume goes into thoughts about a sequel, but there’s a lot more than that, too.
Grave Cold and the Art of the Sequel
Grave Cold turned one-year-old on May 2. So far, Grave Cold has been my most accessible book. No surprise, then, that it’s the one that receives the most requests for a sequel. Writing sequels poses a unique challenge. Readers enjoyed certain aspects of the first book, so there are expectations that the author will serve the same delight in the second dish. Often sequels offer a comfortable familiarity. Readers can hang out with literary friends that they’ve already grown attached to and maybe meet a few new ones. The pattern of the primary elements from the previous book can be repeated: a big adventure, a mystery, a light romance, etc. Book one creates a recipe, and subsequent books contain the same ingredients in a new form.
The thing with Grave Cold (and a lot of my books) is that I worked pretty hard to create something new, something unfamiliar, something unique. The surprises of the magical system and the ravens’ role in death are revealed in Grave Cold. To deliver the same experience, I need a new reveal for the death mythos, which would be fun to create, but readers wouldn’t have the same level of surprise. For Grave Cold, I also set up a long-lived character who retains a strong connection with his medieval culture, and I placed him in the future. My initial plans included subsequent novels set in the past. For one, I’d had my eye on Venice during the bubonic plague. I lived in Venice for three years, so I would enjoy writing a novel set there, and I’ve already got the lived experience of the location. But then I wrote a plague into Insiders, and THEN a pandemic hit our current world, and I suspect we’ve all had enough of plagues. Plus, a sequel set in the past would not have the same science fantasy flavor that Grave Cold featured. Snap! I’ve also imagined a sequel set in the distant future, with our medieval man sent on a task in deep space. I’m pretty keen on this story, but I think it would also miss the primary readership of near-future Grave Cold. And, yet, wouldn’t those death rituals of the far future offer surprises! And wouldn’t Nyle be all up in his medieval discomfort dealing with it!
My limited self-publication experience has taught me that a large portion of readers (perhaps most?) prefer the familiar to the unique. Therefore, the logical sequel choice would pick up with our characters shortly after the last book left off. Nyle and Cait could pursue a new biopunk adventure together. I could develop the next book cover based off the previous one, using another photograph from the same photographer and model. Everything would fall in line prettily, and readers would have a higher likelihood of satisfaction.
As it stands, my next book has been written in an entirely new genre. Are you curious? Maybe I’m a standalone kind of author. Have you read Grave Cold? If so, what kind of sequel are you yearning for? If not, you should meet Nyle and Cait. One is a man born in Anglo-Saxon England pulled by the cold call of death. The other is a beautician who thinks she’s genetically modified, but really she’s a necromancer. Together, Nyle and Cait must save the dead from the living. Check it out!
If you’re like me and haven’t read Grave Cold yet, go check out Shannon’s page about it.
Also, I’ve mentioned that I haven’t read the book twice in this post. I’m actually planning on starting it later today.
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