I'm writing a sequel, and it's going... reasonable. Problem is that I have some characters left over from the first book, who actually had something to do in the first book, but don't really have a point in the sequel. Obviously there's a whole bunch of solutions. Off-screen deaths, moved away, whatever will fit in the universe, right? But it would make no sense for the characters to not be there. And I can't just not mention them either, because they're supposed to be right next to the house of the MC. Returning readers are gonna be asking questions. I've tried giving them something to do, but any arcs I try just feel forced. Apart from a towel-joke, I got nothing for them. There are a few occasions where they are expected to react, but not be actively involved in, so I'm stuck with inconsequential characters, which I'm told you don't want. Any tips or tricks?
I think you are wrongly trying to involve your old characters in your new story when, as you yourself said, they've got nothing to do with it. That said, you said previous book and a sequel, but nothing more than that. What is the sequel about? How far is it in the future? What occurred by the end of the story from the previous book? Usually, endings mean that characters from the book underwent changes and developments, so I wouldn't expect everything to be exactly the same to such a degree that every character is still around doing the exact same things. As you said, some of these characters could have moved, started new jobs elsewhere, etc. How they changed and what they learned from the previous book might help you answer as to what their current place is in the universe of your book. You're right, your readers will wonder about their favourite characters. I do not see this as a bad thing. I see this as a good thing. Why? Because when there is inevitably a pinch point in your plot, maybe you can bring one of them back in a good twist and shock your readers. They don't have to be actively involved, literally just appearing for one scene or two is enough. The important thing is that they must have a place to serve, or else it will feel forced. How you execute that, and if, is up to you, but the possibility (and many of them) is there. Yes, you can, you absolutely 100% can. Does your book cover every passing second? Things in people's lives change (remember what I said about developments) so overtime they may not be engaging socially with another person as much. I get that they are neighboors so a word or two might be said, but you can leave that off camera. Every word in your story should have a purpose. Mentioning what the other characters are doing just for the sake of it sounds pretty wrong, unless you've got a reason to do it. Then for now, don't do anything with them. I'd even advice to not needlessly provide information about them in case you make more sequels and you get a really good idea for one, but you can't do it because the information you provided in the previous books conflicts with your idea. Workarounds are a thing, sure, but why make things harder for yourself? Here's the thing... your book being a sequel must have new things to offer, or else readers might end up reading a slight variation of the same thing. To me that would mean new characters, a new conflict, and maaybee a new setting because the setup you created brought your MC there. From the information you provided, the sequel starts with new characters but on the exact same setting... which is fine and dandy apart from the problem you mentioned. Your old characters were developed and taken care of in the previous book, so you're done with them, the new book has nothing to add to them. Therefore, leave them alone, keep them as assets for future sequels. In fact, you already said that they make minor appearances in the sequel already, so it sounds like you make a small use out of them, which is fine. Why go further than that? And please don't kill them for no reason, that's just stupid. I roll my eyes every time I hear "kill a character when you no longer need them."
Sequel is a pretty generous term, really. It's more another story in the same town, involving the same MC. It's six months after the previous story. It's a case of mistaken identity. To be honest, I mainly just need this story to justify the plans I have for another story, which is set 300 years (still working on timeframe) in the future, and currently just sounds like Mad Max. It is an issue I have. I once spent half a page on the arrival of a glass of milk, because the MC needed to take a sip of milk so she could spurt it over the table. No, I hate that. Worst offenders are the one who make a whole selfless sacrifice out of it, that could have been avoided entirely if they weren't so keen on going out like a hero. Though one of them (it's a trio of characters. Package deal) is currently slated to die. Not sure yet how I can get him to die in the book, so... I had plans of having him go out like a hero... It's all thin ice, for now. ;o)
What do you mean by justifying it? Is the reader knowing what happened in the mistaken identity case somehow important for the story set 300 years forward? You don't sound particularly interested in it, and to me, it seems as if what you are mainly interested in is the futuristic story. Now this is just me reading between the lines and speculating but I have this feeling that you are a little bit lost when it comes to what the purpose of this book is. You are just writing it to give some exposition to the audience necessary 300 years forward, and yet you seem to be stuck up on what to do with the old characters, which aren't really useful. It's just that if you knew what that book wants to establish, then you'd focus on that, and naturally work your old characters in the background where they belong. It might be worth to just not write this book altogether, depending on how long the mistaken identity case is. You could mix that in with the futuristic story by giving segments of it with flashbacks, or some other way. Only you know exactly how you might pull off something like that, but if you get creative enough, I'm sure it's possible. The sky is the limit. And that just might make for a more interesting story instead of a forced book. I could be easily wrong by the way, but again, I'm just reading between the lines. There is little information you have given us to work with here. I wish you luck...
Just because these minor characters had something to do in the first book, why does that mean they MUST appear in a sequel? If there's no reason for them to appear, and you have to force it to stick them in anyway -- I'd say just leave them out. I have a trilogy (of sorts) that I once bought because the titles included the word "cowboy" and I have read every Louis Lamour book I could get my hands on multiple times. This new trilogy was ... pretty awful, really, but mostly because it was modern and it isn't really about cowboys. Not anything I'm interested in. With that established: The two main characters from the first book don't even appear in the other two. A minor character from the first book becomes one of the two main characters in the second book, but only the name remains. His entire back story has been revised (to something not just improbable, but impossible). The third book also fails to mention the main characters from the first book. A completely new male MC is introduced in book 3, and the female MC in book three was a minor character in book 2 and not even mentioned in book 1. And her back story changed from book 2 to book 3. It's fiction. Do what you have to do.
If they have nothing to do, then they do nothing, it's as simple as that. They're there getting on with whatever it is they do, not getting involved. If they appear in a scene and they have nothing to say, they say nothing. They're background. Maybe mention them in passing, but that's all you need to do. It's like a chair. A chair is just there. Do you need to describe the chair, if it plays no part in the scene? They do what they would naturally do in that scene - they eat, drink, fart, whatever but they don't get involved in the plot.
The plans I have for the future story don't really work if there's not an event to trigger the state the world is in at that time. I figure if I as the writer already have that issue, what would the reader think? Busted. But, I do believe the current mistaken-identity story has potential. I can see it's in there. You know, like that sculpting shit. They can see the statue inside the marble. I have that, but my chisel's bloody blunt right now. This is kinda the reason I'm writing the current one. So I know what happened. Of course, I have a vague idea, but I don't really plan out my stories (which is how you end up with excess characters) so writing chronologically helps me. Agreed. There is also little information I have to give. Most of the above is pretty much just my own problem to tackle. The actual question I had was what to do with the characters. Not necessarily, no. But they're goths, and my MC lives next to a cemetery, so every time he looks out the window, he can see them. And they had some importance in the first book, which makes it weird to just gloss over them. Currently, I'm just punching in words and seeing what happens. The story is still in the larval state, despite already being up to v4. I'm just gonna go ahead and write, and fix any issues afterwards. That's already been dealt with, they have been mentioned. If push comes to shove, I could cut them loose, but my gut tells me it's the wrong choice. So y'all are dealing with this because of my gut.
If there are characters from the first story who aren't in the sequel, I'm sure you can find a way to briefly inform the reader why they aren't there. It could come up in casual conversation between two characters, or maybe the protagonist will see/hear/remember something that suddenly reminds them of the missing character, showing that even though they aren't there in the story, they aren't forgotten. That's how it is even in the real world - we can't help but have things in our lives remind us of people who have died, moved away, or lost contact with.
Think of those previous characters as a resource. They may not be central to the plot of the sequel, but they might have roles to play, nevertheless. There they are, all ready to hand, no need to invent anyone new. Like the neighbor from the first book could remark that the protagonist sure came home late last night, getting a conversation started that moves the plot along, or he could take care of the protag's dog when he goes off on plot-related business, or pass along a random nugget of information, without knowing it's important at all. The interesting part comes when you have a character who's the series love interest, he or she isn't involved in the plot of the current novel, but you want to make it clear that the attraction is still there. There are intriguing ways of hinting to the reader that they're still seeing each other without showing them getting together. "Where the hell were you last night?" "Out. Busy. I've got other things in my life besides this job." Those in the know will have a good idea whom the protag was busy with. I'm working on a sequel and getting a lot of use out of minor characters from the first book. Working out how to introduce them to readers who might pick up the novels out of order can be a little awkward, though. It's got to sound natural, and that's not always easy.
I'd say if they don't have any focus in the new story, then they've become secondary characters in this book, and treat them accordingly.
