The dilemma: my current book has definite room for a sequel or two. The thing is, I feel that making the series a two-parter would be better for the content, but that it seems trilogies are more popular. My problem is that the second book of a would-be trilogy would mostly be filler, and one of the most prominent figures in the first book would have to be "otherwise occupied" due to her being OP for a filler arc. I've tried to think of a middle arc that didn't have these problems (without the overarching antagonists making a stupid decision), but so far have come up empty. Because of this, I'm leaning towards the two-parter, but if trilogies are as much more popular as mainstream would have me believe, I wondered if anyone one thinks it would be worth the effort to keep trying to develop a middle arc that would work.
It's funny because I just finished reading a trilogy where it's obvious, from the writing, that the author only made sequels because they thought people wanted them, not because the story called for them. She even said, after the fact, that's why she wrote the second two books. They paled in comparison to the first because they were simply not necessary. Never write just for the sake of writing. Write because you have something to say.
Believe me, I don't write just to write. I've had to do more than enough of that back as a grad student. If I'm not happy with how a story is going, I scrap it, or at least all the parts I don't like. I think my question is more: "Should I keep putting effort into trying to amend my story into a workable trilogy or just go for what I feel will already work?", or perhaps "How much effort should I put in before deciding I can't make a trilogy work?" I don't have many people I can talk to about this and would just like to hear if other writers think the effort is worth it or not.
Perhaps that story only needs two books, but the characters can have a new story in books after that?
That's an idea I hadn't considered. I'm not sure how well it would work for these characters if I end their story the way I intend to, but with certain adjustments it could. I'll have to think about it. If I change the ending to allow for that (without changing my characters' beliefs and from that their decisions), it could have implications for the universe that all of my planned stories take place in. Thanks for the suggestion! Even if I don't go with that this time it's something to keep in mind for later works.
