I'm a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to my writing. And if I were to start writing again with a plan to create a sequel, how far in advance are you thinking about that sequel? Do you write your book with the sequel in mind?
I can also be a perfectionist, especially when writing. I have planed both a collection of books and a series and am currently planning a duology. When outlining each, I went into the writing with plans for the sequel(s) in mind. In my experience, putting off the creation of a sequel makes it seem like an afterthought when you sit down to write it and can end up running the first story. For my series, I wrote out the outlines as one overarching story and than went back and split it into books. To make the choice where to put the breaks, I looked for changes in POV, major events, and areas where the story slowed and might benefit from a time skip. This worked well for me, although not perfectly, and I would recommend it as a place to start. At the least, you'll end up with a solid outline and an idea if you are spitting a book into parts or a book into more books. I also did this, though on a smaller scale, with my duology. I used a similar idea for my collection, but there I explored more how each character's story affected the others and where they overlapped. However, I ended with much the same thing.
I dont know if i want to write a sequel unless im either at the end of the first book or toward the middle. And it usually pops up as a fleeting thought. If i like one of my characters, i jot down "fanfiction" of them and then that kinda turns into a sequel
I usually plan one book, and it gets too long and morphs into a series. So, I guess, all at once is the answer?
If I intend a book to have a sequel, I usually have the basic premise in mind by the time I start writing the first one. Beyond that, I leave things vague so the sequel fits without having to radically reimagine the plot. Most of my work is with short stories or novelettes centered around recurring characters, and I don’t plan those ahead at all. Ideas just hit me, and there are enough openings in the lives of my protagonists to slip in a new story without much trouble most of the time.
My approach is, if I'm thinking about a sequel or a trilogy or something, where there's a big character arc that needs to span the entire group of stories, I want to at least have vague plans in mind for the entire arc before finishing the first book. I don't think it needs to be planned out in detail, but at least the basics. Otherwise you might do too much of the arc in the first story and have nothing left. Look at the way in a TV series or Netflix or whatever, they sometimes do full-season arcs. I think I'd want to have at least vague plans in mind for something like that.
Not far in advance at all, but in little vague ways, mainly by leaving opportunities open for the future. I suspect at least a sequel can emerge quite naturally from well-developed characters. I don't think I'd ever be capable of meticulously planning a trilogy or anything like that, though.
I never thought of writing sequels, I'm trying to finish one novel, so I haven't thought about it much. I'm a perfectionist when it comes to my writing too, but I've learned how it works enough to know that trying to outline a whole overarching story with nothing written down would be WAY too overwhelming for me, so this might be how I would do it: Finish the first draft of the first book. That way, you have a better understanding on how your characters act, and how the world works. If you keep in mind the amount of sequels you want to write, the direction you take the first book will change overtime. Then the first book can be a solid foundation to work with and edit it to fit the sequels. Making a lot of notes with the sequels in mind as you go could be helpful. So I guess I would have to plan when I want to make a series or a stand alone beforehand.
While I have vague ideas of how to follow on the story my view is that I’m not writing a sequel unless i can sell the first
