One-off story wanting a second part

[designatedvictim]

A question for the multi-story writers here:

TL;DR

How often does a story you intended to be a one-off, decide it wants a sequel?

The long part...

I wrote what I called a 'palate-cleanser' (A Week of Sunrises) as a one-off experiment (and a bit of a joke) for myself and to see how writing to a category impacts views/comments/favorites/listings.

In two weeks, it has 30K views (it's in I/T, so by design, I expected higher traffic - see 'writing to a category,' above - almost three times the views of all the parts of The Long Weekend, published in NaN, combined, twice the combined comments, almost twice the combined votes, four times the combined favs, and three times the combined listings). To me, a relative newcomer, that's fantastically improved results.

Now, absurdly, I'm thinking of continuing it in a second part.

I know the 'muse is fickle,' but how often do writers run into this sort of thing?

I've already started laying out a follow-up weekend story. (Just some dialog and basic event setup and framing). I'd left AWS with some closing comments about following up the next weekend, but I never really planned to write it. I just wanted to leave the reader with a upbeat outlook at the end of the story, not plant the seeds for a continuation.

I plan to add the next part of The Long Weekend, to close out the third day in that story, before I get too far into AWS2 and I sincerely hope that word-count doesn't run away on me like AWS did.

 

[Voyeurkenneth]

For me, I'll only choose to write a chaptered story if I know how I want to end the entire thing. And I'll probably only publish it after having written all the chapters.

You might already know this, but if you're going to make a Ch. 02, it'll draw fewer views than Ch. 01. And if you develop more parts, readers might expect an eventual ending chapter to neatly close the series. Good luck!

 

[RejectReality]

Not often enough, according to a certain segment of my readership.

I tend to leave things at a resolution, but that resolution is typically a soft one. The main point of most of my stories in this name is getting laid, so most of the conflict is solved by the time you get there, and the bump n' grind is the cherry on top. There's sometimes a thread or two that could be pulled, but they're the sort of thing that you could also reasonably extrapolate into a happily ever after or happily for now ending somewhere in the future.

Boss has been really kind to a runaway girl he hired as his secretary. She's appreciative and does little things for him by way of thanks, and she's good at the job. He goes to his nudist retreat after the wrap up of a big project, she shows up unexpectedly, appropriately attired for the occasion. He's hesitant and concerned she's imagining gratefulness as something else. She convinces him otherwise. Awesome sex.

There's still a thread you can pull, because they have to go back to work on Monday morning. There's potential conflict there to navigate. However, you could also assume that he was oblivious to what everyone else in the office was keenly aware of. They're neither surprised nor taken aback by the relationship, and things go on as normal at the office while they live happily ever after. My head canon says the latter, so no idea for a continuation ever gets very far, even though it continues to be a very popular story where sequels are requested all the time.

I rarely have sufficient drive to write just another sex episode, which would be entirely possible and probably really hot. I need something more to move forward. It doesn't have to be much. Just something.

So far as your situation, don't let the ridiculous difference in readership between N&N and Incest give you a false impression. Yes, your story did insanely better than what you're used to, but it's the categories. The story could very well be insanely hotter/better written/more interesting/etc. But, it may also just be the infinitely larger pool of readers in Incest. It can feel like more of an endorsement than it truly is. That sort of thing can cause you to force a sequel idea out that you're not completely committed to, and that more often than not results in a piece that isn't your best work.

If you're going forward with a sequel, you need to be genuinely excited to tell the story. You need to feel it.

 

[YmaOHyd]

So far as your situation, don't let the ridiculous difference in readership between N&N and Incest give you a false impression. Yes, your story did insanely better than what you're used to, but it's the categories. The story could very well be insanely hotter/better written/more interesting/etc. But, it may also just be the infinitely larger pool of readers in Incest. It can feel like more of an endorsement than it truly is. That sort of thing can cause you to force a sequel idea out that you're not completely committed to, and that more often than not results in a piece that isn't your best work.

If you're going forward with a sequel, you need to be genuinely excited to tell the story. You need to feel it.

I'm a series person. Love 'em. Give me a really good infinity-part series every single time. But yeah, don't do a sequel just because people are telling you they want one; do one because it's what you want to write.

And, to piggyback on RejectReality's point above, while I'm not saying that your I&T story isn't really great -- might be! -- just understand that different categories have different traffic and different engagement patterns and different grading scales. I know you know that, but the top 12 stories by all-time traffic are in IT. Numbers 13, 16 and 17 are NCR, #14 is LW, #20 is Anal. All the rest in the top 20 are IT. Of the 30 stories ranked 21-50 in all-time traffic, fully 20 are in IT. The top-rated all-time story in Novels and Novellas has about one-eighth the reads of the top-rated I&T story, despite being five years older. IT is a massive category.

Edit: here's another measure. If we look at the Most Popular, 7-day lists for NaN and IT, here's what we see. NaN's most-read story on the 7-day toplist has 3,900 reads. The IT most-read 7-day toplist story has 40k. 30-day toplist, the difference is 5.7k to 79.6k. And if you think length is a problem for IT readers, the #2 all-time story in that category has as many words as the #1, #2 and #3-rated NaN entries put together. It also has twice as many reads as the #1-6 NaN entries combined.

 

[OnlyHappyEndings]

Sequels are entirely cool but I would say to make sure the story stands on its own and doesn't depend on the reader having read the previous part. You would need to manually create the series and it could take a week or so for that to be approved. Then, when submitting the new story, click the button to go back and make changes before publishing. A new option should appear that wasn't there before: "Add to Series".

 

[SimonDoom]

It's very common to feel this way with a successful story, especially if you have readers commenting that they want to see a sequel.

Ask yourself why you are interested in writing a sequel. Is it to please readers? Is it because you like the vote total you got and want to keep that up?

If it's vote totals that concern you, keep in mind the second story likely will have far, far fewer views than the first one. Perhaps only half.

If you want votes, it's probably better just to write a new standalone Incest story.

Personally, I wouldn't do it UNLESS you are convinced that there's a good artistic/story-based reason to follow the first story with a second. I'm doing that now, but only because the first story very clearly implies the second one at its end.

 

[Actingup]

A question for the multi-story writers here:

TL;DR

How often does a story you intended to be a one-off, decide it wants a sequel?

The long part...

I wrote what I called a 'palate-cleanser' (A Week of Sunrises) as a one-off experiment (and a bit of a joke) for myself and to see how writing to a category impacts views/comments/favorites/listings.

In two weeks, it has 30K views (it's in I/T, so by design, I expected higher traffic - see 'writing to a category,' above - almost three times the views of all the parts of The Long Weekend, published in NaN, combined, twice the combined comments, almost twice the combined votes, four times the combined favs, and three times the combined listings). To me, a relative newcomer, that's fantastically improved results.

Now, absurdly, I'm thinking of continuing it in a second part.

I know the 'muse is fickle,' but how often do writers run into this sort of thing?

I've already started laying out a follow-up weekend story. (Just some dialog and basic event setup and framing). I'd left AWS with some closing comments about following up the next weekend, but I never really planned to write it. I just wanted to leave the reader with a upbeat outlook at the end of the story, not plant the seeds for a continuation.

I plan to add the next part of The Long Weekend, to close out the third day in that story, before I get too far into AWS2 and I sincerely hope that word-count doesn't run away on me like AWS did.

In my experience so far, even stories that were absolutely, definitely designed to close off all the loose threads will have readers asking for a sequel. In one sense, it's a sign of strong appreciation - of readers connecting with the characters and wanting to read more about their lives. So it's a great compliment.

But, as others have said, better to resist unless it's a story that you want to tell. In which case, fill your boots!

 

[designatedvictim]

So far as your situation, don't let the ridiculous difference in readership between N&N and Incest give you a false impression. Yes, your story did insanely better than what you're used to, but it's the categories. The story could very well be insanely hotter/better written/more interesting/etc. But, it may also just be the infinitely larger pool of readers in Incest. It can feel like more of an endorsement than it truly is. That sort of thing can cause you to force a sequel idea out that you're not completely committed to, and that more often than not results in a piece that isn't your best work.

If you're going forward with a sequel, you need to be genuinely excited to tell the story. You need to feel it.

Definitely a good point to consider. Thanks.

The idea of a follow-up has kinda grown on me the last couple of days.

There are a couple of comments on AWoS asking for more, how those readers want it to go. (There are also comments telling me to learn how to write, too. YMMV.)

Last weekend, I read through a couple of similar-level, new Red H stories to AWoS and my eye was twitching by the end of more than one. The writing seemed, well, not actually horrific, but bad enough in spots that they should earn vote-dings from readers.

I've said in the past that the votes are 'Hate It' to 'Love It,' not 'Poorly-Written' to 'Awesomely-Written,' but writing quality really ought to factor more in scoring. Writing quality is a component of my overall liking.

That fact that I've done well in this experiment, vote-wise, doesn't mean as much as I feel it ought to.

 

[designatedvictim]

Sequels are entirely cool but I would say to make sure the story stands on its own and doesn't depend on the reader having read the previous part. You would need to manually create the series and it could take a week or so for that to be approved. Then, when submitting the new story, click the button to go back and make changes before publishing. A new option should appear that wasn't there before: "Add to Series".

Thanks. My other project, The Long Weekend, is a series with six parts.

I'm not an expert with series, but I am familiar with them.

 

[SinclairGroupLLP]

I've only written two one-off stories, and they were specifically for contests. I'm working on another one off story for the On the Job contest and that's all I've done.

My other stories are all part of series, and I designed them in my head to be multi-part stories, so there was never a question.

I feel like, at least for me, I prefer my one-offs to be simply that - resolved plots without any real need to go back and make a sequel. I feel like if I left room there for that I'd never stop, lol. It's bad enough writing novel length series that I actually planned to go that way. I don't know what I'd do if my one-offs started morphing into series.

 

[ronde]

I know the 'muse is fickle,' but how often do writers run into this sort of thing?

I have written several that conform to my definition of "sequel", that being a different plot using the same characters much as you'll find on any TV drama or sit com. Each has a definitive plot and an ending, and each story can stand on its own. I have written two stories that are continuing chapters of the same story, but I had written all the chapters prior to publishing the first in the series. That way the story has a beginning in the first of the series, a consistent plot that spans all the chapters, and a final ending in the last chapter.

I often get comments such as, "this needs a part 2", but I find it difficult to start at an ending and then continue writing. To me, it would be like saying I'd arrived at my destination and then decided I needed to keep driving. I know I'm probably in the minority here, but that's how I write.

 

[mrs_mackenzie]

I usually find that if I've written the story to a conclusion, then I don't feel any desire to write a sequel. Adding more material in a sequel feels like dismantling the original story in some way.

Generally I find it's easier to just start afresh with new characters, even if the overall plot might have been achievable with the existing ones. Plus, that gets around the issue of whether readers need to have read part 1 to read part 2.

 

[Omenainen]

Echoing others here. The title for this thread is “One-off story wanting a second part”, but is it the story wanting a second part, readers saying “write part 2!” (which basically translates to “I liked this!”), or you wanting the same view counts again? As noted, if you do write chapter 2 and call it chapter 2, it will have less readers than chapter 1. So if it’s reasons 2 or 3 you should instead write another standalone I/T story. It it’s that the story demands continuation, then the solution is to write one

 

[BobbyBrandt]

For me, I'll only choose to write a chaptered story if I know how I want to end the entire thing. And I'll probably only publish it after having written all the chapters.

You might already know this, but if you're going to make a Ch. 02, it'll draw fewer views than Ch. 01. And if you develop more parts, readers might expect an eventual ending chapter to neatly close the series. Good luck!

A sequel would not be chapter 2. It would be a different stand-alone story with the same characters, thematic elements, or settings as the original.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

A question for the multi-story writers here:

TL;DR

How often does a story you intended to be a one-off, decide it wants a sequel?

The long part...

I wrote what I called a 'palate-cleanser' (A Week of Sunrises) as a one-off experiment (and a bit of a joke) for myself and to see how writing to a category impacts views/comments/favorites/listings.

In two weeks, it has 30K views (it's in I/T, so by design, I expected higher traffic - see 'writing to a category,' above - almost three times the views of all the parts of The Long Weekend, published in NaN, combined, twice the combined comments, almost twice the combined votes, four times the combined favs, and three times the combined listings). To me, a relative newcomer, that's fantastically improved results.

Now, absurdly, I'm thinking of continuing it in a second part.

I know the 'muse is fickle,' but how often do writers run into this sort of thing?

I've already started laying out a follow-up weekend story. (Just some dialog and basic event setup and framing). I'd left AWS with some closing comments about following up the next weekend, but I never really planned to write it. I just wanted to leave the reader with a upbeat outlook at the end of the story, not plant the seeds for a continuation.

I plan to add the next part of The Long Weekend, to close out the third day in that story, before I get too far into AWS2 and I sincerely hope that word-count doesn't run away on me like AWS did.

I wrote my first I/T story intending it to become a three-part series. Each story does fine with the readers. The same is true with my series in C/FF.

The way that I see it, there are three types of inter-related stories on this site:

1. Chapter stories, where the beginning, middle, and end get spread out across multiple submissions.
2. Series stories, where related stand-alone stories share characters, motives, etc.
3. Universe stories where the plot, settings, or characters in subsequent stories revolve around those from the original.

From the way you describe your intentions for the next story, I would view it as the next part in a series.

 

[lovecraft68]

First, if you go by readership, 100 chapters isn't enough. I recall Tx Rad (RIP) posting about a series he wrote and the character dies in the end and he received several comments asking about what was going to happen next.

I'm a thrill of the kill type. Once the conflict of the story is settled and the sexual ice broken, I lose interest. If I lose interest, why would I write more?

However, after 14 years of never doing one, I did write a sequel last year to a story from four years ago, then recently did another from a two year old story. I have no idea why those two circled back in my mind, but I rolled with it.

My experience is if its not demanding to be written in your mind, don't.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

My experience is if its not demanding to be written in your mind, don't.

Hollywood could learn from this

 

[lovecraft68]

Hollywood could learn from this

Come on, you don't like sequels to 30+ year old movies?

Seriously, creatively bankrupt doesn't even cover what we see these days. Everything is a sequel/reboot/rip off etc...

Comic industry-at least Marvel and DC-are even worse

 

[Rob_Royale]

Pretty frequently for me. But then again, my dumb ass insists on leaving a teaser at the end like they did at the end of Ted Lasso. Just in case the muse strikes.