When it comes to movies you almost always hear, "The sequel wasn't nearly as good." That's true as far back as Dirty Harry and The Godfather -- which are the first movies I can recall with sequels. Sure, there are outstanding exceptions, such as the Starwars films, but for the most part, if there's a II, III ... VII after a movie title I tend to say, "No thanks." I'm perfectly content to let my imagination figure out what happens to the characters after "The End." Mind you, I'm not talking about an epic such as The Lord of the Rings, which had to be three movies in order to be true to Tolkien's triolgy. I'm talking about a script that's thrown together to ride the coattails of success of what was meant to be a stand-alone movie.~
Yet producers continue to pour tons of money into one sequel after another on the chance that movie goers will be drawn in by a popular title. There's even the fairly recent phenomenon of the movie prequel, which sets out to show how the story began ... which seems to me to be the purpose of the original movie -- but what do I know?
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That begs the questions, does the same hold true for books? Are sequels and series worth the money publishers put into them? We all know the phenomenal success of the Left Behind series -- and we can debate the merit of that all day -- as well as the success of the Mitford series, which is much easier to understand from a craft perspective. But I believe their success is the exception to the rule. I'm currently reading the second book in a trilogy, the first of which I thoroughly enjoyed, but this second one ... not so much. Maybe because I'm not as engaged with the POV character this time around, or maybe because the writing and the story are not on the same par as the first book. I have to say I'm really disappointed. I wanted this and the next book to be as good as the first. But once again, it didn't happen.
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Still, publishers seem to like sequels and series, so they must be profitable. But do readers buy books 2, 3, 4, etc., in the hope they'll be as good as the first, much as movie goers buy admission tickets with the same hope, only to be disappointed on both fronts?
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In Charles Dickens' day "serialization" was a popular way to present a novel, publishing a chapter at a time in monthly periodicals (which I wouldn't like one bit). But sequels and series in fiction, as in movies, are a fairly new practice. I mea
n, can you imagine The Grapes of Wrath: The California Years, or Moby Dick: Let's Have Another Go? What would that even look like?
n, can you imagine The Grapes of Wrath: The California Years, or Moby Dick: Let's Have Another Go? What would that even look like?~
As an author I've yet to entertain the idea of writing a sequel or a series, though I've been asked many times if I were planning a sequel to either Every Good & Perfect Gift or Lying on Sunday. Sure, it's bittersweet to say goodbye to my characters at the end of a book; still I'm always ready to move on to another story and another set of characters.
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As readers, are you attracted to sequels and series? If so, how often are you satisfied/ disappointed?
