Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with sequels

To Book or not to Book?

Xurando — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 12:13:58 -0800

How much of book one do I have to explain in book two, if book two is part of a series I'm writing? Last year I started writing an epic novel and got through part one and eighty thousand words. Then I got busy and put the writing down expecting to pick up part two any day, but I haven't.

To get motivated again I signed up for NaNoWriMo. The problem is I can't use any previous writing in NaNoWriMo. I have to start part two like it's book two even though eventually they will be part of the same novel.

How much of book one do I have to explain? It's a complicated plot, but my preference is not to explain it all. Will this approach hurt the writing?

Which Dune sequels and Gene Wolfe book to buy?

ersatz — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 19:18:18 -0800

Help me choose a couple of my next books: Which Dune sequels and which Gene Wolfe book to buy? I read Dune some time ago and while I found the prose lacking at times and didn't particularly care about the epigrams and "mysticism", I liked it well enough to consider continuing with the sequels. Apart from the curiosity to see how the plot progresses, are they worth it compared to the first one, and if yes, which is the cut-off point? The Brian Herbert books are right out of consideration.

It occurred to me that I haven't seen anyone disliking Gene Wolfe, so I decided to give him a try. Which book do I choose? The Book of the New Sun seems to be his best-regarded book, but are the first volumes (Shadow and Claw) relatively self-contained to serve as a first sample? First sample doesn't necessarily equal easy to chew.

Sequels That Didn't Start Out As Sequels

Ian A.T. — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 14:39:13 -0800

Are We Done Yet? was the sequel to an original film, but was weirdly also a remake of the classic Cary Grant comedy Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House. Along the same lines, Ocean's Twelve was based on an unrelated script first intended as a John Woo project. Can we think of any other examples of a sequel to an original movie starting life as an unconnected film? I know that everyone loves to participate in movie threads, but be careful:

I'm NOT asking about films like 102 Dalmations or Stuart Little II...those are original sequels to existing works, and is the opposite of what I'm looking for.

I also not asking about Evil Dead II or Drunken Master II, which aren't sequels so much as remakes of their first films.

And I'm certainly not looking for "sequels in name only," where the sequels have little to do with the originals. No matter how tenuously the sequel connects to the first film, if it's an original script it's not what we're trying to find.

Again, I'm ONLY curious about sequels to original works, where the sequel was originally an unconnected film. It's okay to not answer.