Hi Jim,

HELP!!! I’M TRYING TO WRITE A SEQUEL, BUT I CAN’T COME UP WITH ANYTHING! I JUST DON’T HAVE THE SAME INSPIRATION WITH THESE CHARACTERS AS I DID IN THE FIRST BOOK! I GET HALF WAY THROUGH, AND JUST CAN’T SEEM TO GET THROUGH IT BECAUSE IT BADLY CHANGES THE CHARACTERS PERSONALITIES AND THE DYNAMIC OF THEIR RELATIONSHIPS!

DO YOU HAVE ANY ADVICE???

THANKS,
KHIMBAY

Hi Khimbay,

First of all, you don’t have to shout. Do you know how many internet etiquette laws you’re breaking by typing in all caps? You’re breaking one; Do Not Type In All Caps!

Okay, on to your question… I’m in the same boat. I know that there has been a lot of people asking about Soul Siphon’s sequel and I tried to give the audience what they wanted. However I couldn’t get anywhere with it…

What was holding me up? Well for starters, I spent a lot of time writing Mary Kelly. I was very careful to portray her in a way I think would be like who the actual historical MK was… if she was resurrected and lived for another 130 years. However I couldn’t replicate that in the second story. Why? Because all the mystery behind her was gone. We know about her soft side now, we know that her bitterness was shield against her own problems. I kept trying, but I wasn’t happy with how she was coming out.

The second issue was writing the devil. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t get her (yes, HER) right. I wanted her to be flamboyant, outgoing, and an all-around like-able character,  but that came off too much like a certain TV show we all know and most of us love.

So I tried again with the devil, trying to make her lose her memory so that the one lacking her previous history isn’t even and the group is left with the moral conundrum of what to do with the devil, who may not actually be the devil. Again, it went nowhere and I couldn’t get her right in a way that would have made people like her.

So… sorry everybody, the Soul Siphon series is… at this point in time, defunct. Will I revisit the universe at some point, yes. I still have things l’d like to do there, but I doubt it’ll be in the form of a direct sequel.

So… unfortunately Khimbay, I can’t help you as I don’t have an answer to this problem either. My solution is to simply wash my hands of the whole situation and simply say ‘That’s it, no more direct sequels.’

This is something I did with Damnation. I refused to drag the characters from Divinity back out into another adventure when the characters already been possessed, beaten, one had been tortured, raped, and murdered, while the others had been put through LITERAL Hell. I know they’re characters that I just made up, but to me, that’s just cruel, and I’ve honestly seen how mean-spirited writing hurts a story.
However, I knew I wanted to do a follow-up to show the effects of what happened in Divinity and needed to find a way around that. So I created new characters and wrote a whole new story around the events of the previous novel. Yes, a few of the old characters made appearances, but they were strictly cameos.

I’m actually planning on doing the same thing with Drakin: The Story of Raiya after its published. There will be other stories (hopefully many) that take place in the same world. Yes characters from  The Story of Raiya may make appearances (if they survive), and will get honorable mentions, but the follow-up stories will not be about them. A post-apocalyptic world where humanity is recovering from literal decades of bloodshed to the point where they were facing extinction, opens up the possibility to a plethora of stories that can be created. The potential is there and the characters are waiting to be written… and I personally can’t wait. I plan on spending a lot of time in that world. Who knows, maybe we’ll see a familiar face or two along the way.

So that’s my advice to you, Khimbay and I apologize for going off-topic a little. If you don’t want to write a direct sequel, but do want to do a follow-up? Write a new story in the same universe. It’s technically still a sequel.

Hope this helps, but maybe our readers have other ideas, so I’ll open it up to the floor. What does everyone think? Do you have advice for Khimbay? Let me know in the comments.

Readers,

Do you have a question about writing, publishing, my stories, etc? Please feel free to post a comment or email me.

jimthewritingwizard@gmail.com

I’ll use those comments to select my next blog post.

I have been writing for several years, have multiple published works, experience with publishing and independent work, so I can hopefully be of assistance.

Please note, I only do one of these a day and will do my best to respond to everyone, but it may take some time.

Also, feel free to check out my works of Fantasy and Historical Fiction, Available on Amazon and where ever books are sold. See the link below:

http://www.amazon.com/James-Harrington/e/B00P7FBXTU

Thanks friends!

Catch you on the flip side!

-Jim

A good friend and writing colleague of mine recently asked me for advice about writing good romance into a story and it got me thinking…

A dangerous passtime…

Yeah, I know, but I thought I’d share some of my advice here…

So you’ve got two characters. They’re getting close… very close… but you don’t want this to become a romance novel. So how do you bring a romantic element into the story without it going fully over to the romance side of things…

Well honestly… make it an element, a plot point, just don’t make it the major point of the story. If the romance is anything more than a side mention, you’re doing something wrong.

The way I see it is that you can approach this from two ways; passively, which is what I do if I want it hinted that my characters like or love each other, but don’t want a major romantic element.

So let’s say you’ve made your decision. You know the characters are going to end up together. You want the readers to want these characters together. You want the mush, you want all that… so how do you prevent it from completely taking over the book like it so easily can?

Well first of all, donate one or two scenes to it. Don’t bring it up over and over. Let the characters experience everything once and then move on.

Second way… downplay it! In some of my more recent novels, I make the characters out to be friends, casual daters or… sex buddies at most. It’s not until the end of the story where one character reveals that they love the other… and honestly it’s only at this point that the romantic sub-plot has it’s effect.

Third way, keep the romance in hint only. What do I mean by that? Don’t come right out and say anything. Let them show affection for each other, but not like outright romantic affection. Let them connect slowly, compliment each other, work well together, and don’t even use the word ‘love.’

In any case, those are the ways I typically use. Let me know what you think in the comments.

Readers,

Do you have a question about writing, publishing, my stories, etc? Please feel free to post a comment or email me.

jimthewritingwizard@gmail.com

I’ll use those comments to select my next blog post.

I have been writing for several years, have multiple published works, experience with publishing and independent work, so I can hopefully be of assistance.

Please note, I only do one of these a day and will do my best to respond to everyone, but it may take some time.

Also, feel free to check out my works of Fantasy and Historical Fiction, Available on Amazon and where ever books are sold. See the link below:

http://www.amazon.com/James-Harrington/e/B00P7FBXTU

Thanks friends!

Catch you on the flip side!

-Jim

This is more of a rant, so if you’re looking for advice, you can skip this post.

Have you ever seen or read about a character that at some point in the story encounters an issue that he was neither the cause of nor at fault with… yet when he’s confronted, he says nothing… for no apparent reason?

It’s especially frustrating when the person who confronted him later finds out that the character wasn’t at fault… but for some reason doesn’t ask why that character didn’t tell him the truth.

In cases where the character is standing up for, or defending, someone else, it’s understandable. However in other cases where there is no logical reason for it, the character keeps his mouth shut, thus incurring the wrath for something s/he isn’t guilty of.

So my question is why? Why does a character do this? All the writer accomplishes by having their character do this is getting the audience mad and making them yell at the screen/book saying, “What are you doing? Defend yourself! It wasn’t your fault!”

Am I missing something here? Let me know in the comments.

Readers,

Do you have a question about writing, publishing, my stories, etc? Please feel free to post a comment or email me.

jimthewritingwizard@gmail.com

I’ll use those comments to select my next blog post.

I have been writing for several years, have multiple published works, experience with publishing and independent work, so I can hopefully be of assistance.

Please note, I only do one of these a day and will do my best to respond to everyone, but it may take some time.

Also, feel free to check out my works of Fantasy and Historical Fiction, Available on Amazon and where ever books are sold. See the link below:

http://www.amazon.com/James-Harrington/e/B00P7FBXTU

Thanks friends!

Catch you on the flip side!

-Jim

Hi Jim,

I’m currently writing a sequel to a short story I posted recently and was hoping you could give me some advice. I’ve been getting a lot of people emailing me with questions, suggestions, and criticisms about the previews. A lot of people don’t seem to like the direction I’m taking my story. To me it feels natural, but given the level of objection, I’m wondering if I should scrap the story all together and start from scratch. I don’t know what to do.

Thanks,
MB Nelson.

Hi MB,

You have my sympathies. That’s a pretty tough conundrum you’re dealing with. My advice is and has always been to write how you want to write. In the end, your fans are your fans because they like what YOU created.

That being said, I know a lot of people these days are angry about reboots of beloved series and movies (Ghostbusters, Star Trek, etc.), and I’m definitely in their camp. However I’m not against these series and reboots being made. I simply vote with my dollar and don’t partake in these movies/books/TV shows if I don’t think I’ll like them.

So that’s the rub, you have every right to create your stories from your IP as you see fit. Just be aware, your audience also has the right to criticize your work and choose not to partake in it. This is a risk we, as writers, have to take every day of our lives. I always take constructive criticism, but in the end, I’ll still do what I believe is right whether that is following the advice or not.

One side note I will say, do not get mad at your fan base. As I’ve stated in multiple posts, getting mad, argumentative, or going out of your way to taunt your detractors, or accuse them of some kind of bias is a quick way to lose yourself an audience. Take the criticisms with a grain of sand and do as you see fit. Just keep a cool head.

If you wind up losing a large portion of your audience or they don’t like your book, then you have a few options open to you…

1. Abandon the series. I don’t recommend this lightly, but if you’re doing this as a source of income and people really don’t like the direction you’re taking your story, then it may be time to end it. Fans are a fickle thing and once they’re turned off, it can be very hard to win them back unless the next follow up is Empire Strikes Back level good.
2. Divergent Timeline. I know a few people MAY see this as kowtowing a bit and maybe it is, but usually when I write, I have multiple directions in mind that a story can go. After fleshing the story out, I’m subject to change that because something didn’t fit. Maybe you could explore one of the other paths and create a sort of ‘what if’ timeline. I actually have a few novels written like that which I’ve never published.
3. Press on. If you’ve got the sort of Devil May Care attitude, you can try to press on and hope that the overall story will reconnect with your fans… its not easy to do and I’ve rarely seen it succeed, but it’s not impossible.

Anyway I hope this helps a little bit. I definitely think you should write your story the way it works for you. Above all else, if you’re not enthusiastic about what you write, you certainly can’t expect your fans to be.

Let’s open this up though, readers does anyone have a suggestion for Nelson? Let us know in the comments.

Readers,

Do you have a question about writing, publishing, my stories, etc? Please feel free to post a comment or email me.

jimthewritingwizard@gmail.com

I’ll use those comments to select my next blog post.

I have been writing for several years, have multiple published works, experience with publishing and independent work, so I can hopefully be of assistance.

Please note, I only do one of these a day and will do my best to respond to everyone, but it may take some time.

Also, feel free to check out my works of Fantasy and Historical Fiction, Available on Amazon and where ever books are sold. See the link below:

http://www.amazon.com/James-Harrington/e/B00P7FBXTU

Thanks friends!

Catch you on the flip side!

-Jim

Hi Jim,

I’m trying to write a new story and have a few characters make cameos from the previous one. Basically my story is set in the same timeline and one or two characters make appearances in order to connect the stories. However I seem to run into issues with the cameo characters taking over the story. I’ve had to do a rewrite a few times. Can you help me?

Thanks,
Michaela

Mi Micahaela,

If you’re having so much trouble limiting your old characters’ appearances… why not make the new story about them? If you love your characters so much that you can’t help but keep writing about them, there is no rule saying that you can’t just make the story about them with maybe your new characters simply joining the team.

The other thing you can do is give your character cameos one or two scenes and then cut them off completely. Don’t bring them back in and don’t mention them again, just make a clean break.

Without knowing more details about the characters, I’m afraid I can’t offer too much more in the way of guidance. Please feel free to email me when you get a chance.

Readers, what about you? Any other advice?

Readers,

Do you have a question about writing, publishing, my stories, etc? Please feel free to post a comment or email me.

jimthewritingwizard@gmail.com

I’ll use those comments to select my next blog post.

I have been writing for several years, have multiple published works, experience with publishing and independent work, so I can hopefully be of assistance.

Please note, I only do one of these a day and will do my best to respond to everyone, but it may take some time.

Also, feel free to check out my works of Fantasy and Historical Fiction, Available on Amazon and where ever books are sold. See the link below:

http://www.amazon.com/James-Harrington/e/B00P7FBXTU

Thanks friends!

Catch you on the flip side!

-Jim

Hi Jim,

I have a character in my story that I want to turn from a bad guy into a good guy. The problem is that he’s guilty of committing several atrocities including mass genocide. I don’t see how I can turn him into a good guy in a way that I can redeem him. Any thoughts?

Thanks,
Linney

Hi Linney,

Oooooo that is a tough one. Redeeming someone who committed mass genocide is certainly a tall order and frankly… it’s impossible. Morally, there really isn’t any way a person can be redeemed for committing such a heinous crime. I think at most, heroes would accept that person as an ally of convenience at most.

In truth, both Lucasfilm and Marvel really seemed to struggle with this one. Lucasfilm had to find a way to ‘save’ Anakin Skywalker at the end of Return of the Jedi. This is the guy who killed multiple Jedi including young children. How can one be redeemed from something like that? Well… they went about it in kind of a weird way. It’s sort of an ambiguous explanation, but Obi Wan seems to imply that Darth Vader and Anakin Skywalker are in fact two different people. Could it be that the force influence over a Jedi alters their personality when they go from light to dark and vice versa?
Luke: You mean it controls your actions?
Obi Wan: Partially, but it also obeys your commands.

Obi Wan: Your father was seduced by the dark side of the force. He ceased to be Anakin Skywalker and became Darth Vader. When that happened, the good man who was your father, was destroyed.

So it is kind of implied that this is the case.

Marvel really messed up on this one… everyone already knows my opinion on the Phoenix Saga, but when the writers decided to resurrect Jean Grey, they had to figure out a way to do it that absolved her of the mass genocide she’d committed as Phoenix… despite the fact that she wasn’t even really responsible for her actions. To do that, they made it so that her and the Phoenix were two different beings and the Phoenix had essentially copied her physical characteristics.

So if you’re not willing to do a workaround, and I highly advise against it, I’d say that you probably can’t absolve the character. You can have them work for good, but they’ll never be out from under what they did. At best, I’d say by the end of the story, kill that character off. Have them sacrifice themselves to save the heroes or another large group of people.
I call this particular plot device the ‘Last Rite Redemption’. In my opinion the only way to cleanse the soul of someone who has committed such horrible crimes would be for that person to willingly give their lives to destroy an ultimate evil or save an ultimate good. Even then it may not be a redemption, but that’s as close as you’re going to get.

If you’re hoping to make that character a hero… likely that’s never going to happen.

Readers, what do you think? Do you have any advice for Linney?

Readers,

Do you have a question about writing, publishing, my stories, etc? Please feel free to post a comment or email me.

jimthewritingwizard@gmail.com

I’ll use those comments to select my next blog post.

I have been writing for several years, have multiple published works, experience with publishing and independent work, so I can hopefully be of assistance.

Please note, I only do one of these a day and will do my best to respond to everyone, but it may take some time.

Also, feel free to check out my works of Fantasy and Historical Fiction, Available on Amazon and where ever books are sold. See the link below:

http://www.amazon.com/James-Harrington/e/B00P7FBXTU

Thanks friends!

Catch you on the flip side!

-Jim