Sequels

I never read sequels because I don't have the patience. Sequels rarely work anyway unless the original story was written with that in mind. My favorite stories are relatively short ones with twisty endings that leave room for me to imagine what might happen.

I doubt I will write any sequels longer then 4 parts in length from now on if ever, the story is hard to create on a on-going basis and one always has to be very aware to make sure of the follow-through is consistent each and every time. Stats show each succeeding part gets read and commented on by less and less readers. Especially if one tends to write longer stories (5000+ words) it can get very hard to continue reading, I would think one would have to stick to around 1000 words give or take a 100 to be able to get the reader to flip to the next chapter. Not true for all sequels I have read but most.

...
Yes, it can be, and it takes planning and 'consistent..follow-through' as you say. True, too, that with each part the reads-rate drops.
But ... it's also incredibly rewarding to create a novel-like, extended story: you get to know and love the characters; there's time and space for them to start going their own way and changing your mind about them; plot-lines flower and put out new tendrils as a detailed mini-world is created and grows.
Meanwhile, each new episode generates more reads for previous ones and the readers who do stay with you end up feeling like close friends.

canadianspankee:
"Stats show each succeeding part gets read and commented on by less and less readers."

Yes but whose fault is that? I agree with EnglishMaster: those who read to the end reap the full benefit and share in the reward of the creative process.

That doesn't always happen. In a couple of serials I wrote, one episode has attracted fewer readers than the ones before OR AFTER and not for any obvious reason like being assessed as containing no actual spanking or being unduly long.

I fully agree, those who "read" to the end reap a reward however I still wonder how many of our readers follow through on a series. It would be interesting to look back and see how well serials have done in the Library.

Maybe I need to learn some tricks. For example I noticed "Southern Exposure" is running around 30+ episodes but has switched between F/tm to tm/F, and now starting to switch back.

I also think genre written about is a strong factor, some genre's do not have the followers like others, like F/M which I write is 3rd behind M/F and F/F in number of stories available. Also I have as yet to include stories about pre-adults and there seems to be strong following in those stories.

Well, readers may lose interest in a serial, and it does require more focus than a quick, relatively short story with all-new, 'one-shot-deal' characters--it's harder to keep track of everything and everyone in a serial, when you may be reading part thirteen while trying to think back RE its reference to something that took place in part five.

As for "Southern Exposure," I can't speak for its author (tfs) but I've assumed that he's writing it as he perceives the characters and plot line developing, so spanking gender orientation changing would be part of the serial's character and plot development.

If you aren't especially interested in non-adult stories, then IMHO you wouldn't feel very fullfilled in writing them even if they did turn out to be fairly popular. If you truly feel like experimenting with producing stories featuring teenagers and/or even preteen children, that's obviously a different situation.

But AFAIC it's not a good idea to try "tricks" within a series merely in an attempt to improve its readership--although sometimes the characters and storyline may play unexpected "tricks" on an author that he/she didn't plan on.

Sometimes a writer has to 'go with the flow,' especially when one's 'muse' abruptly changes from a beguiling young nymph into a whip-cracking dominatrix... --C.K.

One thing I do enjoy about doing serials, like the Spank Shop and Phi Gamma Beta is that I have to be very careful about continuity, and I believe that helps me grow as a writer.

My view is that a story has a beginning, middle, and an end. Once that story is written it can be hard to go back to those characters, because (hopefully) they have changed during that first story.

It can be hard to recapture a spark once things change. A different setting, different reactions, the characters having incorporated the events of that first story - it's hard to get that spark back. I've done it a few times, but most of my multiple part stories were written more or less continually. That is the second (and later) part was written while the story was fresh in my mind or written as part of one long story.

Goodgulf

I've been suffering from chronic writer's block (my apologies to baretthunter, to whom I promised a story some time ago), so I haven't uploaded too many stories here. However, I think I have at least two cents to throw in.

My most popular story, an unfinished serial called "Backfire," started out as a one-shot short story. I had no intentions of continuing it. The girl gets spanked to attract a guy, it doesn't work, she gets spanked again for throwing a fit about it, everyone laughs, story over. I posted it on a couple of blogs and forums, and was surprised when almost every commenter asked for a sequel. Reading their input made me realize that there actually were many interesting directions the story could go in, and now I'm working on chapter three.

The same is true to a lesser extent of my other story, "Product Testing." A comical short with a totally absurd premise and setting, inspired purely by the complaining that went on in the spanking blogosphere when the Vermont Country bath brush was discontinued. That one also got sequel requests. I'm still not sure about whether or not it can be continued; unlike Backfire, which has the potential for all manner of twists and satire in future chapters, the joke of "Product Testing" has already been told. And yet, I'm still somewhat tempted to try a sequel.

Hopefully, I'll soon be posting a serial that was conceived as a serial from the start. I wonder if there will be a difference in smoothness and quality.