Sequels: Keeping It Good

I read the Hunger Games trilogy last week. (One of the benefits of having a baby who wants to eat every two hours–you get a lot of reading done if you can manage to get a hand free. Side note: eReaders are awesome in that they are small, light, easy to hold, and make turning the page easy-peasy. Hardcover? No worries! (Plus you don’t have to be presentable or go out in public to pick up your next read–a hugely awesome perk when you have said hungry baby and might be lingering in the lower spectrum of your personal hygiene habits.)) Back to the books…. The first book, Hunger Games, was action-packed and engrossing–you find yourself thinking about the characters and story when you aren’t reading. (I kept wondering why my husband was staying up past his bedtime every night to keep reading on his iPad. Even when utterly exhausted.)

Then came book two… Catching Fire. Not so much action. In fact, it felt like it was a ‘patch’ between book one and two. And when the action did start, it echoed book one instead of standing apart. (By this time I had read ahead of my husband and he asked when this book would pick up and whether he should bother to keep reading. And this is huge. To have gone from him being unable to put it down to being indifferent. Doh!)

Book three. Mockingjay. I have to say the social networking publicity on this one was great when it was released. However, it still wasn’t book one. But… it was better than book two. So I ask, how on earth do we writers keep up with the expectations of awesomeness? How do we keep a trilogy’s next books alive? Fresh?

I understand that maybe for book one we have all the time in the world to develop it and then its a big hit and everyone wants the next book, but by then you all of a sudden have all these publishing deadlines, plus have to publicize book one… and you can’t delve into the new book to the same extent. So what do you do?

Questions? Come One, Come All!

Literary agent Mary Kole of the Andrea Brown Literary Agency will be answering questions for all us writers this coming Monday (April 12th) over on AgentQuery Connect. She’s a savvy agent who loves young adult and middle grade books. AND her agency is ranked numero uno in terms of sales for these kinds of books. So, if you are a writer who has questions about these categories, she’s your gal, and AQC is the place to be. If you aren’t into writing those kinds of books, but are curious about the world of publishing and what the future may hold… Ms. Kole can help you out there too! Or, if your questions are more basic, such as, what do agents really want in a query letter, that works too.

You may have also heard of Ms. Kole due to her awesome-McAwesomeVille blog, Kidlit.com, which simply rocks. I think I’ve mentioned it a time or two….

Don’t miss out on this one-of-a-kind opportunity to have your burning writerly questions answered by an industry pro. Go over to AQC and become a member if you aren’t already (it’s completely free) and ask away in the dedicated Ms. Kole group. (Lurking is also allowed….)

Enjoy!

P.S. If you enter a dialogue with Ms. Brown (i.e. ask a question over on AQC) this can, in some cases, work as a jumping off point in a future query to her. (You know, make it a bit more personalized to help you stand out in the massive pile of queries she gets on a daily basis.) For example, “Dear Ms. Kole: Last week I enjoyed reading all your replies to my fellow AgentQueryConnect members. You had mentioned that you are looking for novels that X, Y, and Z in response to my question about what is hot in middle grade novels right now. I believe my story BEST THING EVER fits what you are looking for.” Etc., etc….