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?