If You Were Writing a Sequel...

If you were writing a series of books would you A) Continue where you left off, B) Take up several months from where you left off, or C) Create a whole new scenario?

As I said in my last post I'm going back to square one with my second zombie novel. The beginning of the other copy takes place off the coast of Hawaii and it wasn't my intention of reviving the old cast of characters. About halfway through the second edit, the original characters started screaming at me. They had things left undone and were still alive. If nothing else, this is what promoted the whole story rewrite of "Zombie Apocalypse: Travelers." The premise of the story is still the same...survival against flesh eating zombies.

If I take the story up a few months, there could be a lot of back story. I'm fighting that urge by only writing a sentence or two sprinkled here and there as minimal fillers or only adding them as the story dictates and the reader needs to know the information. In other words I'm bringing the reader up to speed by the spoonful. Yes, in this case I'm following the rules. Long, wordy back story passages are boring and doesn't move the story forward. So the way I do it is to take ten steps forward and one baby step back.

So I begin anew with "Zombie Apocalypse: Travelers." I'm bringing back the old cast of characters and adding the new bits as I go. It's like being a welder trying to put together two sheets of metal with a torch. Wish me luck.

Keep writing and loving the Lord.