No, it only tells us the things that are relevant to understanding the action, and the motivation of characters, in book one. After all, the first book can’t possibly tell us every single detail about a fictitious world. A second book in a series should give the readers new information, expanding the worldbuilding and creating new layers. I’m a firm believer that any sequel should also reveal something new about the world in which the action’s set – particularly if it’s a fictional world. In most cases, you’ve got the same characters, but a new plot – one that more often than not demonstrates considerable character development.īut characters aren’t the only thing that should be developed in a sequel. But it wasn’t until I began writing the second book in my dystopian Untamed Series that I fully appreciated this warning. I’ve heard so many writers say that writing a sequel is harder than writing a standalone. She also faced the challenge of bringing forward fantasy elements that existed in the background of her debut novel. To create my setting, I used a lot of research that didn’t make it onto the pages of Gringolandia, but, as Madeline points out, the process of building and deepening the world is somewhat different in dystopian fiction. The companion to Gringolandia (considered a companion rather than a sequel because it has a different protagonist), takes place almost entirely in Santiago, Chile at the end of the Pinochet dictatorship, a setting that occupies less than a third of the earlier book. I asked her to write about setting and worldbuilding, how a sequel often explores these in more depth, because that was something I faced in writing Surviving Santiago. She returns to the blog one year later with her sequel, Fragmented.

In conjunction with the release of her debut novel, Untamed, last year, Madeline Dyer wrote about using current and past events to develop a dystopian world.

Writing Sequels, Developing Your Dystopian World: An Encore Guest Post by Madeline Dyer

Fragmented by Madeline Dyer