Actually, another way of looking at this might well be to ask 'why
don't you write sequels?'
Readers certainly do have a tendency to ask for sequels. But where the author feels that the story is already finished, or that to try to write more would take them over already well-trodden paths, it's true that we do sometimes wonder what readers have in mind. Kathy Brown has expressed this well when she's asked whether readers want a sequel because they feel that something is missing, or because they like the characters and the universe so much that they want to read more.
Take recent experiences of mine: I was 'encouraged' to write a sequel to In The Bleak Mid-Winter, and also to Date By Arrangement. In both cases I felt that I had told the story I wanted to tell. Sure, in the latter case there
is a story to tell in relation to reintroducing Lois Lane to a world which thought her dead, and in circumstances in which she is five years younger than she 'should' be. So that might be interesting... but not for me. At least, I don't
think so. As for Date by Arrangement, one suggestion was that Lex Luthor might be surprised to find that Lois is already smitten by Clark when he tries to turn his charm on her... but that's been done by other people, and I didn't feel any particular desire to tell that story myself.
I have written sequels to stories as a result of requests (as opposed to where I pretty much always planned to); in both cases (the sequels to It Happened One Super Night and A Conscious Choice) I felt that the sequels were pretty much like the majority of Hollywood sequels: trading on the success of the original, but with nothing new or interesting to say and considerably inferior.
So I can't see myself writing sequels again unless I am convinced that there's a story to tell and that it's one I really want to tell.
Interesting poll, Jana!
Wendy
