A standalone novel is written with no expectation that anything in it will need to be true again. Every casual detail, every distance, every offhand remark about a character's past, was written to serve one scene. When a sequel is commissioned, all of it becomes canon at once, and none of it is written down anywhere.
What suddenly matters
| Detail | Why it now binds |
|---|---|
| Casual dates and ages | The sequel has to fit them |
| Distances and travel times | The same |
| Offhand backstory | Readers remember it |
| Minor characters' names | Which you have already forgotten |
| Rules stated once | Now the system |
| Who is dead | Frequently checked |
| Geography implied | Now a map |
| Anything you meant loosely | Now precise |
Row eight is the general case. Details written as texture become specifications, and the sequel is written by an author who remembers the texture rather than the specification.
The catch-up
- Extract the terms from the published book. That gives you the names, complete.
- Sort them into people, places, factions and things, which the directories mostly do for you.
- Reread with a notebook, recording every stated fact with its chapter.
- Search the numbers: ages, dates, distances, durations.
- Write down the rules the book demonstrated, not the ones you intended.
- Mark the gaps where the book says nothing, since those are where you're free.
- Only then plan book two.
Step six is the pleasant part. Every question the first book left open is a decision you still get to make, and knowing which those are is as valuable as knowing what binds you.
The fast half
The Novel Kit does step one in minutes on the published file, returning every proper noun and unusual term with counts and first appearances. In a standalone-turned-series that list is the whole naming layer of a bible you never wrote, including the minor characters you wouldn't have remembered.
The rest is reading, and it's a day well spent before drafting a sequel.
A practical next step
Extract the names from your published standalone and read the list. The ones you don't recognise are canon, and they are already in print.
Sources checked
- Build a series bible from a manuscript
- How to check a sequel against book one
- Canon versus draft: what counts
Frequently asked questions
What is the specific problem?
A standalone is written without a bible, because none was needed. Book two then has to obey a set of facts that exist only in the published text.
What binds you?
Everything the published book states. Not what you intended, not what you cut: what a reader can point to.
What is the first step?
Read book one as a reader and build the reference document you never made, from the text rather than from memory.