March of the Sequels – Meadoe Hora

Welcome to March of the Sequels, Meadoe.

First of all tell me a little about your series and introduce us to the sequel.

My Series: The Furious Legacy Series. It’s a middle grade/lower ya urban fantasy series about the daughter of one of the Furies from Greek mythology. She gets her first Fury case and it leads her to uncovering family secrets, which puts her in the middle of a brewing war between Apollo and the Zeus. In the first book, she finds her father who has been cursed with madness and she needs to untangle that mystery. In the 2nd book, she heads to the Underworld to rescue the Furies, who have been imprisoned there. The first book in the series is called Curse of the Furies and the 2nd is Dungeon of Hades.

Do you find that most of your readers continue to read the whole series? Why do you think that is?

My sequel just released in November and the response was good. What was odd was that when I was promoting the sequel, I got more sales for the 1st book in the series rather than the sequel.

Is it easier to further develop characters you’ve already written in book one?

Yes, for me it was easier. I feel like in the first book, we get introduced to them and in many cases, they get introduced to each other. In the 2nd book, we get to learn more about them.

How difficult is it to add new characters in a sequel into already established relationships?

I think for my series it wasn’t difficult because I’m dealing with Greek gods/goddesses who are immortal, so they have a long history with each other. So, I felt like it wasn’t introducing new characters, it was meeting people my characters already knew.

Is it difficult to continue with worldbuilding for a world you have already built in book 1? Do you find it easier to switch locations for the sequel and start again with worldbuilding?

My book takes place in Wisconsin, where I live and I wanted to show some of the places here that are rich in local folklore. For the sequel, it wasn’t difficult because I had some places in mind. I’m working on the third book now and it’s difficult now because I want to incorporate new settings and I’ve already used my favorites. So, I’m trying to incorporate them in new ways.

Have you ever been stymied by a worldbuilding or plot detail from book 1 that is very inconvenient to deal with or write your way around in subsequent books?

Yes! I’m not a planner. I don’t meticulously plan and outline things. So, when I finished book 2, I left all these threads that were leading to one confrontation and as I was starting to write book 3, I realized I didn’t want to do that confrontation. I wanted it to go in another direction. So, it’s been challenging to take all those threads and incorporate them in a different way.

Did you notice your craft improving from book 1 to subsequent books in a series, and if so, how?

I hope so! I love reading in general and I love books about writing. So, I’m always trying to improve my craft. I spend money on quality editors and I feel like every time I go through a round of editing, I become a better writer.

Do you plan out the entire series at once or one book at a time?

When I started the series, I knew the major events that would connect the books, but I didn’t plan out the details of how they would arrive there.

Do you try to make sequels readable as standalones or do you design a series so that readers have to read the whole thing?

I try to make them readable as standalones and before I released book 2, I engaged beta readers who hadn’t read book 1 to make sure that the story still made sense to them. I know sometimes when I read a series, I’ll start with book 2 to skip all the set up that happens in book 1 and just get to the meat of it.

Do you have any marketing tips for sequels?

I am not a marketing expert by any means, but for the release, I did price promos on the first book and ran ads on both and hit a few promo sites.

Thank you for joining me for March of the Sequels, Meadoe. Good luck with your books!

Amazon | goodreads

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About the Author

Meadoe Hora is a writer, working mom, dog rescuer, and lover of beautiful words. She writes books for teens with strong female leads and classic mythology. Her work has appeared in Chicken Soup for the Soul and numerous websites. The Superhero Kick team book series is a project she worked on with her husband and son, the original Bennetman. Her website is http://www.meadoehora.com. She also writes about her health and fitness journey at http://www.meadoeoutonalimb.com. She lives in WI, USA with her family, a spoiled basset hound and a crazy black lab.
www.meadoehora.com