How to write a Sequel series

[Srebak]

At the risk of this getting locked, i had to get this started.

At the moment, i am trying to write a fan-made sequel series to a show that i like. But i'm not entirely sure on how to do that.

How do you write a sequel series?

 

[Persephone]

I have never personally done it and it isn't seen often in the Pokemon fandom since the anime has not (and presumably will never be) concluded, the games don't really set themselves up well for sequels for reasons I will address later, and the manga isn't the most popular aspect of it (objectively). And the main manga isn't (and presumably will never be) concluded as well. But outside of this fandom it's actually kind of common so you might be better off looking on different fan sites, ideally the one for the fandom you're writing for... unless it is Pokemon.

With that said, I imagine it would be very similar to writing any type of fan fiction. Take the characters given to you and possibly remove or add some as needed or desired. Think of a plot stemming form either a loose end or a new complication, ideally trying to explore some issue that was never quite given closure or would still have ongoing problems, such as a relatively rocky relationship or a minor villain who was never quite defeated. Or you could just introduce some new threat or problem if needed. Then think of how the characters might realistically behave in this situation and form a plot based around that. Then finish fleshing things out to make them interesting and complete, but keeping in mind that you are working with established characters who probably developed to a reasonable closing point at the end of the canon series. That can be hard since there might not be much more developing to go in the route that the series brought it, but how writers handles it varies based on the writer.

Unless it's Pokemon, in which case your main character gets off with basically no characterization in the game-verse, and the plot and final team are highly variable. The (almost complete) closure of the story with the main antagonist dead, incapacitated, or repentant and no clear stronger trainers or challenges at the end of the postgame also make game stories harder to do, as does the lack of character development beyond a very small core of characters. For those reasons sequel stories are somewhat hard to pull off in the game-verse. Yes, you don't have to stay terribly true to complex characters, but you also really don't have a base to work off of in terms of plots and characters and really need to invent something else new entirely and still develop interesting characters. At that point most people just choose to use high-power OCs since it lets them play more with backstory and people 'identify' with them about as much as the protagonist anyway. There are people who do direct and indirect sequel series in the game-verse, but really the closest and most common equivalent that is prevalent in this fandom are anime-verse how it should have ended stories that stop the events at a certain point (usually the end of the present season or Johto) and imagine how things could go from there, usually with shipping involved because it's an anime-verse fan fic following Ash. You might want to read some more of those to get an idea as to how a sequel would work if you are indeed writing for this fandom. Outside of that, though, it's probably a question better asked on a fan site for the fandom you're writing in.

I hope this was vaguely helpful.