I have written sequels for my book which were very fun to write. In order for a sequel to be a sequel it needs to follow certain rules. I cannot tell you how to write your story and I cannot tell you how to continue it but I CAN tell you the basic things you have to include.

A sequel should always accomplish the following

1) Tell a different story than the predecessors

2) Explore different themes and ideas

3) Take us to new locations

4) Introduce new characters and/or villains

5) Have higher stakes

No. 1 – It's hard to come up with books to summarize so I'll just use my own books as examples.

The first book 'The Elves of Trelis' is about an elf who wants to help an imp get to the Queen of fairies, Empress Destiny. On the way she is told that there are evil creatures called The Brothers who want to devour the fairies of Trelis. 

The sequel changes everything.

Now we have a warlock called Alastor who meets Phadia when she comes to rescue her friend from the witch kingdom.

So it has a different story and works as a sequel. Remember that. The sequels always have to do something new.

No. 2 – Again, I'm using my book as an example.

The first book has a different moral than the second book. Different morals mean different themes and ideas.

Book 1 is about not judging a book by its cover. It also demonstrates the idea that you shouldn't underestimate the meek. 

Book 2 is about doing the right thing even though its hard. It uses this theme: freedom vs being trapped.

In the sequel the prince Alastor is 'trapped' because he is forced to do something terrible because of his mother and he cannot escape her. But the elf is 'free' because she lives in a forest in a tree by herself and makes her own decisions.

Your sequels have to have different conflicts and themes. New things to talk about, new struggles for the characters to face. It shouldn't be too unalike the first. We shouldn't be stepping into another universe but the main characters need new threats to combat.

No. 3 – Even if your story is a simple little thing set in suburbia, we should still get a new location. Whether it be a new town we get to go to or just getting to see a new building or a new street. We need more locations in our sequel!!!

My fantasy story is all about travelling to new locations so it isn't a problem for me but make sure your characters are going more places in your sequels. Because new places mean new things to face. More conflict and more and struggles.

No. 4 – your sequels should always have more characters in them. 

And if you have a villain, more villains too!

Sequels have got to be longer, expand the world and add more people.

No. 5 – It would definitely suck if the sequels' stakes were lower than the first book.

Imagine in book 1 you have to stop an evil villain from mind controlling people and in book 2 you had to steal back a McGuffin from a random bully. The first book has higher stakes than the second and that's not good.

In my series. The elves have to stop a group of evil creatures from devouring elves of Trelis. Now that may seem like the highest stakes you can get but I upped the ante by making the sequels stakes more personal.

In that book the villain threatens our heroes with slavery. And not just that but when she enslaves people, she also mind wipes them. So the stakes feel bigger because losing your identity is a big deal to the audience.

So make sure the stakes are raised in some way in you sequels.

I hope this was helpful. Please comment below if you agree or disagree with me.