Sequel Writing: The Sunbonnet Bride

 I did not plan to write a sequel for my Christmas novella, The Yuletide Bride, but when the opportunity arose, I figured out how to write one.

Before  The 12 Brides of Christmas e-books were released last fall, Barbour Publishing gave the writers an opportunity to write sequels.

We had several days to come up with a synopsis.

Our editor liked the dozen storylines and thus The 12 Brides of Summer Collection was born.

But how do you write a satisfying sequel to a story you hadn’t written with a sequel in mind?

Here are five steps to fashioning a romance sequel that I used to write The Sunbonnet Bride.

1. Determine your central character.

While The Yuletide Bride is the winter romance of Ewan and Kate MacDougall, I had a significant minor character in her brother, Malcolm MacDougall.

Malcolm showed wit in the first story, character growth and insight into his sister and her bagpipes.

I liked him.

Unmarried, lumbering, thought of as slow, but light on his feet, Malcolm had enough interesting facets to form a story around him.

He deserved a tale of his own and I had unknowingly given him a potential love interest in the cute blond girl he danced with while Ewan played his fiddle.

I’d even described how he came alive and danced light on his feet while the music played.

What could be better than that?

I just had to figure out the identity of the cute blond girl!

2. Determine the love interest in a romance and add characters as necessary.

She was blonde and danced like a dream with Malcolm.

Was that enough?

The Sunbonnet Bride is a romance, so the convention called for scenes told from two different perspectives. Of course, I needed more backstory on her.

I had her name, Sally, but now it was time to build her character.

Who else would be in the town of Fairhope? How about a new seamstress?

But she was at the winter dance, so she must have come from nearby.

A local farm would work, but why?

Opportunity. Both professional, I wanted her to have a goal,and personal—her father thought she should pave the way for finding his two daughters a less risky place to live their lives than on a farm.

Because she was a seamstress, I could use her desire for her own shop to help examine one of the themes I wanted to explore in the story.

Sally made it easy.

3. Who’s the antagonist?

Traditionally, the antagonist is an individual trying to stop the hero from obtaining his goal. In this particular story, I needed another man to give Malcolm a run for his money—or there would be no story.

As it happened, I had a worthy antagonist left over from The Yuletide Bride—another hard working young man looking for a wife to make him happy.

(Indeed, I felt so sorry for him that I sent an ad to my other 12 Brides co-writers, asking if they had a match for him).

Josiah Finch is a good guy—earnest, hardworking, just different from Malcolm.

Sally wanted to own her own shop someday. Josiah was a well-groomed and dressed banker.

Maybe he would be a better match for a young woman who loved sewing beautiful clothing who had a creative flair for hat making?

While I was the “god” in control of the story, Sally needed to make the choice for her future.

Josiah presented an excellent foil, in a nice way, to hard working sweaty Malcolm.

Which man would Sally choose and why?

4. Inciting incident.

You don’t have a story unless something prompts the characters to change.

In looking at the timing for The Yuletide Bride, winter 1874 Nebraska, I realized the following summer was a “grasshopper” summer in that corner of the Midwest. Why not use the tragedy of grasshoppers marching through to prompt the actions of the story?

That’s a great idea and very interesting, but research determined such a catastrophe would not suit my theme.

I was still thinking about how to make it work when I happened to attend an IMAX film with my daughter on earthquakes, tornados, and other natural disasters.

Watching the tornadoes blow through the towns reminded me they were localized disasters and as such would fit my writing needs much better than the grasshoppers.

I hated to give up the grasshoppers, but a community recovering from a grasshopper invasion needs more than 15,000 words!

So it’s a tornado that brings the feelings of Sally, Malcolm, and Josiah to a head.

5 What to do with characters from the earlier story?

That was easy. Ewan and Kate were so much fun– particularly in their sparring over the bagpipes– that I had to bring them back. I added a friendly dog, other refugees, and a musical reprise.
What could be better than that?

Except, what was the theme and how did it all play out?

You’ll have to read The Sunbonnet Bride to discover how a young woman comes to terms with the two different methods attractive men use to help those in need.

And if you’re interested in the prequel, The Yuletide Bride and The Sunbonnet Bride will rerelease in 2022 with a third story!

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