My guest today is Lehua Parker, author of the Niuhi Shark Saga. Books one and two are in print and Book three is in the works.
What
are the challenges in writing characters in sequels?
It all depends on whether the series is more like a burger
from Five Guys or dinner at Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse.
When you walk into a burger joint, you pretty much know what
you’re going to get. Some fiction, particularly serial detective fiction like Robert Parker’s Spencer series, is
structured like your basic grilled patty in a bun. First book to last, Spencer
changes his underwear and not much else. A crime is committed. It gets solved.
Some shooting, drinking, and bed-hopping happens in between. The order the
books are read in doesn’t matter much more than having a bacon cheeseburger one
day and a jalapeño ranch burger the next. With infinite combinations of
new toppings and special sauces to season the plot, there’s no reason to mess
with the character of the ground chuck. And with no over-arching storyline, the
series never ends.
For burger-lovers, this consistency is a good thing. For
authors making bank with a series, it’s awesome.
But the whole dining experience changes when a series involves
multiple courses and linen table napkins. Now readers want to savor each dish
on the way to dessert.
Think of the Harry
Potter series by JK Rowling. In each book the wizardlings had adventures, but there
was a more important over-arching tale involving Voldermort and Harry that
advanced until it was resolved at the end of the last book.
Like Mama says, if
you eat dessert first, you’ll spoil your appetite. When a series is structured
as a book per course there’s usually little point to going back and eating the
carrots once you’ve filled up on the cherry cheesecake. Knowing Dumbledor’s end
game and Snape’s true character spoils all the delicious tension built and
sustained throughout the previous six books. You may want to linger at the
table, but you pretty much know the meal’s over. It’s time to tip the waiter
and hand your parking stub to the valet.
Which leads me to my
point that when you’re telling a larger cohesive story it’s important for
characters to change and show growth in each book.
In a burger book,
not so much. A juicy char-broiled book series is all about enjoying similar
experiences with beloved characters over and over again.
Here’s another
example.
The Niuhi Shark Saga
is a multi-course luau complete with roasted pig, hula dancers, and coconut
cake for dessert. It’s one loooooong story broken into bite-sized MG/YA books.
Through the series
Zader, the protagonist, changes from the odd kid who always has to be rescued
to the kid who questions everything to the young man who determines for himself
how he will live his life. In each book I have to consider where Zader is in
terms of his eventual transformation and where the other characters are in
relation to both Zader and their own conflicts and ambitions.
I gotta tell you, it
helps that many of my characters are going through adolescence, arguably the
biggest transformative time in anyone’s life.
In book one, One Boy, No Water, Zader is hiding in
the shadows. There’s a lot of symbolism about young, tender things growing in
the protective safety of the reef. He has Uncle Kahana, Jay, and Char Siu to guide
and support him, and he’s pretty comfortable being led. At the end, Zader
recuses his brother from a paralyzing fear and himself from bullies. This
triggers his predator nature, and it’s obvious he’s outgrown the idea of
camouflage as safety.
In book two, One Shark, No Swim, Zader’s grown enough
that he no longer accepts what he’s been told as fact. Uncle Kahana is
unwilling to deal directly with the changes he sees in Zader, and that causes
problems. Char Siu, Zader’s gal-pal, is starting to understand that there’s a
big difference between boy-world and girl-world and she’s trying to navigate
deep water while the boys are still splashing in the shallows. Jay begins to
get caught up in competitive surfing, leaving Zader alone on the sand. These
conflicts and others finally drive Zader to listen only to himself and make a
choice no one expects.
In book three,
tentatively titled One Fight, No Fist,
there are consequences for Zader’s choices. He’s older, more secretive, and
both less trusting and more protective of his family and friends. He’s bolder,
more aggressive, and is ready to take the fight to his stalker. He’s so far
from where he started, he’s almost a different person. Consequently, all of the
other characters have to change and adjust to this new person—or not and let
the sparks fly.
The changes the
Niuhi Shark Saga characters go through is really the storyline that ties all the
books together. Without character growth the series would be like The Simpsons tv show—Homer chasing one
doughnut after another, hanging out at Moe’s, and never learning or suffering
from the consequences of his adventures for more than one episode.
There are a lot of
doughnut lovers who crave that consistency. Go, Homer.
But if you’re in the
mood for something different, try my pineapple upside-down cake. You won’t
believe what happens next!
All about Lehua:
Lehua
Parker is originally from Hawaii and a graduate of The
Kamehameha Schools and Brigham Young University. In addition to writing
award-winning short fiction, poetry, and plays, she is the author of the
Pacific literature MG/YA series the Niuhi Shark Saga published by Jolly Fish
Press. One Boy, No Water and One Shark, No Swim are available now. Book
3, One Fight, No Fist will be
published in 2014.
So far Lehua
has been a live television director, a school teacher, a courseware manager, an
instructional designer, a sports coach, a theater critic, a SCUBA instructor, a
playwright, a web designer, a book editor, a mother, and a wife. She currently
lives in Utah with her husband, two children, three cats, two dogs, six horses,
and assorted chickens. During the snowy Utah winters she dreams about the
beach.
Connect
with Lehua Parker
Blog &
Free Short Stories: http://www.lehuaparker.com/
All things
Niuhi Shark Saga: http://www.niuhisharksaga.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LehuaParker
Twitter:
@LehuaParker
Goodreads:
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6426317.Lehua_Parker
Pinterest:
http://www.pinterest.com/lehuaparker/
Email: AuntyLehua@LehuaParker.com
One Boy, No Water
Amazon
Barnes & Noble
Goodreads
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15713351-one-boy-no-water?from_search=true
One Shark, No
Swim:
Amazon
Barnes & Noble
Goodreads
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18114896-one-shark-no-swim
