Letter #163: The Haunted Palace
Good morning, Erin. I have this writing exercise I like to do, where I take a show or movie that is completed and self-contained and neither has nor in any way calls for a sequel…and then I come up with a pitch for its sequel. The point, more than anything else, is a bit of mental calisthenics, something to keep my imagination limber. Consider it practice at creative problem solving: how do you come up with an answer to a question that you know doesn’t need an answer because it shouldn’t be asked? I can’t say that every scenario I’ve come up with has been a solid-gold idea, but I think I generally do a pretty good job of presenting stories that, for lack of a better way of expressing it, work. Really, it’s just a matter of considering what a sequel can be—not what it has to be. That is, it does not need to pick up directly where the previous story left off, nor does it have to be about the main character from the original story…nor does it have to be the same kind of story. Once you...