{"id":30,"date":"2013-03-06T01:34:52","date_gmt":"2013-03-06T01:34:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/longdistancededications.com\/blog\/?p=30"},"modified":"2013-03-06T01:34:52","modified_gmt":"2013-03-06T01:34:52","slug":"sequels-prequels-and-sequencing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/longdistancededications.com\/blog\/?p=30","title":{"rendered":"Sequels, Prequels, and Sequencing"},"content":{"rendered":"
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One of the things that’s been said about\u00a0Dave Riggler’s Stories\u00a0<\/em>is that the stories in it don’t need to be read in any particular order. \u00a0That’s true. \u00a0They’re in chronological order \u00a0in the book, but they don’t have to be read that way. \u00a0 I wrote them individually, and they can be read individually. \u00a0Personally, I think you gain some context by reading them in sequence, but if you want to do a random-access read, that’s your call. \u00a0I just write ’em.<\/p>\n

Long-Distance Dedications\u00a0<\/em>is shaping up to be much the same way. \u00a0You\u00a0can\u00a0<\/em>read them in any order you want, but I think you’ll gain more by reading them in order. \u00a0Reading through the stories I’ve written so far, you won’t “miss” anything huge if you read them out of sequence, but I think there’s more to be gained by reading them in sequence. \u00a0More even than there is with\u00a0Dave Riggler’s Stories. \u00a0<\/em>Let me explain.<\/p>\n

Long-Distance Dedications<\/em>, in terms of pages, is already larger than\u00a0Dave Riggler’s Stories<\/em>, and not all of the stories have been written yet. \u00a0In fact, just three of the stories in\u00a0Long-Distance Dedications\u00a0<\/em>take up more pages than the entire book Dave Riggler’s Stories. \u00a0<\/em>It’s a more expansive universe. \u00a0Some of the short stories, then, fit together to tell a larger story. \u00a0I’ll give you one example:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

“Waiting for the Weekend” (working title<\/em>)<\/p>\n

“The Fight”<\/p>\n

“Hackettstown”<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

All of these stories have “Lisa”, and camp, in some way, as a common thread.<\/p>\n

In a similar way, there are what I call “the Ramapo stories”:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

“And Ye Shall Be Healed”<\/p>\n

“Pledges”<\/p>\n

“John, 1:11” (working title<\/em>)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

You also have “the Tavia stories” (which I haven’t written as much of yet):<\/p>\n

“The Leap Year” or “New Year’s Eve” (I haven’t decided)<\/p>\n

“In Concert” (working title<\/em>)<\/p>\n

“Leaving the Union”<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

These all have their own narratives, separate from each other, but they’re interwoven. \u00a0That’s why one of my difficulties in writing the book has been how to structure it. \u00a0I really want people to read in order, because I think it makes more sense that way, and I think the final story, in particular, makes more sense if you read the others first.<\/p>\n

Also in the book will be a sequel, of sorts, to “Last Call”. \u00a0One of the questions I get asked most often about my writing (other than the ever-present “Are you Dave?”) is, “Is there going to be a sequel for ‘Last Call’?” \u00a0Well, I’m here to say that yes, there will be a sequel to “Last Call”. \u00a0Whether it’s the sequel people want is another question. \u00a0I like the ambiguity at the end of “Last Call”. \u00a0I think that it, along with the moral question, is what makes the story interesting. \u00a0Without the ambiguity, Carol(e)’s just some drunk woman at a bar. \u00a0So if you’re looking for some easy answers to be provided by the sequel, that’s not gonna happen. \u00a0But I\u00a0will\u00a0<\/em>close the loop on the story. \u00a0 That much I can say.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Anyway, stay tuned. \u00a0And do consider reading in sequence. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the things that’s been said about\u00a0Dave Riggler’s Stories\u00a0is that the stories in it don’t need to be read in any particular order. \u00a0That’s true. \u00a0They’re in chronological order \u00a0in the book, but they don’t have to be read that way. \u00a0 I wrote them individually, and they can be read individually. … Continue reading Sequels, Prequels, and Sequencing<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/longdistancededications.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/longdistancededications.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/longdistancededications.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/longdistancededications.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/longdistancededications.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=30"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/longdistancededications.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32,"href":"http:\/\/longdistancededications.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30\/revisions\/32"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/longdistancededications.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=30"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/longdistancededications.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=30"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/longdistancededications.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=30"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}