There will come a time when, while writing a story, you will create a supporting character that will resonate either with you the writer or with your audience, more than you expected. Or maybe you will start a subplot arc or thread in your story that has potential but you just won’t have enough space in your story to explore it fully.
So what do you do with that breakout supporting character or that unresolved subplot? Spin it off into a new story, of course! Spinoffs are a great, organic way to expand the world of your stories, and are the most convenient way to create those shared universes I wrote about in a previous post. Having a different character interact with your setting, or expanding on a story element within that setting helps a lot with world-building and can make your universe more immersive and engaging.
The most organic way to create the shared universe
If you’re looking for that holy grail of franchising – the shared universe – then spinoffs are the most organic way to it. Everything you create in your spinoff is a direct offshoot of your original story, which adds more relevance to the original. You can, at any time, have characters and other elements from the original story make an appearance in your spinoffs, which creates that inter-connectivity of the two stories. Pratchett often had Commander Vimes from his Watch series of stories make cameo appearances in his other stories, just as a reminder that the new stories do indeed tie into the older ones.
How to tell if something or someone is spinoff worthy
Unanswered questions, dangling plotlines and unexplored character beats can be a great catalyst for developing a spinoff. If your story finishes and you as a writer, or your beta readers are asking about any plot development you may have inadvertently left dangling, that can be excellent fodder for your spinoff story. Also, take a look at your secondary characters. Examine how you’ve developed them and how they performed during your main story. Did any of them stand out in any way to make readers interested in following them around? You could also go the opposite route and look at some of your more obscure, underdeveloped characters and consider giving them their own story to flesh them out more.
Backdoor pilots and how to do one
A backdoor pilot is pretty exclusive to Television. It’s where they take an episode of an established show and devote the entire episode to new or minor characters in hopes that they will spark an interest in getting their own show. You can actually do something similar in your story by taking a chapter (or a few) and devoting it to the character you think is worthy of a spinoff. Make that person or plot the focus while still tying into the overall narrative, and you can build interest in that element to warrant its own story. I did something like that in a story I am currently seeking representation for. The epilogue of my story features some of my background characters, being put into situations that can be explored in future novels.
When a spinoff is not a good idea
The key to having a successful spinoff is first having that offshoot character or idea be interesting. And the first gauge of that is you. If you don’t find that element compelling, then why waste time trying to make it compelling for your readers? The big franchise IP is the holy grail of storytelling, but you don’t want to get caught up in trying to create extra properties for the sake of creating them. If the idea isn’t interesting to you, don’t feel obligated to develop it. Find another element that does interest you and work on that.
Let the world dictate the spinoff
For added insight, I spoke to my good friend Anne Zoelle about the process she went through in creating her spinoff books to the Masquerading the Marquess book she wrote as Anne Mallory. Here is what she told me:
“When I was writing my first book, the story plot demanded a character that both of the main characters knew—someone whose presence could bind them together as well as cause tension between them. The character who fit that slot turned out to be a very fun one to write—and from his first sentence of dialogue I knew he was getting his own book. So while I wouldn’t say that I planned a book for him right from the get go, as soon as he was on the page, I knew he was going to be a future hero. 🙂
“There was also another element that pushed toward a series as the writing continued on that first book. The backstory for the hero contained a trio of men who worked together as spies for the Crown—who were allies in society and out. That backstory ultimately bloomed into three connected books—one for each of the men.
“I think when it comes down to why writing or reading a series can be so fun, it’s that it’s interesting to have characters who aren’t islands—who have lives outside the main storyline. In order to keep stories tight, though, that might mean the extended cast has a central thread or goal that defines the series. That thread can simply be a club, brothers/sisters/family, a knitting circle, soldiers/team, etc.—but finding common elements that extend your characters into other, future character’s lives is a way to extend your story world outward while still keeping the main threads focused. It can deepen the characterization elements in the characters in your current story and give them lives outside the current story threads.”
To see how she applied that, check out her first three novels here.
