On the All Our Yesterdays Sequel

Today I want to talk about something important. And I want to use the amazing Cristin Terrill as an example. Hope you don't mind, Cristin! Let's talk about standalones turned series. Often times a book comes out and is marketed as a standalone. I don't know about you, but I get excited. Not that I don't love my series, I do, but it's refreshing to be able to read a book and have it completely resolved when you're finished. No cliffhangers. No year-long waits. The characters have figured their stuff out. The world has a certain resolution. All is well.

So you can imagine the frustration when after reading an amazing book like that, all of a sudden there's going to be a sequel. I have so many mixed emotions about this. On the one hand, I loved the standalone and would enjoy reading more. On the other hand, I loved the standalone and want it to remain as such. Sometimes I feel like it's all about the money. And that's what upsets me. But Cristin Terrill recently gave me hope.

She released her standalone novel All Our Yesterdays last year. An exciting time travel novel with many twists and awesome characters, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I was under the impression that it was a standalone. Then a month or so later we found out there was going to be a sequel. I wasn't really sure where she was going with it. I loved the way AOY ended and wrapped up. But because I loved the book so much I was optimistic about a sequel. Okay, I'll take more. Cristin has been pretty open on her Twitter and this one time when I met her about how difficult writing a time travel book is. I always just thought it was the element itself that was hard. I mean, it's got to get confusing.

But yesterday, she released this statement.

If you didn't go read that, I'll sum it up for you. The AOY sequel will NOT be happening. Cristin came out and said that after writing 4 drafts, it just wasn't working. She said that she would rather give us no sequel, then force one that wasn't any good. And you know what? I respect her for that. Because that shows me that it isn't about the money. That it's about producing a book that the readers will love. I think that she's brave. And I think that she's human. You can't force something that's not working. It sounds like she gave it her best possible effort. But what I love is that she's thinking about her readers. She apologizes profusely in her post, but I don't think an apology is necessary. The first book was tied up and resolved. It's not like she's leaving us hanging on a cliffhanger. And rather than accepting her apology, I want to thank her.

Thank you, Cristin, for not forcing out a sequel just because. Thank you for trying to give your readers something they would love. Thank you for knowing when it wasn't working. And most of all, thank you for giving us an awesome book like All Our Yesterdays. I will definitely be reading your future work.