When I decided to write Rescuing Her Heart, I had a few additional steps I didn’t have writing my stand-alone novels. This was the second book in a series. I relied on other writer friends who do sequels to help me keep it all straight in my story world.

Here is my to-do list

• Make sure all reoccurring characters have the same name. I had to go back to Healing Hearts, my novella in The Cowboy Collection that is book #1 in the series, and double-check names. The couple that owns the mercantile has a bigger part in Rescuing Her Heart. I called Polly, Elizabeth through half the novel until I caught my error and had to use Find and Replace to exchange Elizabeth for Polly. It is so easy to call a minor character by a different name in the heat of creativity, so keep your character list handy. Double-check all spelling of those names—first and last as your creative juices are flowing. There may be more than one spelling of a name or you might have a typo. I’m so grateful for Find and Replace when I see Katherine change to Kathryn or Edward to Edwin.  
• Be sure the physical description the same. Jed is Lonnie’s identical twin brother. They both have blonde hair and blue eyes, a short beard and mustache, and are over six feet tall. The heroine can’t stroke Jed’s smooth jaw unless he has shaved. The character list should have descriptions as well.

• Have a map of the setting to refer to. The church can’t move north of town if it was south of town in the first book.
• Sprinkle references from the first book’s storyline. No info dump. Jed was a crucial part of the Healing Heart story. Jed’s past is intertwined with his brothers, so they could mention in dialogue previous events from their past that would clue the reader in on the previous story avoiding information dump.
• Think about which character’s story you are going to tell in the next book and follow the previous tips.

I’ve already finished book three first draft in the Healing Hearts series and referred to this checklist often because I suffer from severe brain stall and needed those notes.

Hope these tips were helpful.

Do you have any tips to add?