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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/42355
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

I wouldn't get hung up on prequel or sequel labels to be honest. This is more true when you have a story where events are happening before and after another story/novel.

However we don't have a label for "quel" for "written after the original stor". :)

In general, the length of the piece doesn't really matter. There isn't a magical threshold where a story is too short to be related. You have stories that used a short story as the seed and I know at least one author that had a poem for their "prequel". In the video world, you have shorts (4 minute) prequels to full-length movies (Brave verses The Legend of Mardu), so I think the length matters.

The last set of questions is a bit more complicated, but why don't you want sympathy for the character? What is wrong with having someone with a tragic backstory that changes the meaning of the first book. As long as it is internally consistent with their behavior, I think it is perfectly reasonable. Not to mention, everyone has moments of shining as their moments of shame; it influences who they become but one doesn't define them without variation.

Even your monsters can like bunnies.

Original score: 1