Anyone here have thoughts on how to frame a beginning in a story that's part of a loose series but can stand alone?
I'm working on superhero stories where characters are shared; and the last one I did as a "sequel" was from a totally different POV so that was easy. This next one involves a new character and an previous one, trading off. I don't really want to try and recap the one's backstory, but I can't escape referencing it, because it's a big deal in the whole world, but especially this community.
Have you read anything that did a really good job on this?
Posted by InarticulateBabbler (Member # 4849) on :
quote: Anyone here have thoughts on how to frame a beginning in a story that's part of a loose series but can stand alone?
...This next one involves a new character and an previous one, trading off.
Tell the new character's story, all the way through, then clean up the references.
Posted by darklight (Member # 5213) on :
I am writing a series (re-writing) which are losely connected and have some of the same characters and some new one for each. I try to keep them seperate, as individual stories (which is what should be aimed for). I agree with IB. If you need to refer to the backstory, keep it to the minumum. I had a load of backstory in number two, it was a conversation between two people, but that is obselete as I have combined some of two in one. Plus it's not always productive to the story to do that either - it ends up looking like info dump.
I'm going to have this exact problem when I begin my next which I why this question interested me and I'm not exactly sure how I will takcle it either. Just write it as a saperate story, forget about the one before and see if you can get away without having too much backstory is all I can say. I'd like to know how you eventually tackle it.
Posted by NoTimeToThink (Member # 5174) on :
Try to resist the temptation to include everything that you know about the characters' backstory - your readers really don't need all of it to understand and enjoy the current one. Look at any backstory you include with a critical eye and discard everything you can - and then do it again.
Also remember - you want to have return readers for your series, but if they start feeling like they read it all before they will become bored and stop coming back for "more of the same".
Posted by ArachneWeave (Member # 5469) on :
IB nailed it. I haven't been having an urge for backstory--I already _wrote_ that novel--but I do wonder how to judge if a story isn't too obscure. I like showing the different people from other characters' perspectives, that's fun. Having them all have a common history that actually matters to the narrative most of the readers will maybe know, but not all seems tricksy.
I know I'm getting ahead of myself. But it seems important to at least get it partly right on the first draft.
That's why I wondered if anybody had examples of published series' ways of doing things.
Posted by Robert Nowall (Member # 2764) on :
I suppose it's unlikely the reader will encounter this particular story without knowing something of the backstory---but it's possible. I'd try to put something, as brief as possible, somewhere in there.
I worried about this in my Internet Fan Fiction days. I was writing for a readership that pretty much knew what the characters were like and what they had done in the past. But I worried about my stories being unintelligible to somebody just staggering by and taking a glance. I read a lot of the work of others that was gibberish without knowing this.
So I tried to insert this, that, and the other thing in my stories, here and there, when and where needed. (One series, written in faux script form, detailing the future lives of said characters, needed something right upfront to set up the situation.) I don't know that I was that successful---I'm not sure I ever heard from anyone not a member of this little fanfic community---but the readership seemed to respond to the stories.
Posted by Sunshine (Member # 3701) on :
I'm not sure if this is the answer you're looking for, but Piers Anthony's "Incarnations of Immortality" comes to mind. Each book focuses on one Incarnation (War, Nature, Time, Fate, Death, God, Satan)and their specific adventure. Each book stands well on its own, but the incarnations obviously encounter each other throughout the stories, and it's fun to see the situations play out and determine what point the non-POV incarnation is at in his or her life. This post isn't very clear, but I do know the books stand well on their own because I read them out of order the first time and in order the next round. Anyhoo, I think this is an example you may be looking for.
Posted by tigertinite (Member # 4803) on :
As I've been writing my own superhero novel I've discovered two things, first finding a plot that hasn't been done twenty million times is hard to come by, and second my characters are far more interesting than I ever gave them credit for.
As I was writing the first, I realized that each character has his or her own plot line, one person's resolution is another's climax or begining. To make my loosly fitted trilogy work, without forcing the reader to commit to all three in order I just told another character's story. If you read the first book you have more insight, but you won't be completely lost if you happen to start on book three. Characters' tales are interconnected, but if you take a character that was originally only on the outskirts for the first tale then the old readers and the new ones will all find things to enjoy in it. Just refrain from refrencing the previous book too many times. It's not that difficult.