- Joined
- Mar 9, 2007
- Messages
- 6,459
I wonder how many people will need a recap if/when GRR Martin's book comes out?
Grr who?I wonder how many people will need a recap if/when GRR Martin's book comes out?
I presume the reader needs some form of catch up, so I try to drip in key points as necessary, the way you would with general infodumping.I'm sitting down to frame up a sequel to one of my books. But here's the problem.
I've never written a sequel before and I know that many readers are likely to read the sequel first. They shouldn't but they will.
So how does one go about giving them enough about how we got to the start of the sequel without an info dump that will bore the pants off those who have read book one?
Having spent a lot of time carefully crafting the characters you cant really do that quickly in the new opening. Particularly not while maintaining the writing style and flow of the first.
It may, of course, flow off the pen quite naturally once one starts but it definitely feels like it is going to be a 'tricky' thing to do.
I know some of you have done this already, so how did you tackle it?
Thanks
AP
It's pronounced "Grrrr"Grr who?
Well; are they still doing that? Or is the catch up about what has importantly changed?Another thing about this sequel business. The discussions I've seen tend to focus on setting and plot, with conversation mainly about how much to recapitulate on worldbuilding.
But what about characters?
I was struck by this because I'm reading through Vol 1 of my Trouvères series and I came across a statement that Character B knows that when Character A's face goes expressionless, he's about to do something rash and probably violent. I unashamedly swiped this from Hammett, but I clean forgot that I set this up early in Vol 1. I plan to make use of it in Vol 2 and certainly in 3.
So, do I need to somehow catch the reader up on the various mannerisms and tics of my characters? If not, then how is that any different from plot or setting? OTOH, maybe I *do* need to make a nod somehow. There he goes again, said Character B; that blank look means somebody had better duck. It could be slotted in. But it doesn't need a whole prologue.
I implore all writers of series, be they one long story broken up between books or many interlinked stories, to just start your subsequent books naturally. Introduce an interesting situation in which a character has to act in a way that will demonstrate who they are, and where their actions will lead to the book's issues. Doing so has the most universal appeal, and you can still slide in reminders.
You are 100% a monster!
Do you have some examples of where this was done well and where it was done poorly? I'm trying to think of a sequel i enjoyed where the recap was so smooth i missed it.
Another thing about this sequel business. The discussions I've seen tend to focus on setting and plot, with conversation mainly about how much to recapitulate on worldbuilding.
But what about characters?
I was struck by this because I'm reading through Vol 1 of my Trouvères series and I came across a statement that Character B knows that when Character A's face goes expressionless, he's about to do something rash and probably violent. I unashamedly swiped this from Hammett, but I clean forgot that I set this up early in Vol 1. I plan to make use of it in Vol 2 and certainly in 3.
So, do I need to somehow catch the reader up on the various mannerisms and tics of my characters? If not, then how is that any different from plot or setting? OTOH, maybe I *do* need to make a nod somehow. There he goes again, said Character B; that blank look means somebody had better duck. It could be slotted in. But it doesn't need a whole prologue.
I feel like Robert Jordan had a similar issue to Herbert. Oh look, a female character is huffy and put out. A male character is lying. The knight is declaring. etc.Yes, that for sure. I try to have a variety of way to tag, including physical appearance (easier to do when you have more than just humans), tics and mannerisms, and verbal tics.
Must be used with care, though. I well remember when I read Dune aloud. I'd read it on my own, loved the book, and so read it to my wife (I would read aloud to her, back in the day). It wasn't long before "he barked" became more than just tiresome. Herbert simply overused that tag, to the point where I would change it on the fly as I read. The moral there is, every good idea can be made bad, one way or another.
Same. I bougth Absolution Gap at the airport, not knowing it was last in a series. Read the rest after that with no trouble. Also read Murderbot books out of order.Btw, I am one of those pesky sequel-first readers, sometimes. I often get into a series by finding a random volume at the library - if I enjoy it, I go out and buy the first volume.
It's true, even in a continuity-heavy series that's really a multi-volume novel, I prefer each volume to have a proper setting-up phase at the start and an ending that closes off this phase of the story in a satisfying way. (That's one reason I crashed out of "The Wheel of Time" - some of the middle volumes had neither!)I'll break this down by plot, characters, and world building.
If plot arcs from the first novel are necessary to understand a following novel, I'd feel that the first novel was incomplete. If a first novel leaves off with major outstanding threads, I will feel cheated and I will not buy the sequels. In general, a one sentence recap should suffice.
If characters and their actions are not understandable from the current situations presented in the sequel, I feel that there are characterization issues in the sequel. I should not feel surprised about how a character acts simply because I haven't read a prior novel. Again, at most, a one sentence recap should be needed.
World building is the most challenging area, especially in fantasy and science fiction. This is the area where the writer will need to reintroduce the core elements of the world to the reader. I think this is important for both the sequel first reader and for the reader who may have had a long delay since reading the initial novel. In this case, a full scene to reintroduce the world would be warranted. This should avoid repeating a scene that happened in the previous novel and, instead, present the necessary information using a new scenario.
Thread starter | Similar threads | Forum | Replies | Date |
---|---|---|---|---|
Run into a problem... | Critiques | 2 | ||
D | SD card problem | Technology | 9 | |
M | Problems With Second Monitor | Technology | 15 | |
M | Bing Outage Causing Search Problems | Technology | 5 | |
M | New research on the involvement of immune system problems in ageing and how it might be fixed - works in mice.... | Science & Nature | 2 |