In discussion with a Beta reader we were talking about books in series and how to start book two and book three ect. Opening chapter do's and don'ts and the best way to quickly get new readers up to task without labouring old points or being too description heavy?
We were talking about Hobb and her retrospective first person narrative, which isn't possible in my books.
How do you re-introduce your books? what hints and tips do you prefer and can you think of any examples of when something really does not work?
my main 'thing' is to make sure that you don't dive straight in using too many names and too many characters. I agree with Jonathan about drip feeding and i have found that its best to do this in conversations between characters.
I'm on book six now and I tend to write without much consideration for the introductions until the second edit. then i find that i can go back and really make the first few chapters intriguing, knowing what will be happening later in the book.
I like your idea, Paul, about planting seeds that your readers will remember.
I love hearing how other people approach things :D
HI S.A.B, I found that as you are ending one book you are already introducing plots and characters for the follow up, having said that it shouldn't be obvious, but that part of something you have planted and left in the readers mind about where that story line might lead when at the same time you are tying up all the loose ends to the current novel. Maybe introduce them there first. I suppose it can't work in every instance, can only speak for myself.
Regards Paul.
I've only written two of a series so aren't best qualified to comment, but I tried it this way:
(i) Avoid info-dumps at all costs. I hate them anyway, so found this fairly easy to do
(ii) Start as you would any novel. The first chapter has to grab even a dedicated reader, and I don't believe anyone expects to know everything about a character straight away so why worry?
(iii) Drip-feed important backstory into the narrative. You can do it in character thought or conversation, or even in POV narrative if you write that way. How early in the story you do this depends on how critical the particular facts are. For example, I have two MCs with an unusual social relationship which affects how they interact and how outsiders might view this, so it needs to be established early on to avoid the reader feeling it's unrealistic of its time period.
(iv) End as you would any novel with all main plots resolved. You might have further adventures in mind for many of your characters, but your reader needs to have reached one conclusion before they can decide if they want to continue the journey.
I thought it worked okay for me, so I'll be carrying on this way for Book 3, Book 4, etc...