a question about series...

[kdbleu]

When reading a series how much 'reminding' do you like or need from book to book? Reintroduction of characters, their descriptions, relationship, history etc. But also general backstory. Is that different from how much you usually see in a book. Or does that depend on the author, the series and how the content that's being reintroduced? Please be

Comments

[lanalucy]

If I know it's a series, I don't expect or need very much recapping. It's easier to make references in conversation in the first chapter or two to re-establish relationships, time progression (if necessary), physical appearance (I don't actually need a lot of this, but it's weird not to EVER mention it.), etc.

I'm sure other people have more specific advice or thoughts. I'm not really coherent this morning.

[kdbleu]

Well, I have a question... would is be different if you were reading the series with gaps in between? Like the year+ it can take for the next book to come along?

Because I have a very different reaction to recapping when it's a series that has a lot of books already written and I'm reading them one after another than I do if I'm taking breaks between books. Or if from some reason I haven't started with book one.

No worries. I'm almost never coherent.

[lanalucy]

Even with large gaps in between, little clues can remind the reader of the basics. I think the longest series I've read is J.D. Robb's In Death series, and there isn't a recap of anything at the beginning of her books, just establishing the date (easy, since she's a police detective) and the appearance of most people around her. Again, since she's a police detective, she tends to catalog appearances of people, buildings, traffic, etc.

[kdbleu]

thanks.

I like a certain amount of recapping, because it lets me know what's important in the new/subsequent stories. But some authors, think, fill in those details more naturally than others or something... Sometimes I feel beat about the head with the reminders, but other times it's necessary and great. Hence my dilemma.

[daybreak777]

If it's a series that has had a lot of books that I love I don't need any reminding. Stephen King could write another book in the Dark Tower series with new characters tomorrow and I would not need any reintroducing to that world at all. But I am a Stephen King Constant Reader and have been following that series for twenty years.

Generally, I'll use a multi-chaptered fic as a better example. It depends on how frequently the person posts and how long ago the last installment is. If it's the fifth book in a well-loved series, say Harry Potter, did we really need reintroducing? Not character-wise but maybe plot-wise. If it's only book two and it's been five years? Yeah, a 'previously' would be great. In a novel way, of course. :-)

I have loved series since I was a pre-teen so this is a fun question to think about.

[kdbleu]

I've started writing a sequel to my murder mystery. And I"m finding that some backstory recap flows more easily than other does. But I'm pretty sure that what isn't flowing easily right now is just as important. Now, I can easily add, but it also may be that I'm not at the point where that 'previously' goes. Because maybe it doesn't need to be at the beginning, and that how things end up being clunky.

[embolalia]

I agree with what everyone has said for fantasy or scifi - epic arc kinds of series. I wonder though if the rules are different for genres like crime fiction and mystery, where each book may be connected but can also stand alone. To use Tana French for an example, while her books happen sequentially it's certainly plausible that someone would pick up The Likeness and, since it's not marked as sequel or series, need to be introduced to the characters and settings for the first time. And certainly you wouldn't want to confuse or put off new readers by being too vague or referential...

[kdbleu]

I'm sure different genres have different rules just as I know different authors are better at the 'catch-up' than others. I think that mystery does have a tendency to lean toward more recap so that a reader can pick-up any book in the series, whether it's new in the bookstore or the one check in at the library and then go back to previous books.

I'm also find that some reintroduction comes out naturally because it directly effects the action of 'right now' in book2 but other information that may just as important doesn't. Which is what got me thinking.

[rachelindeed]

Generally speaking I don't enjoy direct recap very much, it almost always feels clunky (I remember the Harry Potter books as being particularly annoying in this regard; the recaps were short, but their purpose was painfully obvious and JKR reused the same descriptions every single book. If you lined up the first time Harry sees Snape in every book I think it would be rather funny because the prose is so cookie-cutter in the points it hits

[kdbleu]

I too tend to find more recapping very clunky and almost outside of the story, because it is in a way. It exist for some readers, but not the story. Unfortunately it's pretty necessary in mystery series where, like Firefly, the common thought is that each book might be an entry point for some readers. That does make Firefly a good example of good reintroduction.

I'm finding as I write that some information comes more naturally. Right now, I'm sticking to that ease as my guide. If I have to force it, then it's going to stick out. I may have to go back and some things in. That's going to take another set of eyes though, and I'm not there yet.

[perfecttdrug]

This brings to mind "The Babysitters Club" and their back story in: Every. Single. Book. By book #134 I felt like I could recite that chapter word for word.

I think in an instance like that, when you have books in the mid hundreds, you don't need it. I don't understand why someone would start reading a series in the high hundreds.

I think re-hashing in mysteries is good, especially if they are continuing, rather than each book being a separate story. I wouldn't mind seeing the last chapter of the book before, maybe being the first chapter, or a prologue, maybe.