Breath of Stone In Progress
Jul. 11th, 2014 11:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
blairmacgThe opening chapter is now complete! In it, we have treachery questioned, loyalty confirmed, a touch of elemental manipulation, a dire threat, heightened stakes, and the discovery of a theft that could determine the balance of power.
I think that's quite enough to get the ball rolling apace.
At some point in the last few years, I lost the backstory-angst of writing a sequel. I no longer feel the need to ensure the reader is "up to speed" with all that happened in Book One. Backstory should be revealed on a need-to-know basis. There's no reason the rule should be different for sequels. So, happily, I find myself untroubled as a set a continuing story in motion.
Besides, one of the primary reasons behind telling/reminding the reader what happened before was the anticipated difficulty readers would have finding previous volumes. Now, with the shelf-life and accessibility of series novels extended and expanded immensely, the likelihood of readers having to jump in mid-series is so much smaller. Yes, there will still be readers who pick up mid-series, but it simply isn't going to be as common.
I think that's quite enough to get the ball rolling apace.
At some point in the last few years, I lost the backstory-angst of writing a sequel. I no longer feel the need to ensure the reader is "up to speed" with all that happened in Book One. Backstory should be revealed on a need-to-know basis. There's no reason the rule should be different for sequels. So, happily, I find myself untroubled as a set a continuing story in motion.
Besides, one of the primary reasons behind telling/reminding the reader what happened before was the anticipated difficulty readers would have finding previous volumes. Now, with the shelf-life and accessibility of series novels extended and expanded immensely, the likelihood of readers having to jump in mid-series is so much smaller. Yes, there will still be readers who pick up mid-series, but it simply isn't going to be as common.
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Date: 2014-07-14 12:40 pm (UTC)You know, I get bored out of my mind when a sequel is 1/2 rehashing what happened in the previous novel. Mention of necessary previous events that connect to the current novel, on the other hand, I like.
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Date: 2014-07-15 10:59 pm (UTC)I do think the easier availability of backlist/series is, in some ways, changing the way some writers approach their backstory inclusions. If stories can be read one after the other, there's little need for, "In our last episode..." recaps.