Goodreads Authors/Readers discussion

I'm currently in the process in writing a second part to my book, The Remarkables, and could do with a little bit of advice / opinion sharing.

With sequels, should there be a recap of the previous books events? This one pretty much starts where the first one left off, so there's no need for any exposition over missing events. However, I'm not sure whether I should refer back to the important moments in part one.

What do people think? At the moment, I have the main character musing on them, but am not sure whether it would irritate the reader.

Thank you

Andy

A good question Andy and one i am currently trying to answer for my own sequel. I've written Book Two and have started editing and have still not fully grasped this nettle to my liking. So far, I have written book Two as a stand alone book, which i feel is the best option; however it is so intricately linked to snippets and clues embedded in Book One, that this plan can not fully work. I have tried to briefly explain succinct bits of info, through book two, without repeating myself. (or at least i have tried.) But i still feel that some light brush over on the story so far, will be needed before completions.

I am also in the process of writing Book 2 of my series. As a reader, I skip recaps that run for several pages if I've read the first book. I understand that it's there for those who didn't read the previous book, but I just page through until I'm back to the story in progress. I've seen some books that attempt to provide the recap in a preface so as not to interrupt the flow.

Right or wrong, I chose to begin the story with a new character. As characters from Book 1 made their appearance, I briefly recapped their story (one paragraph or less) through dialog or recalling a memory. My intention is to keep the story flowing without leaving new readers in the dark. (I hope it works.)

I agree with Ubiquitous. I don't usually read recaps and they often bore the reader. Maybe a few sentances of reminder of really important events, but nothing more. If more needs explained; spread it out and only bring it up as needed

I don't think there's anything wrong with a brief re-cap, that way if people feel the need to read it they can and if not they can easily skip it.

Thanks for some excellent replies; I'm glad I'm not alone in suffering this quandary!

The way in which I was trying to approach it was to not have a "previously in..." preamble, but by having a few comments or thoughts here and there that referred back to part one. I can see positives and negatives in both approaches though, as the preamble can be skipped whereas the integrated approach may annoy a reader who has started reading part two immediately after book one (which I often do with e-books).

I read a lot of comics, especially collections of old ones, and often they have a page or so of characters talking about the last issue to get people up to speed. My eyes always glaze over at those parts.

I don't mind a brief reminder of the important stuff, since life is a little distracting and I tend to forget who is who. Sometimes I even have to page back within the same book if I've taken a break from it for a while. A while being more than a day.

I struggled with this issue in writing Reach, the upcoming sequel to Twin-Bred. I ended up trying to scatter reminders throughout, as deftly as possible. I also have an Author's Note at the beginning, urging people to read Twin-Bred first for the most satisfactory reading experience.

It really depends on your target audience's age, I believe. When reading books in a Young Reader or Young Adult series, I often find this sort of "recap" you talk about. I have noticed that this does not happen as much in adult fiction, and not all YA books... it seems to be a tool used for younger aged audiences.

It is the sort of thing that has always annoyed me as a reader, both when I was younger and now. I don't mind references back to things that happened in earlier books, but a full-on "previously... in this series" really pulls me out of the story I'm currently reading, and I usually skip through it to get to the actual NEW story.

I'm not saying there's no place for it, or that it's a bad tool to use, just weighing in as a reader who appreciates more subtlety.

Thanks for all your great thoughts and suggestions. I've settled on going down the "add a little sentence here and there" route to recap some of the events from book one. I hope it works out okay!