Character Recap

As a reader foremost, and then a writer, I cannot stand erroneous character descriptions (e.g. paragraph- or page- long narratives of what the character is wearing, where they were born, how they grew up, etc.). Your first thought of reintroducing a character through flashback, in my opinion, would work best, but only if the earlier event is crucial to the story in some way. Another good way to remind readers of a character (or introduce the character for the first time) is to let the character walk in on the scene and be themselves. Show the readers what the character is like and keep the character true to themselves, all within the realms of being pertinent to the story.

D.A.G. said:

[...]let the character walk in on the scene and be themselves. Show the readers what the character is like and keep the character true to themselves, all within the realms of being pertinent to the story.

Click to expand...

This.

And if you want an excellent example of how it's done, check out the Discworld series by Pratchett. Granted he makes full use of footnoting in his books to deal with some of this (why the librarian is an orangutan, for example) he does introduce and re-introduce characters very gracefully.

In fact it really is one of my favorite things about those books. If I've read them out of sequence I'm not lost (like yours, often the past books aren't integral) but as an avid reader of the series it's like little Easter Eggs.

He'll mention a shadow skulking about in a dark alley rattling doorknobs and, without a physical description mentioned, I'll laugh to myself and think "Oh that's got to be Nobby". And then later he'll have Nobby show up and maybe there will be a mention of his past, but it will be a brief 1-2 sentences here and there if it's necessary.

If you haven't read him, pick up some that are set in similar settings (his regular cast changes based on region) so like pick up a couple set in Ankh Morpork (the City Watch ones) or pick up some set in Lancre (the witches). Most of the times the characters don't cross regions. If you have read him, re-read and pay attention to how he does it

What I really dislike is the sentence or two explaining what happened in an earlier novel. I can pick up enough from what goes on in this book. I don't need, "She had first met him when her close friend was shot, and his dog had discovered the corpse."

After all, all characters are feigned to have lives before the novel they're in. I think you should tell the absolute least you can get away with, and that's probably less than you think it is.

A few references are okay but not ones like this:

'Last time Bobby went down this street, he was almost killed by a vampire. the vampire had stalked him for many weeks and it had finally culminated in an attack'

That is just giving a synopsis of the last book.

'Last time Bobby went down this street, he was almost killed by a vampire and the experience had left him paranoid and jumpy'

That's interesting enough so someone might read the previous book but it also makes sense to the person who has already read the previous book.

Lady Ice said:

A few references are okay but not ones like this:

'Last time Bobby went down this street, he was almost killed by a vampire. the vampire had stalked him for many weeks and it had finally culminated in an attack'

That is just giving a synopsis of the last book.

'Last time Bobby went down this street, he was almost killed by a vampire and the experience had left him paranoid and jumpy'

That's interesting enough so someone might read the previous book but it also makes sense to the person who has already read the previous book.

Click to expand...

Oh, yeah! That's just right!

Or maybe,

"If Bobby goes with you, don't take Lexington."

"It's the most direct route. Plus the bastard never chips in for gas."

"He's going to get all paranoid and jumpy on you. Just take 86th."

"With the construction? Ha. What's Bobby got to be paranoid about, anyway, a bad cab ride?"

"Vampires, man. Bad vampires."

Maryn, who doesn't write vampires

This is a great post. I'm currently reading a set of books, because my friend said "You just have to read them!” And each book-each and every book-dedicates at least a paragraph (per character or event) and it is really tiresome. I like the ideas of given clues as to previous books but not to spell it out.

Wayne R. said:

A casual remark here and there might work well, a 'callback'? (To use a phrase I first heard from Kevin Smith)

Click to expand...

A callback is (specifically) a scene or dialogue which mirrors a similar scene or dialogue - though not necessarilly exactly - from an earlier work. This needn't be 'in-universe' either, as there are plently of call-backs in popular culture to things which exist in 'shared memory'. How many times have you read or seen something that closely resembled a scene in Star Wars, for example? This is the best way I can think of defining that particular phrase, though I'm not sure if it is how Kevin Smith used it.