Hey,
It's actually an MG detective story but I thought the question applies to adult books too, so I hope you don't mind me posting here.
I've written a draft and I intend for it to be the first of a series. The story starts when the MC has already been a detective for a few years because I thought showing their training etc. would be boring so I wanted the story to start when they were already experienced. This draft has one case which MC solves.
There are a few details to do with how my MC became a detective which are important to the story. I had fed those details in as backstory, but my concern is I've got too much backstory. So I've written a NEW chapter one and I am now planning to write some more chapters showing how MC becomes a detective. BUT the original draft's events happen 2 years after MC becomes a detective.
There are a few ways I can proceed and I was wondering if anyone had any advice or similar experiences.
1) Have two cases to solve in the first book and maybe split it into part 1&2 with "Two years later" written between each part.
2) Don't show MCs first case but show how they became a detective and then skip forward two years. My problem with this is it's kind of a false start.
3) Turn the case from my original draft into the first case which would be the easiest choice but runs the risk of MC being a little Mary Sue-ish by being so good on their first case.
4) write a whole new first book with origin story (I'd rather not do this)
The end of my original case sets up the 2nd book so it is important to include.
I hope this makes sense
It's actually an MG detective story but I thought the question applies to adult books too, so I hope you don't mind me posting here.
I've written a draft and I intend for it to be the first of a series. The story starts when the MC has already been a detective for a few years because I thought showing their training etc. would be boring so I wanted the story to start when they were already experienced. This draft has one case which MC solves.
There are a few details to do with how my MC became a detective which are important to the story. I had fed those details in as backstory, but my concern is I've got too much backstory. So I've written a NEW chapter one and I am now planning to write some more chapters showing how MC becomes a detective. BUT the original draft's events happen 2 years after MC becomes a detective.
There are a few ways I can proceed and I was wondering if anyone had any advice or similar experiences.
1) Have two cases to solve in the first book and maybe split it into part 1&2 with "Two years later" written between each part.
2) Don't show MCs first case but show how they became a detective and then skip forward two years. My problem with this is it's kind of a false start.
3) Turn the case from my original draft into the first case which would be the easiest choice but runs the risk of MC being a little Mary Sue-ish by being so good on their first case.
4) write a whole new first book with origin story (I'd rather not do this)
The end of my original case sets up the 2nd book so it is important to include.
I hope this makes sense
