Series, prologue and amount of backstory given.

Cekrit said:

How do you avoid this?

How do/would you all structure your prologues in a series?

A side note:

Many people who have read Book 1 so far have mentioned they just straight up skip prologues no matter what book they read- got confused and i would just sigh and tell them to read the prologue and suddenly they have that "oh! this makes so much sense now!" moment.

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My subjective advice:

Prologue or not, start with the current book's story. Only inject backstory when it's needed, and include as little as possible for the whole thing to make sense. Readers need logic far more than they need detail, and they need far less of both than you'd think.

Also, don't hold the hands of readers who skip prologues. (I do write prologues, but I don't use them for backstory from previous books.) If they don't read the whole story, it's not your fault if they get lost, is it?

I wouldn’t say I always skip prologues, but when they are packed the info dump territory with world building and backstory I find no reason to read them or flash forwards(those have burned me far too many times). Now if it’s an actual scene that’s crucial to the story I’ll read it, but otherwise, they’ll just get skipped no question. Prologues are fine to me so long as the rest the of the book is told in a similar fashion and it’s not misleading like a flash forward usually tend to be.

Once I realize I’ve been duped into reading flash forward prologue(or first chapter one), the book gets put back down, so I tend to read the first two hundred and fifty words of prologue before I decide its pointless or the author could have given me the necessary info some other way. So I would just avoid those kind of things. I often feel cheated when the rest of novel is told in a completely different fashion than a prologue, but it sounds like your pacing should be fine throughout.

Cekrit said:

Hello!

I am currently working on Book 2 of my Stigma Series. The problem I'm facing is how much backstory do I give from book one?

Book 1's prologue is action packed and really sets the pace, it adds a little mystery and context to Chapter 1 of course.

Book 2's however is much slower in comparison, which is fitting, but i do spend a solid 700 words out of the 1580 glancing over what happened in the last chapter of Book 1. It explains why my MC is in the state she is in, how she got there, and a couple key names from Book 1 that effect the world in Book 2- like the main players of the world.

I guess I just have a pang of guilt that its not as action packed and contained of a prologue as Book 1's. Each novel should ideally be able to be read as a stand alone, but I also want to provide context and notions to what HAS happened, which belongs in the prologue, right?

I also dont want to be predictable and spend every prologue in the series recapping.

How do you avoid this?

How do/would you all structure your prologues in a series?

A side note:

Many people who have read Book 1 so far have mentioned they just straight up skip prologues no matter what book they read- got confused and i would just sigh and tell them to read the prologue and suddenly they have that "oh! this makes so much sense now!" moment.

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given the last paragraph above, is there anything you're GAINING in forcing people to go back to read it, that you can't present any other way?

I always read prologues. I read anything put in front of me, including cereal ingredients. But I tend to think prologues are often (certainly not always, but often) either a weaker form of expository writing or a chance to wade through someone else's 5 pages of self-indulgence. I know, that's a pretty harsh statement, and like I said, I read them, but I've never really wanted to put one in there myself, nor have I ever had a situation where I felt it was the best way to present info.

that whole aside aside (he said reduntantly), I agree with the others who say "just jump into the story"...

Cekrit said:

I guess I just have a pang of guilt that its not as action packed and contained of a prologue as Book 1's. Each novel should ideally be able to be read as a stand alone, but I also want to provide context and notions to what HAS happened, which belongs in the prologue, right?

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Not necessarily. There is no obligation to include prologues at all. As you've discovered, many readers are so used to prologues being infodumps or optional, disposable "mood setting" that they skip them entirely. Authors have learned that if there's vital information, it needs to find a place in the narrative proper, and not be set aside in something the reader might or might not read. You can trickle in info during the story itself (and you probably should, even with the prologue); a little bit at a time, just as needed and where it would come up naturally, does the trick. Writers also tend to overestimate how much explanation a reader needs to get the point or catch up. Do you need a ten page tangent describing the epic battle between Bill and Steve in the previous book, or can you show Bill and Steve being hostile and convey the jist of their feud through the odd passing remark or thought - such as why Bill has Steve's bronzed ear mounted on his office wall? If the reader is intrigued, they can buy Book 1 and read in greater detail how Bill and Steve came to hate each other, 'cause Steve never listened to him.

Unless you plan to stand in the bookstore next to your book and only hand it to people who promise to read the prologue, you might reconsider your information delivery (particularly putting all the vital catch-up in the prologue), in other words...

Cekrit said:

Many people who have read Book 1 so far have mentioned they just straight up skip prologues no matter what book they read- got confused and i would just sigh and tell them to read the prologue and suddenly they have that "oh! this makes so much sense now!" moment.

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A couple thoughts:

- This may be a case of "wrong reader, wrong story." If your prologue is vital, and you're determined to have one, then select your beta readers for their ability and tendency to read the prologue.

- This may also be a case of failed delivery; the beta may have glanced at the prologue, decided it was another optional/infodump one, and shrugged and jumped to Chapter One. Your "pang of guilt" may be your writer's instincts digging into you, telling you something's not right with it. Again, you'll likely need a beta who reads prologues (and is familiar with which ones work for them and which ones don't) to tell you if this is the case, and maybe help figure out what might work better.

JMHO...

Cekrit said:

I also want to provide context and notions to what HAS happened, which belongs in the prologue, right?

I also dont want to be predictable and spend every prologue in the series recapping.

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Be wary of the But-the-reader-needs-to-know-this Syndrome. Readers are good at figuring things out within the context of story narrative.

Cekrit said:

Many people who have read Book 1 so far have mentioned they just straight up skip prologues no matter what book they read- got confused and i would just sigh and tell them to read the prologue and suddenly they have that "oh! this makes so much sense now!" moment.

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As a reader, if I hit a prologue that is too "explainy", it suggests to me that the continuing narrative is insufficiently developed. That's one of the main reasons so many people are skeptical of prologues.

caw

lizmonster said:

My subjective advice:

Prologue or not, start with the current book's story. Only inject backstory when it's needed, and include as little as possible for the whole thing to make sense. Readers need logic far more than they need detail, and they need far less of both than you'd think.

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^^^^^
This.

I just finished the second book of a series and followed the above advice, and it turned out well. It takes a bit more thought than just starting up writing as a continuance of the previous book; you have to weave things together, and go back to be sure you don't repeat an explanation. The good thing is that my second book can stand alone, but there are enough tags that will hopefully drive interest toward the first book.

I can so relate, and this may take you a hot minute to figure out. I gave my book three to a reader to see if it could stand alone, and he felt like he was at dinner with friends, regaling him with tales from a vacation he hadn't been on, and that he couldn't really follow, LOL!. There's a balance to it. I do not like a huge info dump of: this is what you need to know, so figuring out how to weave it in is hard. Just be patient. Maybe focus on the new story and see if you find places to add pertinent details. My prologues are a HOT scene launching the new story, just either not in the current story's time-line, or a murder in a POV used once, but always a live scene. (they are thrillers)

For Book 3, in chapter one, I had my characters give brief bits of back story as reactions to the current situation. By chapter 3 most of book 2 had been laid down, and then around chapter 5, there's additional info added in. (I had 4 murders and 2 names to add to the character names, so definitely a slow roll out on all the info.) Nothing exceeded more than a short paragraph or two, and were also mixed with that characters thoughts and reactions to what had happened, and how they currently felt, followed by more of the current live scene.

I'm thrilled to say it worked! My new CP, and also a new beta are following it fine.

Keeping forward momentum on the current story is important, so I agree whole-heartedly with lizmonster and Indianroads.

PM me if you think seeing how I handled it would help, again, I can so relate!!!

I'm planning on starting Book 4 for Nano, but I will definitely write it like the readers know what I'm talking about, and then go back and find the spots I need to explain. It is more of a stand-alone story, but has some roots in the first 3.

Hope this helps. Best of luck with your conundrum!!!

This is a personal preference, but I prefer not to be retold things that happened in the previous book. I also hate the "previously on ______" that they tack onto tv shows. My one complainst about the Harry Potter books is that J.K. Rowling is constantly reexplaining stuff from the previous books. IMHO if they haven't read the previous book, its their own fault for being lost or confused.

yes, Robin Hobb does this, and I always feel like... c'mon, what kind of idiot is going to start your 13 book series on number 5 or 8? What would be the point? Do readers really do this?

Different for loosely connected etc but I prefer things to not be explained in direct followons. Just the odd hint for important subtle stuff I might have forgotten or overlooked.

So, I wrote prologues for all three of the novellas in my Touch series. *BUT* they were scenes, not summaries. Each scene was something that informed both the particular book, and the series in general. Each scene deepened the understanding of the individual book and the series, but it also left room for folks who don't read prologues. As in, there was *no* summary of anything that made the rest of the book (or series) not make sense if you didn't read it.

Folks don't like prologues that act like voice overs - catching the reader up to the story where it is. I mean, some of us read them anyway, but they function best when they are simply scenes that relate to the story. (I.E. not a history of the world.) Finding what works for your particular book is part of the challenge of writing. Each story may be different.

Best of luck.

Harlequin said:

yes, Robin Hobb does this, and I always feel like... c'mon, what kind of idiot is going to start your 13 book series on number 5 or 8? What would be the point? Do readers really do this?

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Maybe her editor requested it? And yes, people really do start reading a series in the middle. It's often by accident. At any rate, a prologue like that could easily be skipped by the reader who didn't need any reminders.

Not in the prologue, just the early chapters.

The summaries aren't enough to help out readers who have come into the middle.

I dunno, grmm and others don't do that so I'm doubtful it's a publisher choice

Harlequin said:

yes, Robin Hobb does this, and I always feel like... c'mon, what kind of idiot is going to start your 13 book series on number 5 or 8? What would be the point? Do readers really do this?

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Yes, they do. The same way people tune in to TV shows after the first episode (or even the first season) aired, or how someone may catch the middle movie in a trilogy without having seen the first film, it happens.

If the series isn't clearly labeled (not all of them are), it's easy to pick up a middle book by mistake - or a well-meaning relative gives Book 3 of 15 as a gift.

If the series looks intriguing, but the bookstore doesn't carry Book 1, some readers will try it anyway, figuring they ought to be able to pick it up as they go.

While, in an ideal world, one would only be able to purchase Book 1 at a store and not be able to purchase subsequent books until one has proven they finished the previous installment (sort of like how TVs should lock out new viewers after Episode 1 so message boards don't get flooded with "OMG why are there alienz and monsters isn't this a show about the FBI??" posts), it does happen, and it happens often enough that writers/editors tend to want to keep those readers coming back for more. So it seems like a common sense compromise have just enough hints of what came before to allow newbies - or oldies who haven't refreshed their memory in a while - to get on board... and whet their appetite to backtrack and spend more money.

That said, I've read some series that just throw you in the deep end and if you sink, too bad so sad. Personally, given the release gaps in series (and the fact that I don't often reread Book 1 just because Book 2 came out, so my memory of events isn't crystal clear and wet paint fresh), I like the odd reminder to get me back in the groove. If I do remember, I can skim it. If I don't, I appreciate the nudge. So long as it's worked in organically, I'm good.

Stephen King has included "Previously on The Dark Tower" summaries for his Dark Tower series, but he gets away with it because

A) He's Stephen King and can do whatever he damn well pleases

B) There have been intervals of years sometimes between Dark Tower books, such as between books 3 & 4, and a lot of readers didn't necessarily want to go back and reread the previous books after waiting over five years for the next installment.

Although yeah, I think with any book series now, it probably makes a lot of sense to simply number them. If you buy a book that says "Book 5 Of The Neverending Series" and then open it up and realize it's the fifth book and not the first, as you thought, and that the "Book 5" thing was just a joke, and you feel betrayed and lied to, that's more your fault than the author or publisher at that point.

shoeless certainly isn't wrong, but I would also add that if you look at the FIRST dark tower book (they became a neverending shit-show of horrors somewhere between Book 4 and 6, depending who you ask, book 1 is a near-perfect example of "start the fucking story where the fucking story starts...if you need back-story, add it as you move along."

it literally starts with "The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed." No bullshit, no filler, it stated where it started. Wanna know why? Great, it's called Chapter 12, or whatever, but the story just STARTS.

Harlequin said:

Not in the prologue, just the early chapters.

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Oh. Yeah, that would be annoying.

I remember picking up a book by Christian Cameron, because I heard he was pretty awesome, and getting to about page 3 and thinking... wtf?? This is total character soup! I don't know who any of these people are sposed to be and you're acting like I should know whose funeral this is! I mean come on, there's in media res and then there's just taking the piss!

Then I realised it was book 2, lol

So I went back and read book 1 first, and by the time I got to book 2 I was all like.... OH SHIT, this makes total sense now, lol.

TBH, I think his later book series do provide more of a recap of the story so far, but not in massive infodumps, just subtle reminders. Kinda what I'm aiming for too, although so far with less success...