Backstory now or later?

[ThisAdamGuy]

My WIP Road to Olympus is about a massive battle royale tournament that happens every ten years, with the winner ascending to godhood. But I'm not sure what the best way to start it would be.

A lot of the story, and several of the characters' motivations, come from how the final battle in the last tournament played out. Right now, the first three chapters of the book are that battle (it started off as one chapter, but someone said it was too long and recommended I break it into smaller chapters) and I use them to introduce a lot of the characters and worldbuilding.

I'm not sure that's a good idea anymore, though. Alternatively, I could cold open the book with the current day tournament beginning, and then drip feed the readers the backstory as the book goes.

Here's an example: as it is now, the reader knows that Lanz was born into a noble family, but was disowned when his brother loses his powers and Lanz can't use magic to take his place, leading to him living on the streets for ten years, which drives him to discover a kind of magic that he can use so he can enter the tournament and earn his family's love again.

If I redid it, there would be a couple lines early like "Aren't you the Amica boy?" "No, not for ten years now," but it wouldn't be obvious what happened. When his sister confronted him for daring to join the tournament, and Lanz asks if their brother is doing okay, the mystery deepens. It wouldn't be until much later that he finally reveals his entire backstory, and the last tournament's final battle will be told in a flashback chapter. Other characters would do the same thing, since a lot of stuff happens during that one fight.

What do you think? Put the fight at the beginning, or in a flashback later?

 

[CharlesEBrown]

The problem here is that either way could lead to issues. If you slowly reveal the backstories, you wind up with a lot of flashbacks or exposition, which can turn off some readers. If you don't, though, then you wind up delaying the action which seems to be what gets the entire story rolling in the first place.
How important are the backstories to the characters?
Perhaps when a character is introduced it is with a hint of the backstory: Have an announcer start the fight with: "And now, the disowned son of the Amica family squaring off against (yada yada of the yada yada clan)" and then have someone ask about it later and either reveal the background through conversation or a flashback.

 

[Rhaps]

I suggest follow Records of Ragnarok way of backstory.

Introduce the characters first (no back story), have them fight, then flashback, then fight, flashback, fight, ending the fight.

Though I advise having the backstory right in the middle of the fight will break the flow, its also good to give the fight a break and explain the fighters' motivations and story.

 

[LuoirM]

I suggest follow Records of Ragnarok way of backstory.

Introduce the characters first (no back story), have them fight, then flashback, then fight, flashback, fight, ending the fight.

Though I advise having the backstory right in the middle of the fight will break the flow, its also good to give the fight a break and explain the fighters' motivations and story.

nerddddd

 

[ThisAdamGuy]

How important are the backstories to the characters?

They're the driving force behind their actions. One wants to earn his way back into his family. One blames herself for her mother losing the final battle ten years ago and wants to redeem herself. One is a crime lord, and another is a bounty hunter trying to get revenge on the crime lord. One is a monster hunter trying to stop a monster disguised as a contestant before it can ascend to godhood. Ironically for a tournament where the ultimate goal is to become god, only a couple of them actually want to become god lol

 

[QuercusMalus]

A new god every ten years? How many gods do you have running around?

 

[ThisAdamGuy]

A new god every ten years? How many gods do you have running around?

I go into more detail about the whole process HERE

 

[LoneQuack]

Hmm... I'm too inexperienced to give advice on the matter. But I can tell you what I did in my book and see if it works for you in any way.

So basically the idea of the first volume is to kick start the story as a massive prologue (not the brightest idea for many reasons, most of all the missing hook, but lets skip this for a moment). We have the main cast of Zephyr, Lyon, Theodore and on the backfoot Cain.

Zephyr is the caretaker at this village at the edge of the kingdom, and the other three are the children he protects. From chapter 1 I hint at Zephyr's backstory and continue to do so until it is time to reveal it. Important to note that the reveal was necessary not only for the reader to understand Zephyr better, but for the plot of the story. I build up the mystery from the very beginning and when you get his backstory, not only you know him better, but its the 'oh sh*t' moment where the pieces click together just before I bring everything out.

 

[CharlesEBrown]

Hmm... I'm too inexperienced to give advice on the matter. But I can tell you what I did in my book and see if it works for you in any way.

So basically the idea of the first volume is to kick start the story as a massive prologue (not the brightest idea for many reasons, most of all the missing hook, but lets skip this for a moment). We have the main cast of Zephyr, Lyon, Theodore and on the backfoot Cain.

Zephyr is the caretaker at this village at the edge of the kingdom, and the other three are the children he protects. From chapter 1 I hint at Zephyr's backstory and continue to do so until it is time to reveal it. Important to note that the reveal was necessary not only for the reader to understand Zephyr better, but for the plot of the story. I build up the mystery from the very beginning and when you get his backstory, not only you know him better, but its the 'oh sh*t' moment where the pieces click together just before I bring everything out.

That method is very cinematic. When it works in any medium it is a thing of beauty, but when it does not it, it feels like a street of nothing but speed bumps...

 

[ACertainPassingUser]

Dont use prologue Chapter. Just put those in chapter one.

Many people skip those "prologue chapter" because they decidedly knew those weren't that important to the story, and start at chapter one right away.

 

[Samsonchui]

Definitely I skip prologue every time

 

[ThisAdamGuy]

I never said anything about a prologue

 

[Deleted member 128077]

Dont use prologue Chapter. Just put those in chapter one.

That's just a prologue with extra steps. They read the prologue and understand or they don't. Not the authors problem.

A lot of the story, and several of the characters' motivations, come from how the final battle in the last tournament played out.

My idea is to tell the story of the last tournament through multiple 'cliff notes', if you will. You open a chapter focusing on one character during that last tournament, providing cliff notes of what happened from their POV, in about half a page, then move back to modern day and advance the story with that character. After you have progressed the plot a bit with that character, perhaps after two or three chapters, you shift to another character and repeat the process.