For the past year I've been hacking away at my first novel. It's a modern day fantasy and I feel the reader needs a little background.
So, here's my question, how do you feel about a novel beginning with a short story?
The short story is only thirty pages and involves one of the characters from the novel--not the main character--when he was a boy. In the short story, a man tells the boy a legend that, should the boy believe it, explains why the character's world is different than the reader's.
Posted by Foste (Member # 8892) on :
Sounds like an infodump to me...
Just write the novel regularly. Drop in information about the world as you go (just don't try to smother with exposition - there is only so much one can consume). That's one of many ways to immerse the reader.
Posted by Dropbear (Member # 8819) on :
Hard to comment without knowing the actual content of the story and novel.
Would it work if presented as a prologue?
Posted by JoeMaz (Member # 8241) on :
I thought about making it the prologue, but the short story is detached from the novel. The legend the old man tells is like a genesis story.
Posted by BenM (Member # 8329) on :
Random opinions: If it's not necessary to make the novel work, cut it; once your novel is published, sell the short story to help market the novel. Also, I think I've heard (but can't remember where) that not having the novel's main character appear in the first chapter is often regarded the kiss of death; a reader is usually looking to attach to a character who will be with them for the journey - if readers become frustrated by the structure you propose, they may stop reading.
Posted by D2 (Member # 8930) on :
If the short story is good enough, why not?
The biggest concern I'd have is that you'd want it to actually be a standalone short story -- beginning, middle, end, characters, etc. I feel like it'd be too easy to renege a little on that since you're planning on it being related to the main work.
If you pulled it off right, I think that'd be an interesting way to start it off. Definitely worth a shot in my opinion!
Posted by Brendan (Member # 6044) on :
I haven't seen that done at the start of a novel, but I have seen it done within a novel. Gregory Benford and A.E. van Vogt both did that, while OSC attached several shorts to the end of The Worthing Saga. In Grengory Benford's case, the novel was about people travelling over several thousand years, with chapters showing what was going on on Earth at the same time, one of which was the short story. Van Vogt's had the same protagonist, and the short story started midway through. I actually liked the short story much better than the novel as a whole.
Posted by JoeMaz (Member # 8241) on :
I understand what you all are saying. Personally, when I hear the idea, I think it sounds bad. I ask myself, why not just incorporate the pertinent information into the novel? But, that's the thing... I'm finding that very hard to do.
I've had a volunteer to read the beginning of my novel and she asked, "Why does Jodie (a non-human in a fictional place) drive a Chevy?" I've asked the same question about Battlestar Galactica. Why does the army on Caprica drive Hummers? The answer to this is Battlestar was a TV show with limited resources. That, however, is not why my character, Jodie, drives a Chevy instead of some made-up make and model. He drives one because in his world, people can get things from the outside, our world.
If this were a future story, a reader might automatically accept this level of weirdness, but with this tale taking place in the mid 90's... I'm not so sure.
Regarding D2's comment; I actually REALLY like the short story.
Posted by Foste (Member # 8892) on :
Well, there's no better recipe than actually trying it.
You can edit and fiddle around with it later anyway. You'll be richer for the experience.
Posted by Brendan (Member # 6044) on :
It might work if you call it Part 1, and the rest of the story Part II. It also might work if you call it a prolog. People are used to such separations. I would certainly not find it an issue, particularly if it is primarily a milieu or idea story.
Posted by BenM (Member # 8329) on :
Pub Rants had a post today about prologues, it might be interesting to have a look and see how you feel about the opinions there.
Posted by Teraen (Member # 8612) on :
If you like the short story, why not try publishing it? I mean alone, in a trade magazine, separate from the book. Then, it can be billed as a story preceding your soon-to-be published novel, and may help you get editorial attention paid to your work... Just a thought.
