Recapping in a serial

[Mal_Bey]

I am in the final stages of polishing a new chapter for my tale I am publishing in Novels. The previous chapter ended with a cliff hanger suddenness where the heroine extracts herself from a bad situation, and exits stage right. The new chapter catches up with her literally minutes after the previous chapter ended, and deals with the ramifications of getting out of the situation. Because of the serial nature of publishing here, where weeks or months between publishing chapters is normal, I put a short recap in the form of a "WTF just happened? Let me think about it..." paragraph. Multiple of my valiant beta readers flagged it as repetitious. And if I was publishing this as a true novel, I never would have written a recap. I don't think I would have even written the recap if more time had passed in the story. But given the two weeks between the chapters being published, and the importance of being in the same headspace as the heroine in the new chapter, it feels wrong to not recap.

What is the popular wisdom here? If I am publishing in N+N, is it better to ignore the serial nature of Lit publishing? Or is this a legitimate exception to the general rule you shouldn't recap between chapters?

 

[joy_of_cooking]

I would appreciate the recap, as a reader. I'm pretty unlikely to remember a chapter I read on this site weeks to months ago.

Are you giving your beta readers multiple chapters at once so that they see the chapters in much quicker succession than normal readers would? That might skew their response.

My opinion. Too new around here to speak to popular wisdom.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I wouldn't recap.

Keep in mind that the story will have a life beyond the short period of its initial release. Someone reading in three months or three year's time won't know or care about the initial release timing, they'll be reading it as a continuum.

 

[AlinaX]

I hate recaps where it's like a flashback. It may be entertaining to have it in the preamble. In my Zar series I gave chapters a brief chapter summary, e.g.,:

Zar gives the amulet to Jien, and gains the breastplate of Veshla - and a salve.

but similarly you could do recaps:

Previously on Zar: After crossing the Iskreti desert and fighting a dragon, Zar nearly succumbed to the spells of the wicked witch Abab-Baria. Her quest takes her now to Saruz in search of the breastplate of Veshla...

 

[BobbyBrandt]

I wouldn't recap.

Keep in mind that the story will have a life beyond the short period of its initial release. Someone reading in three months or three year's time won't know or care about the initial release timing, they'll be reading it as a continuum.

I agree. Publish for the long-term life of the story.

Better yet, wait until the story is finished before publishing any part of it so that you maintain better control of it to the end.

 

[Sunadmire]

When publishing a new chapter in the one series I'm writing, I give a recap. Not all readers have read the previous chapters, and the recap provides the context for the new chapter, without the requirement of reading all previous chapters. The recap may also entice the reader to read the earlier chapters. I also provide an easy marker to indicate the end of the recap - for the benefit of those who had read the previous chapters.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

Probably less important in N&N, because more people will be planning on reading the whole story.

I find chapters in other categories are treated almost like single stories by readers, so I try to summarise at the start, but as briefly as possible - maybe two sentences mixed into the first few paragraphs?

I have one exception where it's the climactic 5th chapter of a story arc, but guessed a lot of people would just dive straight in (it's in Group Sex and has 2x the readers of ch.4...) - that's a couple paragraphs of preamble to fill people in. Anyone who had just read chapters 1-4 would probably find the summary amusing.
Educating Laura Ch.5

 

[BobbyBrandt]

When publishing a new chapter in the one series I'm writing, I give a recap. Not all readers have read the previous chapters, and the recap provides the context for the new chapter, without the requirement of reading all previous chapters. The recap may also entice the reader to read the earlier chapters. I also provide an easy marker to indicate the end of the recap - for the benefit of those who had read the previous chapters.

This is where nomenclature plays a major role in the discussion.

A "series" is a collection of individual stories, with a beginning, middle, and end. They can stand alone with readers.

A "chapter" is a portion of a story. It is typically the main thematic division within a story, but it cannot stand alone.

Literotica treats them the same from a publishing perspective, but they are not the same when being read.

Go pick up virtually any novel in a library and chose any random chapter after the first. How likely is it that you would grasp what you were reading as it relates to the book as a whole? Not very.

 

[Sunadmire]

Point taken...

 

[12oclocktales]

All of the great masters who wrote when serialization was common (Dickens, Thackery, Trollope, to name just three) never recapped previous chapters as they went along. True, most of their novels were serialized often as frequently as weekly, but at other times over much wider spans of time. Sometimes they might recount important incidents or character developments, but always subtly as the story progressed. Trust your readers to be able to recall what the heck happened 3 or 4 chapters ago without it being waved in their faces. I find the urge to recap most often when it’s something I’m excited about, that I want to relish in all its glory, so I’m thinking more about my reaction than the reader’s. I try to avoid these ego trips if I can. If readers care enough to still be reading your work after several chapters, they won’t need recaps.

 

[MillieDynamite]

I vote for the "previously, da du do day so forth and when we last saw our hero." sort-a thing.

 

[Voyeurkenneth]

As a reader, I personally don't really care for the intro/recap, I just want to get straight into the story. Then again, I haven't really followed a series that publishes so infrequently. I semi-binge chapters so remembering details isn't too much an issue.

As an author, I'm also feeling the impulse to recap. But I know when the story ends and lives on, I am not going to like the recap blurb living on, on the page. Personal aesthetics more than anything, really.

I'm gonna have to deal with this conundrum soon with my multi-chapter story. But my current line of thinking will be to put the following at the top: (Continued directly from the previous chapter). I'm hoping it will convince most readers to either go back to skim, or not entertain the new chapter at all until they're caught up.

 

[alohadave]

What is the popular wisdom here?

Like everything else here, there is no consensus. Write your stories the way you want. Some will like it, some will be neutral, other will hate it. And what authors prefer isn't necessarily what readers prefer.

Personally, a couple lines of recap is good if there has been a while between new chapters. I've read plenty of stories where I know I've read previous chapters, but don't really remember much about it and I'm not going to go back and read all the previous chapters to reacquaint myself.

 

[djrip]

If I were a reader who couldn't remember what happened in the previous chapter, I would skim some of the previous chapter. I wouldn't prefer recaps, any more than I would want recaps in a book of what happened in the previous chapter. There are always new readers who find a series late and read it all straight through, and recaps would seem repetitive to them.

 

[Voboy]

When I'm a reader, I usually appreciate a recap... when it's short, and more importantly organic to the new plot.

When I'm a writer, I try to stay mindful of what I would like as a reader. So I'll have a character mention past events, en passant, as dialogue. Or I'll include past events as punchlines in jokes. That way, the reader gets a recap if needed, or a conversational interlude (or an inside joke) if not, and everyone is happy. As usual, I write for a reader who's like me.

 

[Gamblnluck]

I never recap. I generally do not wait weeks or months to continue a story but have on one. Readers will go back and catch up. This came up in a discussion yesterday. The author has to realize if it has been months, many readers have 1. lost interest 2. forgotten where they were in the story or 3. Need to go back and catch up. Hence you might not see as good an immediate response to the story as you did earlier. The story will catch up in most cases.

New reader will have to start at the beginning. That can be enough of an effort they wait until later to begin. Often they look at the score and read the comments first to determine if it is worth the effort. I am not talking out my butt here. Today I got this about a story that was not that long:
"Oh My how do some commenters VENT!

After page one 1 I'll be sure to read as Paul Harvey would say. (THE REST OF THE STORY)

Oh Page one was great; now forward."

 

[Britva415]

My preference would be for the prose of the story itself to provide any necessary back-story details.

Frankly, I skip all stories on the "New" lists which have a number in the title indicating that it's part of a series. The recaps are always awkward and don't draw me in, and I'm not motivated at all to go to the beginning of someone's series just to catch up with the latest chapter.

There are plenty of real-life examples of serial novels or stories which can be picked up and opened and read as a compelling story on its own without knowing what happened in previous installments. I'm not saying the reader will necessarily understand everything there is to understand about the latest installment if they missed previous ones, but there are two things which at least make them readable and compelling, even if you're starting in the middle:

1. When the episode contains a compelling story all by itself. The main drive of the story should happen in the story, and not completely depend on a push given in previous installments. If it's interesting enough to want to go back and catch up from the beginning, then, even better, but it should be able to tell a stand-alone story even if some of the back-details are not understood.

2. When any past plot points which are necessary to tell the present story are presented in a way which is a natural and unobtrusive part of the present story, rather than an obvious info-dump of what you missed by not reading the previous bits of the series. Recap sucks ass. Storytelling rules.

 

[Rustyoznail]

As a reader, I prefer recaps that are subtly woven into the story, and that's how I try to tie mine together. No complaints so far.

 

[Mastered_again]

My only work here is a series with the same main characters all in chronological order. So far 5 categories in 11 chapters. No recaps in any, just some references to earlier installments scattered about to provide continuity.
Each one is kind of a stand alone story for a stroker (albeit probably too much surrounding prose for their taste).
Anyway, my hope is that if someone reads one installment based on a specific category, they'll like it and maybe, just maybe, read the whole series.