Help with my book...?

Question

I'm writing a story where there is a world-scale cataclysm (disease), this event should ideally be introduced partly to the reader before he meets the central character.

Is it ok to write a chapter or two without your central character, and only introduce him after?
Wouldn't that be hard for the reader, not being able to identify immediatly with the central character?

What methods could I use to make this character discover more about the event? (like someone telling him, reading it from old papers...)

Thanks to all who are willing to help

Answer 1

Yes it is fine to write a chapter or two without introducing your central character. Your first chapters must be short and have direct relevance to the world your character is in.

Methods of finding out about the event:
- if he has a generator he might find that all the radio and tv stations are running a looped tape about the disease.
- He might visit a city or town and find out that it is deserted and then pick up a newspaper or printed emergency bulletin and find out about the disease.
- If you are going to introduce another character then having a refugee telling him about the disease is a good way to get them involved.

Good luck

Answer 2

If you are setting the main character up to deal with the weight of this massive life altering event, you could set up the event without introducing any specific people at all, which might keep the reader from grasping at straws for a character to relate to. Depending on the scale of introduction you're planning to use to introduce the cataclysm before the character, if you're mainly going to be taking the reader through the destruction, they are going to need to come in contact with someone who is going through what they went through after those first original chapters.
What if you wrote it as an introduction and then in the first chapter give the reader the character?

Answer 3

Maybe a way to look at this is as the plague as your antagonist. Introducing your antagonist and setting the scene for a character with which to empathize later at least isn't formulaic.

Also, leaving your reader adrift for a while may help them to latch onto your lead character. I wouldn't have the cataclysm laid out for the character soup to nuts. If you're going to lay it out in the first few chapters, then you should just allude to it rather than have the first few chapters regurgitated through your characters.

If you decide to forego the idea of not introducing your character until later, then you can always let a little of what happened unfold as the lead moves through the plot, though your method is much less formulaic.

Answer 4

Yes you can write a chapter or two without your central character being introduced (eg: Harry Potter & Chamber of Secrets).

In a similair fashion you can start your main character as a child

Or you can speak generally about the history of the city where your story is centred around

Or about your main character's parents or his friends or relatives.

Or you can introduce the villain's activities if that suits your story.

I think this would help you .Have a nice day..........

Answer 5

I don't recommend more than a short chapter without at least one of your major characters, but you can write a little bit before they are introduced.

How you let the main character learn about the event is tricky. Having someone tell him about it sometimes ends up like "As you know, Bob, the world ended on Tuesday but no one noticed until later." (This tedious method is so common that some writers and publishers refer to it as the "As-you-know-Bob" method of explaining things in a story. It is particularly hokey in sci-fi stories. "As you know, Bob, the transdigital freon converter needs to be fixed before we can make the jump to hyperspace..." Just don't do this.)

Giving the information spread out throught the story will work better.

Answer 6

Of course it dosent matter writing a chapter or two without a main character. As long as the s/he gets established as the main character before about chapter 6 its fine

Answer 7

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Answer 8

Sounds like you are trying to write something in the vein of Camus. I suggest that you read a book or two of his to help you out.

Answer 9

Make it your prologue use the Stand by Stephen King as an example that fits your situation i think.

Answer 10

I suggest that you do what hasn't been done - there's a trillion books and a billion authors out there...how will you stand out? Good luck and good question!