Glossaries, Appendices and Dramatis Personae

[Perpetual Man]

Following on from the Redundant First Chapter thread, I've started thinking about ways of conveying the information that looks like it is going to be dropped along with the first chapter.

It is all set in the past - in relation to the main story - most of the characters have no bearing at this point in proceedings, so their absence is not important until later on, but some of the information pertaining to the world itself, how it became like it has will be missing.

Now I'm pretty convinced most readers would be happy to read on and learn about the past as the story progresses, building a big picture from the odd sentence here and there etc.

But aside from a mass of info-dumping is there any other way of conveying the back story and incidental characters?

Is it too easy to include a glossary/list of characters/appendices that give you the bits that are pertinent but not needed for the text of the book, or should we as writers try and convey what is needed in the text, trusting the readers to build that bigger picture?

 

[Abernovo]

Just my personal take, but if it's not in the text, I'm unlikely to read it. Glossaries, for me, are for non-fiction - and manuals, which I've read enough of in my working life.

I want to have a picture in my head as I'm reading, without needing to refer to appendices. The text should tell me what I need to know, and perhaps leave enough room for me to imagine some things for myself. It's part of less is more. Sorry. Just my opinion.

 

[Tecdavid]

I've heard mixed things about glossaries and appendices. On one hand, I haven't heard anyone complain about their presence in the Wheel of Time, or in A Song of Ice and Fire. On the other hand, I've been told that they don't leave the best impression with agents and publishers. That they imply the author "is taking themselves too seriously". I don't know whether anyone agrees with this (I'm not sure whether I do), but it's just what I’ve heard before.

 

[Mouse]

I can't see as it does any harm to have them. Write them, then mention to an agent/publisher afterwards that you have them, maybe.

I'm with Aber though. I just don't read them.

 

[Perpetual Man]

I can't see as it does any harm to have them. Write them, then mention to an agent/publisher afterwards that you have them, maybe.

I'm with Aber though. I just don't read them.

Right, that's it if I ever do a appendix or two I'm going to fill it with Mouse references, and hidden Perwaine 'fan' fiction.

 

[Mouse]

Dammit, now I'll have to read them!

 

[Perpetual Man]

I thought that might work

 

[iansales]

Glossaries haven't done me any harm, though I am deliberately using them as part of the structure of the story...

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

I agree that everything important should be in the text of the story itself, but I see no reason why glossaries and appendices shouldn't be added for readers who want to immerse themselves in the world more fully. I would think readers who don't like a lot of backstory, worldbuilding, and description in the text should embrace them, since a lot of what they don't want to read ends up where they can easily ignore it.

Sometimes I read them and sometimes I don't. It depends on how much I loved the book and whether the appendices look like they are going to cover things that I am curious about.

If agents and editors are wary about them, it seems like the best thing to do is not broach the subject until they want the book. Then say there is a glossary or whatever and ask if they think it will be a good idea to include it.

I had a glossary for the Green Lion books, but since they were concerned about the length (funny when you think how short the books actually were, but that was another time, and Ace was famous for keeping the production costs down) I never brought up the subject of a glossary at all, not for anything they published.

For The Hidden Stars, I didn't have a glossary or other appendices prepared at the time I turned in the book. Just scribbled notes. But I did have quite a bit that I sent in with A Dark Sacrifice (by then I was with HarperCollins, and besides, the size of fantasy novels had exploded) and they published most of it.

And for The Queen's Necklace I did have a Dramatis Personae at the beginning. There were two reasons for that: One was that it was a long book with a lot of people and a lot of places and I thought it would be nice to have a list of characters there for people to refer to if they felt they needed to or wanted to. The other was the style of the novel, and the period that had inspired the setting. A Dramatis Personae seemed to fit. I did try to make it entertaining to read, though, with somewhat snide (and I hoped witty) asides about some of the characters.

 

[thaddeus6th]

I'm planning on putting a character list at the end of the books in a forthcoming trilogy. That's more for books 2 and 3 so people can refamiliarise themselves, if necessary, but I'll include it in book 1 for consistency.

 

[Perpetual Man]

Hmm, thanks for the comments everyone, they have all been helpful and given me stuff to think about.

And it has been interesting as well!

 

[Glitch]

Whist I agree with others in that important information should be in the main story, I don't see a problem with a glossary.

Have you considered having the information in a prologue?

 

[Ursa major]

If the information doesn't fit into the telling of the story - and the publisher doesn't want to include a glossary, cast list, or whatever - you can always put this sort of stuff on your author website (next to your maps, which will necessarily be of a higher quality than can be managed in a book or simple ebook). You'd probably want to be careful about giving away spoilers, though.

 

[Perpetual Man]

If the information doesn't fit into the telling of the story - and the publisher doesn't want to include a glossary, cast list, or whatever - you can always put this sort of stuff on your author website (next to your maps, which will necessarily be of a higher quality than can be managed in a book or simple ebook). You'd probably want to be careful about giving away spoilers, though.

An excellent idea!

 

[Luiglin]

By the looks of it I'm in the minority for liking appendices. However, I do prefer the ones that seem to read like short stories rather than just be dry descriptive monologues.

 

[alex_riveiro]

A glossary (I mean one that is sorted alphabetically) is the kind of thing that I dislike. But an appendix that explains other aspects of the story that are not as relevant is something definitely cool. Also, on this day and age, where we're surrounded by digital media all around, you may want to consider the idea of using a wiki to talk about your universe (that's the route I went, I created one to explain not-so-important details about my planets, as well as short stories that didn't really meld with what was happening on the books, but that contributed a lot to explaining certain things).

I think, however, that if you're writing a series of books, that all important information should be in the main story. It'll only help you flesh out your world even more, and you may have your characters bring up the things you want to explain as experiences they had in the past, or them sharing their knowledge among them for a particular reason, etc...