I have two ways I can write the story I'm working on right now, and I don't know which would work better. The basic premise is that hundreds of thousands of years ago, the world was ruled by superhumans that were seen as gods. There was also a rebellion of humans who wanted to destroy the gods and free the humans from slavery. The rebels pretend to surrender, and make each of the gods a ring as peace offering. The rings are actually magical, and trap the gods inside them when they put them on. Anyone who puts on the ring after that will take on the form of the god inside it, acquiring their memories and powers. But trapping the gods causes the continent that they created to sink into the ocean, taking all the rings with it. In the present, all record of the gods has been lost, but a cult has somehow discovered the rings exist and have contracted an archaeologist (or whatever) to retrieve them from the bottom of the ocean. After doing so, they kill the archaeologist with the rings' power, but his son escapes with one of the rings. He uses it to become the god it has inside it and fight against the cult to keep them from taking over the world. So, I can do this one of two ways. Either I can make the first chapter all about how the gods were betrayed and imprisoned, or I can start it off in present day, and then fill in the backstory gradually via flashbacks when the main character gets his god's memories. What do you guys think?
This sounds like a great story if it unfolds gradually. I'd think about what happens to the characters in your book. Assuming your MC is a new cult member, he won't be told everything immediately. There'll be details here and there and clues. The MC may piece these together incorrectly. How did the leaders of the cult find out? Is this knowledge limited? Perhaps they've misperceived the situation. You can then have a plot twist when they discover all is not as they expect. What I wouldn't do is have a big info dump at the beginning. That'll likely be tedious and remove the sense of mystery from the rest of the novel.
This sounds like a spread out story, where the characters found out what happens as they go along. I think dumping everything at the beginning would kind of spoil the story.
Big info dump is never (or rarely) a good idea. It reveals too much, and breaks flow of the story. It is much better to gradually reveal stuff - though even then, you are probably better off doing worldbuilding before writing (unless you're a total pantser) and then gradually revealing it. Fact is, to a careful reader - which, admittedly, most people are not - text will reveal much more than what is written in text itself.
I'd say write the story starting from the present. Who is your POV character going to be? What is he doing at the start of the story. And why is he doing it? Your story's premise doesn't seem to be all that complicated, really. So I think you can easily start without a preliminary history (which you can add later, if you feel the story actually needs it.) Who is the guy? What is his present setting like? What is his present goal? And move from there? Maybe start with the archaelogist and his son finding the stash of rings, as directed ...then the archaeologist getting killed by the folks who hired them—but the POV character son gets away? You could maybe muddy the morality waters a bit by having the archaeologist PLANNING to keep one of the rings for himself—knowing what powers the ring will have—and this is a secret known only to himself and his son. The son knows where he's hidden it, so is able to grab it and escape?
Don't start the story off with the chapter about the gods. I did that on my first attempt at a novel, and it really, really didn't work. Most readers won't care about all that, because they're not yet invested in your story.
I would write the back story and the actual story fully and separately. I can't just write a story and ignore the backstory, every time I try that the backstory creeps in and makes a big mess.
this sounds like a great premise! But I am wondering why the humans would make a ring to trap the gods/superhumans to get rid of them to only later make those powers available again to rule humans all over again to someone else at random. I am also wondering about the MCs, who are they and what happens to them? I think there there can be some interesting twists.
I am personally a big fan of experiencing exposition over time. But I also understand it doesn't always work that way. I do get frustrated when I have to wait to meet the main character though. Of course this is my reader preference. Your book is yours. I would suggest you write all of it and then choose what to take out. Adding can be harder to do, and by writing all the information you have you can cement in your understanding of your own work. You got this!