I'm about ready to start writing the revised draft of my story (though, to be honest, it's quite different from the first draft to the point that I wonder if it might as well just be a new first draft). I have a lot of the details down, with the main characters figured out and a definite idea of where the book will end. The problem I'm having is with putting it all together in a structure that feels coherent. For example, in my current outline, one of the main characters is the focus of most of the beginning chapters, with the other two leads not being introduced until quite a bit later. This is mostly because a lot of important details of the character's life take place before the main story starts. The other characters will have flashbacks, but their pasts aren't nearly as fleshed out as the first character's (at least, not in this book). However, I'm worried that people will be put off if I introduce two main characters late into the story (I'm not sure how late, but no more than a third of the way through). What do you think?
If the story focus on the first character is engaging, it won't matter as long as the new stuff flows.
Late entry of 2/3 main characters sounds interesting enough. Original for sure. Uncommon. And as long as the explanation of the 1st MC's past is either interesting&engaging or Breif&informative, or both of those things ,then I think starting the plot line like that would run just fine into the rest of the story. But in my opinion, people usually get upset when they are hit with a backstory right off the bat in any type of story. Maybe give that part an edge somehow...
My question is: do you need to start with the background stuff, or can that just be alluded to? You definitely need to establish characters before the action begins, but it may be pushing things too far backwards to start with the life story of one of the characters. Unless it isn't. The Name of the Wind is one example of a book that follows the early life of one character and only gets to the main cast after it's gosh probably hundreds of pages in.
Allusion is annoying. or o guess it depends on the character and how much information your trying to portray. But im not a fan of allusion But im even less of a fan of a mini biography in the first chapters. But its your story, drive the angles you want out of it. If your vision of the story is set on the bio, od go ahead and do a bio. :^]
If you need to go back in time to tell the story, you might have complicated the story too much. Back-flashes can be highly confusing if the transition isn't smooth, which happens easily. The prose and some reflection should be enough to show their background without leaving the main timeline.
