Problem:

When writing a 3-novel series that follows Eddy Trout’s adventures over a few pivotal months of his life, and those story lines are rather tangled and complicated, and several years separate the release of one novel from the next–4 years, in the case of Trout Kill and Trout Run–and many readers (especially ones like me) have short memories, how do I keep them “in tune” with previous key developments from the prior novel (s)? Well, ideally, readers would begin the Series with Trout Kill (#1). It’s a damned-fine story, if I do say so myself, and the Cliff’s Notes aren’t available yet. Ha! But it’s not absolutely necessary to start there. For those who don’t, or those who do and have now forgotten a lot of it, I tried hard (really, really hard) to write Trout Run (#2) so readers would be reminded of prior, relevant developments. Eddy lives in a context, as we all do, and that context needs to be fresh in readers’ minds. I hope I’m achieving this “fresh” context now, too, as I begin working on Trout Love (#3). It’s a challenge, and I hope I’m up for it, and that I can craft each story in a way that readers find stylistic and entertaining. Those of you who do read #2, I’d love your feedback about whether I crafted #1 into it in a satisfactory way.