Just Saying!: Characters in Series?

Just Saying!: Characters in Series?: I have some questions for you readers about character development. When you read a series, do you start with the first book or does it ...

Characters in Series?

I have some questions for you readers about character development.

When you read a series, do you start with the first book or does it matter to you if you jump into the middle of a series and not completely grasp the characters and their choices? Do you think the later books should be a complete stand-alone with no character development?

The reason I ask is because I’ve seen some reviews — bad reviews — stating that the author didn’t introduce the character properly. One of my favorite authors has a series, and I’ve read several of them but not in order. She received a negative review about the book not being a stand-alone. It’s true the character was not introduced in that book, but he was introduced in the first book of the series. Personally, I would never fault the author with a bad review because I made the choice to read the second or later story, especially when advertised as number whatever in the series.

Did you ever see the made for TV movies with Tom Selleck where he played “Jesse Stone” based on the novels by Robert B. Parker? About ten to fifteen lines of each movie was repeated whether about an event, his flaws, or the other characters. I don’t know if the novels repeated this or not, but it bothered me after the first three or four times it happened.

Now, on the other hand, I’ve seen bad reviews where the characters were not developed at all after several books. Each character remained the same age with the same everything else—like the comic strip characters: Nancy and Sluggo, Dagwood and Blondie, and Charlie Brown and his friends. I mean, they should have grands or great-grand-kids by now! But I don't want them to change.

I cut my ‘reader’s teeth on the Trixie Beldon books. Remember, Honey and Jim came along later, and each subsequent book did not rehash their entrance to the story. Patricia Cornwell’s Kay Scarpetta character is definitely one mixed up lady. If you don’t read those books in the order written, you’ll have no clue about her relationships with Benton or Marino. And Lucy? I think I prefer that Lucy had remained a child doting on her Aunt Kay!

I have written two mystery novels in a series. When writing His Sins Exposed, the second in the series, I often questioned myself on ‘how much’ information to give about previous events or characters. Maybe I gave enough, maybe not enough. I haven’t had a reader tell me yet.

Would love to hear your comments!

P.S. Just in case you want to read the first JJ Matthews Murder Mystery, it is With His Dying Breath!