It seems to me that any character with a family, or in a world with a history, or meeting people with pasts, is going to connect to some stuff that happened before the story (unless you open with some version of "In the beginning was nothing, which exploded.. "). What scale of "beginning" do you want to start at ?
Not just books but lots of movies, shows and even videos games do it too.
Look at something like the first Gears of War game... you get thrown into a conflict that is several years old and the enemy seems to be winning by any standard. Its a good way to get people into a story without a lot of exposition and explaining of why the events are taking place. Rather they are already in the past and you get to deal with the fallout. If you have something you want to take place within the story you could go flashback...or tell a story from different points in time. Or you could do it how you planned it originally. All are valid ways to handle it if you do it well. Go with whatever makes you most comfortable and what fits your vision for how the story plays out.
I'm going to stick with the alien example. My first book was going to start with a murder that was inhuman, with my hero and his mentor investigating. They realize something is very wrong and out of this world about it and decide they need to investigat further. As the story goes along more people turn up, while at the same time a secret organization has taken an interest in the heros talents and wants to recruit him for their "MiB" taskforce. At the same time throughout the story, my hero realizes he isn't exactly ordinary, but he finds he has a way of sensing these creatures and fighting them. So throughout the book he's trying to find out exactly what he is. That's the premise of the first book in alien format lol.
It is true that I can take bits and pieces of my first book and use it as flashback chapters in a new book 1.
What interests me is lately I've been finding difficulty writing my story. I figured since I've been working on it for almost a year now I was just getting fatigued by looking at the same thing over and over,
and maybe that's the case, but I wonder if maybe I don't feel like I have enough material in my first book to make it a full length novel. Maybe it would be something better served as a short story.
Ever since I got my Kindle and went OMGBBQ crazy reading books similar to the Dresden Files, I've noticed something; the story always takes place after events have transpired.It all depends on the story. And how it's written. Harry Connolly has said that his first book, where everything about Ray getting involved happens, never sold, and it was the second-Child of Fire-that did. And I believe Circle of Enemies was the first, and he rewrote it before putting it out. There are also books where the main character knows absolutely nothing before the series starts--the Sookie Stackhouse books, the Skinners by Marcus Pelegrimas, Name of the Wind-sorta, the Sword of Truth series, The Hobbit.
Harry Dresden -Ray Lilly -(click to show/hide)Atticus O'Sullivan -(click to show/hide)(click to show/hide)
And there's more where that came from, but I feel I've made my point. My first novel was going along the lines of the beginnings, where the hero knows nothing and has to learn along the way, but maybe that's not the best thing to do? Is the story more interesting if a book picks up and characters and the world are already established even though it's the premiere book?
For example, let's say I've decided to write a series on alien invasion. Based on the way some of these authors write, it seems like the way they would do it is kick off the series AFTER the invasion already took place.
So now I'm wondering if I should be turning my Book 2 into Book 1, and using my original book 1 as a historical reference. I don't know, what do you think? Any opinions are appreciated!