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A big part of Legends of Windemere: Family of the Tri-Rune deals with handling past mistakes. One of the main characters made a big mistake in a previous book and now they’re about to face the consequences. Part of the problem is that people despise the character for those events, so there’s a lot of complication in here. This is even bigger than Luke facing his past in Allure of the Gypsies. He earned all of the negativity that he got for running away from home. This time, the person has already been suffering from that fateful decision.
When writing a series, you can use a lot of long-term foreshadowing and keep a few questions in the air by the end of a book. This does have the risk of some readers demanding closure when you have it planned for another book. Anyway, a series always your characters to make mistakes that seem minor in the moment and roll into a major plot point in a later book. For example, destroying a thieves guild and letting one young member escape. That character can come back as a new hero or a villain depending on how you work.
Personally, I love when past mistakes are revisited. This allows locations and characters from the past to be brought back. There’s some nostalgia that comes with that even if it’s under bad circumstances. Honestly, I can’t really say anything other than I love foreshadowing and going back to the past in a series.
So, what do you think of books that return to previous locations to clean up past mistakes?
Legends of Windemere 
I love good foreshadowing and seeing characters wrestle with past mistakes. It builds their character. Makes them more 3D.
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Good way of putting it. A 3D character should be one of the main goals of an author.
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I completely agree with Tyroper. I too love a good foreshadowing for the same reasons.
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It’s definitely a fun tool to use to keep a series going.
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I love it especially in a series as it refreshes one’s memory. 🙂
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And makes things count even if they didn’t have closure the first time. 🙂
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Returning to the past means having the reader revisit a moment they’ve already experienced, but they’re doing so the second time with knowledge they didn’t possess the first time around. I know I like it and I think most readers feel the same. At that moment the story becomes more interactive for them and they’re drawn in more fully. I don’t see this as manipulation, but instead enriching their experience. That’s one of the reasons some people enjoy long series. Real life, after all, is a messy mix of past, present, and our expectations concerning the future. 🙂
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Glad you mentioned real life. Thinking more about this, it also shows that events move on and characters continue to exist when they’re not in the book. You see progress and change in a world, which gives it a more organic feel.
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Yup. Even though there are dragons or gryphons or whatever doesn’t stop “real life” from happening. You’re right. That in turn makes the fantasy more real. It’s an upward spiral. 🙂
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Or a downward, sideways, twisty turny spiral that makes most of the characters wish death upon the author. 😀
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Ha ha ha…oh the horrors of plot twists! 😀
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I agree with a lot of the comment sentiments. Our mistakes are what defines us. Somehow I’m reminded of this scene. Mistakes and pain are necessary because of who we become in spite of them or because of them. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLzJAebfEIg
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Ah, Star Trek. Is there anything it can’t teach us? 😀
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I agree that it can be a great device for character development or insights into character motivation. Handled right it’s a winner but I think sometimes, when too much is made of it, it can feel a bit lumpy.
Cheers
MTM
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True. Streamlined and not like a hammer to the face is the best way to go.
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😉 Amen to that.
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Dealing with mistakes from a different location almost feels like not fully confronting what happened, so I would advocate the return.
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I love books that return to previous locations and situations, not just to clean up mistakes and any unfinished business but to get a real feel for the place and atmosphere. You gat a real sense of familiarity for that place and a certain ownership of the story that is compelling and makes one want to learn more about it all. The same feeling when a sub-character is revisited or takes on some purpose in a tale like a merchant that is frequented or a fellow traveler that the protagonist/companions keep bumping in to – it all brings a series to life and makes our worlds more ‘believable’ if that makes sense.
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I believe I’ve used the term ‘organic’ for this too. Gives the series and the world the sense that things are happening even after the action leaves the area.
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