I have written a story which originally stretched to more than 110000 words. To finish properly wold have taken another 20000 words or more so I decided to split it into two volumes. This meant taking out some parts from Vol 1 that would be developed in Volume two. That first volume is now 88000 words and I want to start Volume two. Any advice on how I draw on information that Vol one readers have gleaned (but maybe forgotten) for readers of Volume 2.
It could work, but my feeling is only if these events relate to what happens at the beginning of the new story.
I'd try to write in a similar style to the previous book, too, because I think that all helps existing readers remember what went before. So, for example, if your first chapter was mostly narrative rather than character interaction, the new story might follow that pattern. Or vice-versa, of course
That's very helpful and confirmed my thoughts. My two parts are separate stories but related in time and circumstance. How about having a time overlap between the two. So events that were in the complete story that have been taken out of part one now put in at the beginning of part two. This might seem like an information dump, though.
I guess this is a bit like writing a series where it's useful for the reader to know something of the characters earlier lives. And that depends, somewhat, on whether the two parts are complete stories in themselves or whether Part 1 ends in mid-air, so to speak.
With my current 2.5 parts of a series I've tried to drip-feed facts about characters within the new narrative itself rather than using either a first chapter info-dump, or large chunks of back-story when a character appears for the first time in the new story. Both these methods slow the story down and, if taken to excess, will bore readers who already know these things, and threaten to bore those who might need to know them, IMO.
So small insights, and only when they fit unobtrusively within the new narrative, is what I try to achieve.