It’s kind of hard to explain, but I’ll try.
You have a group of characters/an ensemble cast. Maybe a ragtag bunch of misfits, maybe a team of professionals, maybe they’re dysfunctional, doesn’t really matter. The main story is about them trying to accomplish some kind of goal together like any other group, however a large chunk of the book is actually focused on the backstory of the group members and how they even came together in the first place.
For example, something like a team of mercenaries on a mission being the main plot, but the book actually focuses on backstory plots about each mercenary and how they met the others. Or like a team of private investigators working on their current mystery, but the mystery isn’t really the focus, as much as subplots on how each investigator wound up on the case. The mission/mystery will still be finished by the end of the book, but as said, it won’t be as focused on as the backstory/events that lead up to the timeline of the book.
I’m asking because I thought about how this would be executed in a story, but every time I picture it, it seems incredibly disjointed and hard to follow, so I want to know any stories that executed something like this well.
by NitarianAlsior