How should I explain my sport?

[beapilot]

I've been working on a coming-of-age genre 7 book series of ages 11-17 similar to Harry Potter but without magic. I've invented a sport and realized it has more to explain than the sport, Quidditch. My sport can be played in today's modern world. But, I don't want to bore the reader. J.K.Rowling created a separate book that speaks of only her sport. The things that I have thought to best explain my sport is similar to how Quidditch sport was explained in Harry Potter. Such by, someone telling me how it is played (the captain of the team), the referee giving signals, a sport broadcaster publicly speaking to the stadium, a newspaper, a friend who knows about the sport, and by going out to watch a game. Although, option three is not possible at the moment in time. Sitting there reading how to play the sport is not entertaining because you're basically being educated onto how to play. So, I've thought, why not have a manual that is in the same chapter of the sport being played. Such the manual reads, "Canic- Everything About." The reader will see some images of the field, learn how the sport is played, and understand the important components of it. The reader has the option to flip through the pages and skip and move on back to reading the story. Such, the manual appears when my character cracks open the manual and reads it all.

I am seeking advice onto how to get my sport across the readers. Would the manual work? It will take about 6-7 pages worth.

[Elibet1]

How did JK do it with Quiddich in the original novel?

Elizabeth

[mammamaia]

as a reader, i'd find a 6-7 page 'manual' slipped into the middle of a novel most annoying... and as an editor, i'd assume too many readers would also, so i wouldn't be likely to let it be done...

[DBergendorf]

I've seen similar things done. You might go to your library and look at Herman Wouk's huge best-seller, The Winds of War.
In it he actually includes a fairly long treatise on waging war, as written by a mythical German military strategist. Wouk does it by including one chapter at a time, well spaced within the novel about a US Navy commander preparing for World War II. I thought it worked well, as did about a million folks who bought the book.