posted
So I'm working on this novel. Duh. anyway...
It's sort of two novelletes contained in one. there are two parallel stories about the same character(s) the first story starts from the opening scene and progresses forward while the other story starts from the first scene and goes backward, telling how one of the main characters got to where he was.
the problem I'm having is this: The first story is very much an ensemble piece. There are several characters all of relatively equal performance that belong to a sort of "fellowship" per se. I don't want to info dump all of the character intros at once, but I also don't want to gradually weave them in, I want them all to show up and get going as a group.
2) the pace at the beginning of the novel isn't quite slow enough to do that. They're sort of reacting to a massacre. Everbody meets up just before the retaliatory strike.
posted
You raise some good points, though the second is more valid than the first. By necessity, all secret societies can only gain members through recruiting. It's the only way to keep it secret!
On the second point you make: nothing like getting dropped right into the action!
However, in order to fit more easily into what you're trying to do here are some other ideas:
The POV character has just recently been recruited. Still a little green, he or she is getting a little on-the-job training, which means the reader is learning right along with the POV character.
Provide as appendices the top secret personnel dossiers of your team.
If your team has a boss who does not participate much in the action directly, but only gives assigments and says, "well done" when they're finished, and if you have several POV characters, the boss can be one at the beginning. Boss is considering the strengths, weaknesses, and history of team. You haven't provided a lot of info, so this may not work at all for your story.
Though many secret societies/treasure hunters/paranormal investigators do their best to remain secret, there will be the inevitable news article or internet posting. There may be blurry photographs. This type of "third party" information could serve to inform as quotes before chapters begin, as a prologue, or both. Since they are literally news articles (though fictional ones), you can infodump all you want.
If the team has an enemy, and the enemy knows them, the enemy may be discussing the team's identities, strengths, weaknesses, etc., in order to defeat them. The reader need only "listen in." You could turn this around and have the reader listen in on a quick planning session of the team for the mission in response to the catastrophe. Stuff like, "Cody, you're the demolitions expert, what kind of charges d'you think those were?" etc.
I'm all tapped out for now. Hope you found these helpful. Anyone else?
[This message has been edited by Magic Beans (edited November 02, 2004).]
quote:I don't want to info dump all of the character intros at once, but I also don't want to gradually weave them in, I want them all to show up and get going as a group.
You don't have to gradually weave the characters in, but you also don't have to info-dump. You can introduce all the characters in the beginning, then gradually build the characterization through the story.
How many characters are we talking about? Even in an ensembles, there are some characters who are closer to the main action of the story. These characters need the most revealed about them. Others, though along for the ride, act more like fringe characters and don't need as much exposition.
Consider the various installments of The Lord of the Rings. In The Fellowship of the Ring we are introduced to all kinds of new characters, but how many of them do we really get to know? I would say there are only a few that we really get to know well. As we move into The Two Towers, more is revealed about some of the fringe members, as we begin to see the large group break into smaller groups. How well do we know Merry and Pip before Towers?
I'm also wondering if you may an issue simillar to what MaryRobinette posted in her thread about the editor.
quote:The interesting thing to me was that I had added the backstory after feedback from several writer's groups. When I told her that, she rolled her eyes. What she said was, "It sounds like they used plot to fix a problem with character. If the characterization is good, then you don't need backstory to know where the character came from."
If you know your characters well enough, you should be able to write them so that the nuances of their characterization shine through without much exposition or risk of info dump. As the writer, you need to know all the backstory for all the characters, but your readers don't need all that info. As long as you know it, you can reveal various degrees of characterization throughout the story.
posted
I think everyone has good points. We only need to know there background if it is relevant to the plot. Their chracters should come through action and dialogue. This principle does not change whether you have 1 main character or a dozen.
The only problem you have as a writer is keeping those characters distinct in your head and writing. It is too easy with multi-characters to blur the distinction between their personalities.
quote:I don't want to info dump all of the character intros at once, but I also don't want to gradually weave them in, I want them all to show up and get going as a group.
For an ensemble to work, you must give sufficient time to introducing each individual character that is a member of the ensemble. You cannot simply drop the readers into the middle of an ensemble and expect them to simply figure out all the relationships at once.
The character introductions don't have to be very long, nor must they be all-emcompassing, but they do have to distinguish each individual and show that individual's relationships to the other members already introduced.
And you have to introduce someone first. This will probably be the "center" character; either the one around whom the plot rotates, the person most "proto-typical" of the entire group in some way, the person most necessary to the function or performance of the group somehow, or otherwise central to the ensemble.
I suggest that you think through how you're planning to do this in terms of POV, myself. Break away from the question you're asking, at least. I've seem a lot of craft wasted on this kind of fundamentally flawed notion before, even when the result is a good demonstration of skills, it is only that much more disappointing. Still, I'm just interpreting what I think you're suggesting. Which is one good reason for thinking about this question from a more functional perspective, like how you are planning to do the POV.
posted
Bladeofwords, I canot think of a single successful example of what you are attempting. An ensemble is usually introduced one or two characters at a time. The scene where the entire ensemble is on stage together usually comes in the middle or at the climax.
The closest thing I've read is the beginning of James Mitchner's Space. It opens on a US destroyer in WWII heading into battle against the Japanese. Mitchner gets us to care about a dozen or so characters very quickly. This is not the same enemble we follow throughout the novel, but it could have been. Mitchner makes this work by:
1) Putting the characters in the "crucible" toghther. All of their fates are clearly tied to the fate of the same ship in the coming battle.
2) Giving them a clear goal the reader understood before opening the book. We all know American sailors fought a naval war against Japan. We know it happened in the South Pacific. We know about artillery shells, torpedoes, and kamikaze planes.
Suppose Mitchner had set his story on planet Pern (unfamiliar setting) with each character riding his/her own dragon into battle (no shared crucible). He probably could not have opened with an enemble going into battle. If he did, the story would be dull, confusing, and unpopular.
If you choose to go ahead with this bold experiment I wish you luck.
posted
The question I have to ask is, are you sure this is where your story begins? Does it not begin with the events that lead up to this conflict?
If it really is the right place, have you considered a prologue of some form, or an additional subplot that takes place before the main plot, allowing you to introduce one or two of those characters before you start the story proper?
Or maybe showing the events from another POV, allowing you to introduce the people who caused them later on.
Starting with a lot of unfamiliar characters in a tense situation is difficult to understand.
Also, you say:
quote:the other story starts from the first scene and goes backward, telling how one of the main characters got to where he was.
Have you considered cutting in a part of this other story after you've set up for the first story but before the action really gets going? That might also allow you to show some of the characters more easily.
[This message has been edited by Jules (edited November 03, 2004).]
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Anyone else?
