This is topic Dealing with complex milieu while juggling detail and pace in forum Open Discussions About Writing at Hatrack River Writers Workshop.


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Posted by Alias (Member # 1645) on :
 
The story I am writing takes place in a very complex environment. So complex that by not explaining a few things initially I run the risk of confusing the reader into dropping the book. However if I launch into explanations, even from inside my character's POV they tend to be awkward enough to interrupt the flow of the story with details that the reader may or may not find immediately relevant.

So, my question is:
How best to deal with the problem?
 


Posted by Lord Darkstorm (Member # 1610) on :
 
Is it possible to move the beginning to someplace that will be more familiar? That would give you time to "fill in" the reader while the main character gets back to the place you really want them.
 
Posted by Alias (Member # 1645) on :
 
I'm affraid I don't entirely understand your suggestion. But I will explain my predicament in greater detail.

The setting is on a second earth, so to speak and there are two dominant human societies. The owrld is one that allows for science fantasy and the natural development of technology is changed to adjust to the presence of new elements. One of which in an atmospheric gas state prevents radio communication from the surface to space, and so space flight and satellite usage is not used. (This was to my convenience)

There are very important events which set the stage for the story twenty-years before the story actually "begins" and that is where Is tart the story. It's almost prologue-ish but far longer, unfortunately I do not introduce my main protagonist initially because of this. But I cannot see a way to introduce the plot without narrating this 50 page section.

Whether or not I dropped this, which I won't, wouldn't effect the fact that I will need to introduce my setting. the question is how to do it thoroughly without interfering with the pace, since I don't want to bore the reader.

I re-read some of my writing and find myself to be unnecessarily explanatory, which is causing me to re-write. However I am not perfectly sure as to how to proceed.

I hope this is more clear, and please expound on your thought(s)
 


Posted by Lord Darkstorm (Member # 1610) on :
 
Alright, I'll use an example from Weis and Hickman in dragonlance. I'm not sure whether you have read it or not, but there was an even that had happened hundreds of years prior to the begining of the book. The cataclysm, which was referenced many times and over the span of the first book did actually give some info on what it was. But overall the reader had to wait to find out all the details.

I guess my point is that I did not care that I didn't know. The story was good, and it actually kept my curiosity since I wanted to know. Now if the story would not have been good then it wouldn't have held me, but a good story that grabs the readers attention can have some mysteries.

Now if you are doing 3rd person limited, then you have the ability to realisticly not tell the reader as much while dropping in background allong the way. I'm sure it could be done in others, but I've been sticking to that POV since I can do more with it.

I understand part of your problem since I have a short story I am working on that has a bit of background I have to get across. I have 2 paragraphs which are all just telling the background which have to be removed and I have to figure out another way of getting it across.

But my thought is that if you take the main character and determine what they are going to be doing at the begining. If your first chapter has something exciting going on, something to get the readers attention and make them want more, then you can add allot of background along the way. If the character is going to work for example, and you can take a sentence or two and throw in that is somehow connected to his work, or the process of getting there, then the story doesn't slow and the reader isn't bored.

Prologs happen, and some books need them, but if it isn't as good as the story then the reader will most likely skip it. At least I do.

Not sure if this will help you. But hope you figure it out.

[This message has been edited by Lord Darkstorm (edited August 03, 2003).]
 


Posted by Kolona (Member # 1438) on :
 
Readers, much less editors, will not slog through a 50-page set-up, whether those 50 pages are a prologue or the initial chapters. That would probably be 12,500 words or two good-sized chapters (assuming 250 words per manuscript page) before anything happens.

My suggestion is write the story as if the reader already understands everything in those 50 pages. Once done, go back and weave pertinent information into the story, and don't necessarily expect to get it all in.

I tend to think a writer doesn't use his entire repertoire of world-building and backstory anymore than he uses all he knows about his characters. That "hidden cache" is often what makes the whole thing ring truer than if he had spilled his guts, so to speak, because he writes from a position of greater knowledge.


 


Posted by Christine (Member # 1646) on :
 
OSC insists that prologues are *never* useful. In fact, he has been talked into adding prologues by editors in the past and he has recommended that we just skip them even in his own books. I haven't decided if I agree all the time or not, but I see his point. Pages of background material that occur before we are invested in the story or characters are useless.

I half agreed with Kolona when she(he?) said

quote:
My suggestion is write the story as if the reader already understands everything in those 50 pages. Once done, go back and weave pertinent information into the story, and don't necessarily expect to get it all in.

I think you should weave the background in as you tell the story, not going back and putting it in later. The reason is this. Well done background is inserted with the flow of the story. Flow is something that is difficult to piece together on a second run through.

Here's what I do to add in background. Things are happening. Action action getting reader interested letting them get to know character...Trust the reader a little bit. We can stick with you through some stuff before we're told everything about a world.

Then, you've got the reader interested. They care. Now start to set things up. Don't stop the pace of the story too much, but drop in things. Make them flow. The background should only come into play when the point of view character would reasonably be pondering these things. Watch the information dumps, particularly in dialogue. You know what I mean, "As you know, John, we've been working together on this project for twenty years but I'm going to tell you all about it as if you don't know for the sake of our audience."

I was trying to come upw ith a good exmple but the truth is, almost all modern scifi and fantasy works this way. The thing you have to keep in mind is scifi/fantasy readers EXPECT complex millieus. They won't be put off if they don't know everything up front because that's the way it is. So trust the readers to be able to understand and keep up while you get to the background. Get some wise readers to tell you if they are really having clarity problems, in which case you may need to bring up one or two things more immediately, but don't worry about it so much. Go with the flow.

 


Posted by Kolona (Member # 1438) on :
 
She.

Yes, Christine, it's better to insert background into the story as you go, but as I understand Alias' problem, he's having a hard time figuring out how to do it. By just writing and assuming an informed readership, he'll at least get the story down, and might even fall into natural backstory insertion if he stops worrying about it.

Too -- and I'm sure I'm not alone -- I've gone back to add background, whole scenes, etc., particularly since I tend to write sparesly to begin with. Sure, you have to re-fine-tune the surrounding text to repair the flow, but that's part of the writing process. And in the initial writing and rewrites, the flow isn't usually that great anyway. In the later rewrites, just feather it in.

[This message has been edited by Kolona (edited August 04, 2003).]
 


Posted by Doc Brown (Member # 1118) on :
 
Alias, I feel sympathy. I have the same problem. I'm trying to write a milieu story in a very complex milieu.

My best advice is to bring the readers into your milieu slowly. Keep the readers engrossed in what's happening to one or more characters right now and they will gladly go on a guided tour of your wonderland. Make sure there is conflict and suspense at all times.
 


Posted by Maccabeus (Member # 1369) on :
 
Um. Well, I was writing a prologue to my novel. It's not working very well at present, but aside from that...

For me this particular prologue is a way of starting the reader _in media res_ instead of somewhere slow, as well as providing background. (I think everyone in the thread's milieu is complex.)
 




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