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    • CommentAuthorSen
    • CommentTimeDec 6th 2011 edited
     

    Now there’s this problem that I don’t really think comes up when writing for any other genre. Things kind of just…move along. However, when it comes to writing fantasy and action, there are so many things that the character needs to find out, but one ought to use a different device each time to achieve this. I’m not talking about infodumps. Not really.

    This isn’t about extensive explanations, but rather about how you get your MC to find out about stuff. Especially if you’re writing something fast paced so he/she really needs to pick up on certain happenings, preferably not through the same method each time.

    For example, say there’s a war going on in a neighbouring nation which may soon cross over into my MC’s home. Okay, I can have someone just tell her about it. Then someone is coming after her and her fellow warriors. But I can’t just have someone, once again, come up to her and tell her this. It’s boring.

    So here’s my own list so far as to how I try to avoid this:

    I have more that I was thinking about using in the future, but I can’t remember them now. And I know that in my above list, she is still finding out stuff from people, but in a different way, you know?

    Is there anything you would like to add to this?

  1.  

    well i dunno if i can give any specific advice but i dont think there is a catchall way of doing this so best i can say is mix it up when you need to do it

    from personal experience i feel like an important question to ask yourself is just how much your characters actually need to know in order for the plot to work and for them to make the decisions you need them to make

    if there are people coming after your guys do you need to have somebody give them a heads up or could you just have the people come after them

    fantasy authors in general tend to overestimate the amount of information the reader needs i think but that could just be my love of television talking

    anyway in my own story i keep my people in the dark and i dunno how effective i actually am at it but i think as long as the author knows what is going on and writes the unknown elements with consistency the reader will be able to take it on faith

    insert vince gilligan quote about mystery vs confusion here

    • CommentAuthorSen
    • CommentTimeDec 6th 2011
     

    i feel like an important question to ask yourself is just how much your characters actually need to know in order for the plot to work and for them to make the decisions you need them to make

    Well, she needs to learn quite a bit. Much of the past is going to be relevant to her life once she finds out the truth of her bloodline. She will now be pitted against the descendant of her own ancestors’ enemy. This guy has already discovered the truth about who he is, so he basically has a head start and is already seeking her out. My main character now not only needs to learn about the past and which of her people’s legends are actually true, but also about the present intentions of her enemies as well as the truth behind who it is that betrays her location. People are panicking as rumours begin to fly around of the war being resurrected, which ended as the last warriors, before the MC, all died out and left no one to take their place. Their fear quickly causes them to take sides. So there’s a lot of information that needs to come to her attention.

    if there are people coming after your guys do you need to have somebody give them a heads up or could you just have the people come after them

    Well, I can’t actually, because I already have a lot of stuff just happening to her. The result of this is that the story is filled with confusion and in re-reading my stuff objectively as possible, I can tell at which parts the reader might get impatient. Having the character frequently disorientated can be annoying. She’ll be in a constant state of: what’sgoingonwho’sthatwhyaretheyafterme? At some points I would like to have her prepared for a coming event instead of just having enemies continually storming into her city and causing mayhem.

    It also allows me the opportunity to explore her emotions once she obtains one more piece of information and has to deal with what this means to her. This lets me portray her more rational side which will be brought across more strongly in the future. Little by little we will get to see how much calmer she begins to deal with frightening information and this is important for character development.

    anyway in my own story i keep my people in the dark and i dunno how effective i actually am at it but i think as long as the author knows what is going on and writes the unknown elements with consistency the reader will be able to take it on faith

    Well, I’m guessing you’re quite good at writing this way because when I tried keeping my character in the dark, it didn’t work out for me. At all. I really wanted to write about events and leaving them out until later made the story drag on.

    I agree with you that there isn’t a catchall way of having the MC find out about things, but eavesdropping and having the MC just happen to be in the place at the right time more than a couple times has been done excessively and I’m trying to avoid this.

    • CommentAuthorNo One
    • CommentTimeDec 12th 2011
     

    Well, I don’t know how this can help, but I have my MC as a dead person brought back to life and every time the sun sets, he unwillingly becomes a ghost until the sun rises. As a ghost, he doesn’t need sleep and because he’s still a kid, he’s naturally curious about a fair few things. So he would drift around this army camp and he would become witness to many things and also eavesdrop (intentionally or unintentionally) on many people that are still up.

    However, when everyone’s in deep sleep, the Devil would come to the MC and he would force the MC to possess a person so that they can both see the person’s memories.

    I don’t intend to use this method of finding out information too much in the story, but it works. I don’t see how this can help you, but I just wanted to add my two cents.

  2.  
    An interesting thought but I dunno how much I can really help. I explain some stuff about how my world works in the narration. Like this book I've been reading called The Way of Kings. That has a ton of narration woven into everywhere explaining things such as how the magic system works or cultural things like how people have a "safe hand" they have to keep covered with a glove or sleeve.

    As for how a character finds out about plot points or whatever, I dunno my MC just knows things and things happen and he's told some stuff. Like he's curious about some weird phenomenon and he can't sleep one night so he's walking around and coincidentally bumps into his uncle and asks him if he knows anything about it and he does, but there's still a lot more to the phenomenon he doesn't know that my MC gradually finds out as the plot goes on probably from more people telling him the information.

    I would definitely refrain from constant eavesdropping and being at the right place at the right time. The amount of times it happens in Harry Potter is ridiculous. I accept most of the times it happens but the worst one of them all is Harry flying his broom over the Forbidden Forest to eavesdrop on Snape and Quirrel. There's also the dreaded having someone around who doesn't know something specifically so they can ask something, usually a kid. I am guilty of this a few times so far but I think I've done it okay.

    No One, I really like that concept of the MC becoming a ghost every night and finding out about stuff and possessing people.
    • CommentAuthorNo One
    • CommentTimeDec 12th 2011
     

    I would definitely refrain from constant eavesdropping and being at the right place at the right time. The amount of times it happens in Harry Potter is ridiculous. I accept most of the times it happens but the worst one of them all is Harry flying his broom over the Forbidden Forest to eavesdrop on Snape and Quirrel.

    Did Harry fly to eavesdrop on Snape and Quirrel? Maybe I’m just remembering the movie version but I don’t recall Harry flying anywhere for eavesdropping purposes. However, I feel that it suits Harry and the story. I think, eavesdropping as a method of finding out information can be used successfully and frequently, according to the story and its characters. I don’t know, it’s just how the story feels.

    No One, I really like that concept of the MC becoming a ghost every night and finding out about stuff and possessing people.

    Thanks. :) I plan to show that while being a ghost can be convenient at times, it can be very inconvenient at other times (such as when an alarm bell for people to take arms ring during the night (the story is set in the middle of a war). Ghost can’t hold weapons).

  3.  
    In the first movie he heard their discussion in the hallways of hogwarts while under his invisibility cloak I think. Which was better than him flying over the Forbidden Forest. But yeah I guess eavesdropping isn't that bad.

    Cool.
    • CommentAuthorSen
    • CommentTimeDec 12th 2011 edited
     

    But yeah I guess eavesdropping isn’t that bad.

    Agreed. My one and only problem with it is when it’s overused. I mean really, how many times can your character happen to be in the right place at the right time? I’m also okay with you throwing out any device out there for discussion: which you think should not be used at all, those that may have more disadvantages to it than advantages or whatever. I was only bringing up stuff from my own writing to illustrate a point.