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Pulsar
- Joined
- Mar 4, 2012
Okay so this is kind of a discussion/rant about the frustrations of writing worlds with rich backgrounds and Lore, but then having the burden of trying to write the story and front load everything needed to know about the setting at the same time.
I mean, for something like Vampire Hunter D, the guy starts off with a separate start introducing one of the first main characters and her predicament, then drops the second chapter to a big long in-depth plot dump to get you in sync with the setting... its heavy handed, but it works, though that still feels like a road bump in pacing.
then there is what I call progressive exposition, where either you have the Mise-en-scene descriptions work it out for you, but exposition is light enough that you let the reader figure it out, or you do it through in world dialogue, best example I can think of its the writing in the film Day of the Dead, when the survivors make it back to their base, and characters representing the three directions people are being pulled towards start arguing their predicament, the events that got them there, how bad it is and how bad its getting, all while moving with the plot and not hurting the pacing as the characters are going into their compound while having this argument.
Then there is starting a scene with two characters that simply discuss recent events, argue about a situation while doing something, this knocks out exposition, lore AND characterization development while leaving some room to push the plot too, usually handled best via Pratchett. the other technique he does is Situational reflection where a character is doing something related to a large subject and reflects upon it while he or she is doing it, and this pushes all the above, but is tricky pacing wise if you don't nail it precisely.
Another technique I've notice with Slavatore (his pre-spell plague stuff) is kind of a light drop technique where he moves the story along, but gives brief hints and explanations of relvency once they come up and moves on, letting the mise-en-scene of the world do most of the talking along with some aside character reflections.
then there is the dreaded Nolan-Dump method where you barely explain or justify anything and deliberately write one of your main character's to be dumber than the rest of the cast so another character can explain the plot to them and the audience in a ham-fisted way that drags out the pacing to like a cynderblock and hurts your respect for the characters...
I know this is a light list, but I guess my struggle is I have been having trouble with a story I wanted to write for a long time, but its not a simple setting a requires exposition dumps of some kind, but how does one balance that with third person one character, home you are trying to develop early, the setting, the predicament, and still balance the pacing while setting up placement of information?
I don't know... its frustrating and maybe everyone else has read different fiction than me and knows other better approaches, or wants to argue my choices, anyway. let have fun with this ^^;
I mean, for something like Vampire Hunter D, the guy starts off with a separate start introducing one of the first main characters and her predicament, then drops the second chapter to a big long in-depth plot dump to get you in sync with the setting... its heavy handed, but it works, though that still feels like a road bump in pacing.
then there is what I call progressive exposition, where either you have the Mise-en-scene descriptions work it out for you, but exposition is light enough that you let the reader figure it out, or you do it through in world dialogue, best example I can think of its the writing in the film Day of the Dead, when the survivors make it back to their base, and characters representing the three directions people are being pulled towards start arguing their predicament, the events that got them there, how bad it is and how bad its getting, all while moving with the plot and not hurting the pacing as the characters are going into their compound while having this argument.
Then there is starting a scene with two characters that simply discuss recent events, argue about a situation while doing something, this knocks out exposition, lore AND characterization development while leaving some room to push the plot too, usually handled best via Pratchett. the other technique he does is Situational reflection where a character is doing something related to a large subject and reflects upon it while he or she is doing it, and this pushes all the above, but is tricky pacing wise if you don't nail it precisely.
Another technique I've notice with Slavatore (his pre-spell plague stuff) is kind of a light drop technique where he moves the story along, but gives brief hints and explanations of relvency once they come up and moves on, letting the mise-en-scene of the world do most of the talking along with some aside character reflections.
then there is the dreaded Nolan-Dump method where you barely explain or justify anything and deliberately write one of your main character's to be dumber than the rest of the cast so another character can explain the plot to them and the audience in a ham-fisted way that drags out the pacing to like a cynderblock and hurts your respect for the characters...
I know this is a light list, but I guess my struggle is I have been having trouble with a story I wanted to write for a long time, but its not a simple setting a requires exposition dumps of some kind, but how does one balance that with third person one character, home you are trying to develop early, the setting, the predicament, and still balance the pacing while setting up placement of information?
I don't know... its frustrating and maybe everyone else has read different fiction than me and knows other better approaches, or wants to argue my choices, anyway. let have fun with this ^^;