One thing she said that really sticks with me is its better to throw your readers into the middle of a barfight instead of opening with a long backstory
I once heard it described as "If you show a gun in the first act, you'd better use it by the third act."
Crescent Pulsar S wrote:Also, I believe the person who said that was a minimalist, so you can probably file that advice in the style category. It may have even been in the context of short stories, not novels.
Crescent Pulsar S wrote:You can mention a gun without it playing any physical role. For example, you could go the way of substance and abstract by having it give the reader an idea of what kind of person would own it, often in conjunction with other things for the purpose of triangulation. Heck, you could even do it to be subversive, which can be handy in a mystery.
Now my argument is sometimes you need a long info dump to bring the reader up to speed
The majority of any worldbuilding you make for a story should not actually be directly put into the story.
AxelTheBunny wrote:true but the sentiment still rings true. If you introduce something, it needs a purpose and needs to be used whilest the reader still recalls it otherwise there is no point in noting it in the first place.
Cheb wrote:You learn how to build slowly and capture your readers with something catchy right at the start, or you have no readers.
talonhunter wrote:In talking to a friend of mine who self publishes and also publishes several other authors, we got into a discussion about world building when writing your stories and how it effects the reader. One thing she said that really sticks with me is its better to throw your readers into the middle of a barfight instead of opening with a long backstory that won't pull the reader into your story and may loose them before the really juicy plot even begins. Now my argument is sometimes you need a long info dump to bring the reader up to speed when you introduce a story concept but is too much info a bad thing? What are some of your thoughts and ideas, pros and cons about it.
I can't ever recall getting a compliment
then it is better to spend several chapters getting the readers invested with the story and character first.
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