Greetings, Stardust. If you’re a young or new writer trying to dip your toes into the literary arts, and you’re looking for some direction on how to compose a good piece: this post might be for you. If you're a writing veteran, and you want to stroke your ego by saying, “Dude! I already do that”: this post might be for you. If you’re trying to beta or edit a friend’s work, and you are looking for solid tools to help you explain what your friend is doing right or wrong: this post might be for you. If you just like reading about the writing process in general: this post is for you. Today, I am going to share one ‘DON’T!’ And one ‘DO!’ Of writing: especially for writing fantastical content.
DON’T:
Use terms, phrases, and wording that is too anachronistic or modern Earth based if your story and characters aren’t placed in modern Earth. It breaks Immersion.
Example: Let’s say you’re writing about an alien world, with no Earth based humans in sight. No one knows what a cat is. There are no cats. And all of a sudden, the phrase “let the cat out of the bag” manifests in the manuscript.
Don’t do it. Get rid of that expression. Even if it is the narrator saying it, and the story is told in 3rd person. Unless the narrator is a character in his/her/their own right, and it’s established this narrator is Earthbound, mentioning cats will fall short of what you want. It messes with the otherworldly mood and vibes your readers are after.
Instead, try using this as an opportunity to sneak in a bit of world building and depth by putting something in there that is native to that world. Make an expression up. Perhaps it involves a creature no one would want to set loose, because it is known for its violence. Like our favorite little murder fluff balls here on Earth.
Example: Let’s say your story is placed in 1700s Ireland, and suddenly someone says “That’s legit!”
Nope! Fix that. No one talked like that in 1700s Ireland. Granted, if you go too accurate to the time and region, you may lose your readers, as the speech patterns were different enough that modern readers might struggle. But even if you are granting yourself a bit of creative license, it’s best to dodge the obviously too modern bullets.
Instead, use this as a good opportunity to research the speech patterns of the era and region. This is a fantastic opportunity to sneak in a bit of voice for your character, and really bring out the mood and tone of the story. It’s more work to do the research, but it is so worth it. The difference a well placed phrase can make is astronomical. Besides, research rabbit holes are fun to fall into.
Again, this doesn’t just apply to the characters. This applies to the entire piece, including the third person narrator. If you aren’t sure if a phrase works for the era you’re writing, do a quick search and find out. We live in the Information Age, and as such, we have a veritable Library of Alexandria at our fingertips. It's glorious, and it has allowed many a writer to take their narrations to the next level.
DO!
Make your readers what the infodump, before you give it to them.
“Wait,” some of you might say, “isn’t infodumping bad?” Well, yes. And no. It’s only bad if it feels like infodumping. If you do it right, and your readers are craving the intel, it will feel like the long awaited explanations that helps everything fall into place. This is a thing I learned by doing it wrong first. So I am speaking from experience.
What I did wrong: I got excited about the vast world I built, and in my eagerness to share all the lovely details of my multiverse with my readers as fast as possible, I may have given too much info in the first chapter of my first book. I thought it was amazing and clever, and a brilliant way to sneak in all the helpful info up front. What my readers said, however, humbled me.
“There are too many cool things happening all at once, and I was overwhelmed and got turned around, so I lost interest.”
Oops.
I was infodumping before the reader had a chance to become invested. So the first chapter gets an overhaul, and as I looked down the road at my project, I realized I didn’t need to drop all that info, because it naturally worked its way into the story bit by bit. Which, of course, is a better way to do it.
Sometimes trickling info in by mixing it with the action and dialogue isn’t going to be enough, though. Not for really unique worlds. People love reading new ideas. Especially in the realm of fantasy, where a lot of readers are burnt out on typical medieval European fantasy with the standard cast of species/races. But the less familiar a world is, the more information you, as a writer, will need to give. Which means, in all likelihood, at some point, you’re going to need to work in a good chunk of writing which explains everything. But at the same time, we don’t want readers feeling like we are info dumping. So what do we do?
We take a page from the genre of mystery. Most mystery novels have a point somewhere in there where someone lays it all out for us. They drop all the info. In one big glorious chunk. And readers eat that up. Why? Because they were given clues and tidbits of info, and they’ve been piecing together their own explanations. By this point, either they are confused and desperate for an explanation, or they have a theory, and they wanna know if they are right.
This usually happens at the end of the book, though, which, when you are trying to explain the world a story is in, might be a tad bit late. Still, the method is solid. As you write, drop little descriptions and details here and there like clues, so people start to get really curious about the world. Write about it like your reader already knows everything. Like the narrator knows. Work in small flavor texts as the characters do their thing and win your readers over. When the reader cares about the characters, and has been teased with morsels of information as you slowly draw back the curtain of unfamiliarity, then they are ready. They will want the explanation. They will be interested and invested, and if you set it up right, they won’t think of it as infodumping.
That’s it for today, Stardust. Until next time. Shine bright.
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