World introduction and avoiding drag

Discussion in 'Author Discussions' started by NirvEND, Feb 2, 2022.

  1. NirvEND

    NirvEND That time my NUFfamily started a cult&caused chaos

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    Currently I am brainstorming a little bit for a web novel. Having hit a roadblock in how I feel about certain things. Specifically introducing the world and not dragging on scenes.

    I realized very quickly how easy it would be as an isekai to introduce a world. Literally hand holding the read along with MC. What I'm looking at is a not to distant future earth setting. With major societal, racial, economic and political changes. From the point of view of someone on the lower average end of things. I understand I don't need to introduce most of this initially. All things can be introduced when relavent yet there are many aspects of it that I feel would do better initially. Such as humanoid races, level of technology and a vague introduction to magic. Things the MC would know initially but has no place to 'explain'..

    Then I caught another issue I have with writing and that is over detailing scenes. Sense of smell, sight, sound, touch being focused on. I feel for an introduction to the story painting the scenes are important. The impression someone has on the environment is established early. Yet I can't help but feel the first few chapters in a web novel format would be dragging on if I did that.
     
  2. Wannabe-shutin

    Wannabe-shutin Well-Known Member

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    How about letting the MC pick up some vague things from conversations around them or news articles. And not some one off information dump, but something that will become part of the plot later. For example:

    "I wouldn't have to do this kind of job if I was born with more mana. Damn, magicians have it easy!" - A random person complaining about work.
    It shows that magic is a thing and let's one infer that there's either a social gap between magicians and regular people or people don't see a magician's hardships. If it's from the POV of a mage, they can just respond in their heads while moving along.

    "Some demi just transferred to our branch" - part of a discussion between passerby.
    It shows that there are different humanoid species and from the way it is written a reader could pick up a racist undertone.

    "With the improvement of AI, can they be considered people?" - headline
    Great setup for some moral debates, maybe throw in a protest against shutting down a VR game server as a reason for the MC's bus running late.

    Describe some examples of people using magic to do some basic stuff, i.e. putting a can in the trash with telekinesis after they missed their throw.


    Lastly as a reader I'd prefer being left in the dark at times over having an explanation dumped on me. That kind of thing just breaks my immersion since it's not the characters in the story talking/thinking, but the author.
     
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  3. Zeusomega

    Zeusomega M.D of Olympus Pvt Ltd. Seeking [Boltzmann brain]

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    Saying it from what i feel.


    You can either start with a brief introduction of the world setup on the first chapter itself, and then build on how mc comes to learn it.


    Or you can write with mc and write the structure from lower strata to higher ones.

    Description doesn't just happen through third person narration, keep dialogues or actions that need visual words so you can introduce the world slowly to the readers.


    For example:

    Karen was nervous and hesitant in entering the manor, knowing there was no going back once through that greyish white gate.

    Her pace slow and clumsy, almost like her body was contradicting itself.

    Yet in time she made it past the gates, and entered the manor grounds.

    The butler who she met with was calmly waiting on the side, indifferent to her panicked state.

    "Welcome Madame, if you would please"

    He gestured her to follow with his white gloved hands, they seemed too perfectly fit to his hands. Just like the rest of his attire, from his coat to shoes, sharp and fit like a second skin.

    Coming out from the distraction she took a minute to get her surrounding.

    Trees filled both the sides of the lane and the road was inlaid with pale yellow pebbles, with symbols of a shield and dagger drawn with some kind of black stone.

    It was mid-day and yet she felt cool and fresh, the tall trees had fully enveloped the skies of the road, with only traces of sunlight escaping from the gaps that lit the path.

    "Madame? We wouldn't want young master to wait any longer"

    The butler snapped her out from taking in the scenary, his tone a bit more sharp than before.

    Involuntary shuddering from remembering the situation she gritted her teeth, reassuring herself with some confidence they wouldn't go overboard she nodded her head, her hands clenched on the sides of her blue dress.

    -.-.-.-

    "Young master, this matter will be troublesome if Lord learns of it. "

    A young teen of medium height dressed in a noble garb made in red and gold smirked and indifferently laid back on his chair.

    He looked up at the marble ceiling with intricate carvings of men, gods and devils, all fighting in the skies.

    "There's more to it than meets the eye old man. What i fear is not my father, but something else.

    But this is necessary to my goal, i can't leave variables that'll haunt me later on"

    The person who spoke earlier really felt indignant and worried

    "Exactly young master, If we antagonise the other party at this stage we could bring harm to the house and lord, please reconsider"

    His pleading tone almost sounded like cries.

    "If push comes to shove we have several Master knights and his grace Dussark is guarding our home, with a saint paladin we need not worry about dire straits.

    Old man I'm getting tired of hearing your pleas, why don't you go see if she's here already"

    Seeing the young mastered adamant to go through with the plan the old butler could only sigh in resignation and take his leave with a parting bow.

    'Old man what do you know? If i don't do this, forget about them even the capital will move its claws, then we're truly screwed.

    Dussark is too old to be relied on, it will be praised if he can hold back a saint level expert at present.

    If we can't make this deal then we can forget about the coup'

    ' The centennial celebration is just around the corner, we should atleast finish half the preparations. Damn, if only Treich and Floyd weren't at war we could hasten the shipments. Going all around the Wrendier coast to Skulingèr should take few months, i better write a letter for them to hurry up.'

    Thinking about the upcoming cascade of events he slowly massaged his temples and closed his eyes to clam his mind.


    House Duriñ of Castleblad, one of the few ancient nobility from the warring years. They were strong even before the present empire was born.

    But the time and talented generations slowly faded from them, now they were at most the top families in the kingdom, nothing compared to their previous glory when even the emperor had to bow inside their house.


    .....


    Well something like this i guess, just slowly incorporate the different politics and geography.



    Hope it helps, and didn't embarrass myself with that half-arsed script :blobpeek::notlikeblob:
     
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  4. ToastedRossi

    ToastedRossi Well-Known Member

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    I would say that the most important part of crafting a story is to understand what level of scope you want the story to have and plan all of your world building around that scope. Sure, it's nice to build a much bigger and more expansive world than your story needs, but it's not really something you want to burden your audience with. The other factor to examine is to figure out what you want your audience to get from your story. You'll be able to get away with a lot more direct exposition if the intricacies of the setting is one of the main draws. Also, the more real the world is, the more the writer can get away with this.

    I've read fantastic books that are filled with direct exposition; entire chapters that are chock full of cultural, social, technological, political, and historical details which would have been horribly clunky in lesser novels. On the other hand, I've also seen stories which manage to lose the audience in the first five sentences. The right way to do this depends on a lot of different factors so I don't think there's anything beyond a few general guidelines. You should try to introduce the world gradually; start with small tidbits and build up the bigger picture over time. One typical way to do this is to reveal new details when they become important to the characters. Try to not fall too much in love with the world you created, and make sure you murder your darlings when they overstay their welcome.

    Also, be sure to look at books you like and copy how they develop their settings. If you like the way it's written, then there's a decent chance your audience will like it as well. I've seen people telling writers to always be as original as possible and to not copy other writers - this is terrible advice so don't do it!
     
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  5. Xian Piete

    Xian Piete Author of many mediocre stories

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    As an author, it's easy to lose sight of what is important when writing your story. Worldbuilding, backgrounding, scene building are things the author cares about. The reader wants a story. Your story shouldn't be about the world, it should be about some people who live in that world. You can add your world as you tell your story when it's important to the story.
     
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  6. NirvEND

    NirvEND That time my NUFfamily started a cult&caused chaos

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    Thank you everyone so far. I've definitely come to the conclusion excluding information beyond a meaningful scope to the MC is a great way to down scale exposition.

    I have given writing in that short style similar to what I see in WN and some LN. Yet I just can't seem to break things down in a way I'm satisfied with. I do think breaking down explinations into smaller parts of more scenes would help.

    Thank you!

    I wanted to do something like that since the novel that inspired me to give it a shot started off a bit that way with 'news reports'. I was thinking the barebones would come via MC falling asleep in a class. HS or college undecided on age exactly.
    As far as avoiding dumping info I can think of a number of things that can be left in the dark no problem. Even avoiding foreshadowing is easy enough. I just know I have a lot to introduce and MC should already be aware of it all. So it makes deciding how to convey it harder.

    Thank you!

    Trust me I'm struggling with introducing the world mostly because there is a set of books already written in essentially what I want to use. So a bit struggle is deciding if I just want to use that universe altered since it's a fun webnovel anyway no publishing. Or work hard to make it unique enough to be it's own yet similar world. Already know a lot I plan to change for the type of story so it already would be different but not enough imo to be unique.

    Also I have stopped worrying about a lot of aspects as atleast for a long while won't be important to world introduction or MCs life.

    Thank you!


    Yeah reading through here I surely have a lot I can immediately stop concerning myself with thankfully! I just don't want some of of it to come off as a big surprise either.
    Like how the setting will clearly by sci-fi punk on some level yet magic exist and will be present sorta early on. Don't want to turn people off with a twist like that. Maybe a synopsis would solve that?

    Also thank you!
     
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  7. Emissary Nouvelle

    Emissary Nouvelle Well-Known Member

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    I know the feeling, some of my fanfics have me thinking should I just lift directly? As an amateur I like to use other novels I like for inspiration and it becomes tempting to copy. But I've always liked staying away from blatant cliches, having a little here and there is fine after all cliches are true and are a result of history, tried and true methods.

    My new Original novel is giving me some problems with world building as well since he's traved back to the past but there's a lot of Korean novels I can draw inspiration from although I still not sure how I'm going to go about it.