I have a forest in my story. The people living there use the tree's bark as paper. The trees eventually grow older and when the people living in said forest begin tying the stories to the tree's branches with string, the trees begin to decide who gets to read the stories or not. I have been having trouble introducing the whole scheme of things with this forest in my story, considering it is first introduced in the beginning of my story which is very fast paced... Later on, however, my protagonist revisits this forest. Should I explain EVERYTHING about this forest when it is first introduced, or is it okay if I go into further detail if my protaginist goes back into this forest 300 years later...?
Thanks for the help.
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5,150 / 50,000
Nov 8, 2009 - 20 19
Show, don't tell. If there's a reason to talk about it early, do so. If not, wait until it's relevant to what's going on.
12,211 / 50,000
Nov 8, 2009 - 20 30
If it only becomes important later, I'd give the basics at the beginning -- just a sentence or two -- and wait until later when your character is spending a length of time there.
----------40,125 / 50,000
Nov 8, 2009 - 21 02
I agree. Only hints are needed at first.
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210,117 / 50,000
Nov 8, 2009 - 22 01
Honestly, it should just be hints at first. Like, describe the forest basically and just mention the hanging scroll-like things, briefly hint on it and then go into more detail later on. All that detail in the beginning is infodumping, and it can be done well, but not unless you're bloody brilliant.
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17,449 / 50,000
Nov 9, 2009 - 10 29
My simplest suggestion is to just drop the reader right into the setting. If you've ever read anything by Garth Nix, he does this exact thing. It makes for a disorienting couple of pages, but you get the hang of it really quickly, and it doesn't detract from the story at all.
If I were you, I'd probably just write it the way I were comfortable writing it, versus trying to explain everything and tie yourself and your novel in knots.
And, if you want, go ahead and explain everything right off the bat. If you don't like how it turns out, you can always go back and revise after Nano.
Good luck!
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