orienting without infodumping?

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sunandshadow

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So, when you have a main character who is not human or a standard fantasy race, how do you explain to the reader what the main character is without bogging down the beginning of the story? Is it extra hard to do in first person pov? (Specifically, I want to write about a 3-gender race, and the gender politics are immediately relevant to the first part of the plot so I do need to explain them right away.)
 
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So, when you have a main character who is not human or a standard fantasy race, how do you explain to the reader what the main character is without bogging down the beginning of the story? Is it extra hard to do in first person pov? (Specifically, I want to write about a 3-gender race, and the gender politics are immediately relevant to the first part of the plot so I do need to explain them right away.)

Why? This sounds like a great "jump-right-in" story. Or are we talking super-complicated? I mean, most readers are pretty smart, so if you do a good job of writing, they ought to be able to figure this out without a lot of trouble.
 

Juliette Wade

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I don't think you need to explain - per se. If the genders and their politics are integral to the first section of the story, then you can plunge in and make them evident to readers in everything that goes on. That said, I would definitely recommend that you think through the implications of a three-gender structure for how your aliens/fantasy creatures think. How do they categorize their reality if they have three genders? How do they think of one another? What kind of adjectives (characteristics, values) do they associate with one gender versus another?

A really great example of a science fictional race with three genders can be found in Octavia Butler's Dawn series. So I'd encourage you to check those out if you haven't already. Dawn, Adulthood Rites, and Imago.
 

Ruv Draba

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If it's relevant to plot then it should be relevant to character motive, and in first person it's easy to explain -- you just have the character think out loud. The main thing is that the thinking contains emotion and tension. E.g.

I sensed that our relationship was changing. Karbo was leaving us. It was because of what my syster had told hym last night. I wondered if Thrynn guessed yet. And would our own tenderness survive hys departure? Had hy found another triad? Or -- would hy take Thrynn with hym? The thought made my stomachs run cold. Our triad had held together for a year and a half -- a record among our friends, and the best nine seasons of my life. All thanks to Thrynn -- hyr gentle speech, the sweep of hyr antenna, the sultry tones of hyr mating-rasp. I was sure we could find another Karbo but I didn't want to find another Thrynn.​

In the example above, the world info is being salted into a decision -- how the narrator can keep Thrynn as a mating partner while Karbo goes. Another way to do it is to use the narrative as metaphor for something else. E.g.

From my lonely building perch I saw Thrynn leave the nightclub with Karbo and some other insent I didn't know. The familiar way they touched each other told me that they'd been a mating triad for two seasons or more. They must have rasped up while I was gone. I wondered how many spawnings they'd had... how many of their tads were now leaping through the warm waves.

I looked down at the galls studding my exoskeleton. There was no way of removing them. The wasp's egg-cement was harder than the concrete I clung to. I'd have weeks before they'd hatch beneath my armour and start devouring my entrails, just as they'd done with my crewmates.

But for an engine failure, it should have been me down there with Thrynn and Karbo.​

In the second example the breeding info is metaphor for the narrator's bitterness. What keeps us reading is the emotion behind the words, the tension within the character. The world info comes along for the ride.

Hope that helps.
 

sunandshadow

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To answer Liosse and Juliet - the gender politics are immediately relevant because the actions people are taking in the first chapter are shaped and motivated by their gender psychology. But the problem is they don't think analytically about their genders because the situation is totally normal to them. Obviously I don't want to do something like, "As you know Bob, there's a perpetual shortage of bearers." "Yes Jim, and yet there seems to be a prejudice against a seeder and a layer being lovers, because they are both only supposed to have sex with bearers." "Indeed Bob, and maybe I should mention, just in case a hypothetical reader from a 2-gendered race would be wondering, that all 3 genders do indeed contribute an equal share of genetics to their children." "A 2-gendered race, Jim? Egads that would be odd, seeing that all higher life on this planet has 3 genders." :e2faint:
 

sunandshadow

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LHoD has anthropology reports or encyclopedia articles or other faux non-fiction between chapters. Also the main char is a male human so it makes sense for him to be mulling over the herm nature of the aliens.

Oh, and I missed the mention of Octavia Butler's trilogy earlier, I have read that. :)
 

Juliette Wade

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I agree that you want to avoid "as you know Bob" situations. But provided that you open with something that brings the three-gender arrangement into conflict or contrast, then there will be reasons why people might think about, or possibly mention, aspects of the system. Not to explain the system, but to object to the conflict, or to react to the contrast. That's the kind of stuff that will make thought and dialogue seem more natural and allow it to carry the information without feeling forced.
 

Nivarion

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In a three gender race, a shortage of "carriers" would most likely be a big problem. like the kind that would be all over the news.

Have them watching a news report or something. Its less annoying than a "As you know bob" and it gives a small grasp for the reader to figure out where some of this stuff is coming from.
 

sunandshadow

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Well it's not a new problem, it's a perpetual problem. Although as the society evolves they keep attempting different solutions to it, so I guess it could be big news if someone attempts a new solution or an old solution suddenly becomes illegal, or something like that. Thanks, that has potential.

*random other thought* Maybe I should just start with a sex scene, that would give me the chance to describe the anatomy of two of the genders, and might be a powerful opening appropriate to an erotic romance. Hmm...
 
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