Question regarding telling too much...

As I have said here in the past, I like to just start writing and go in a linear direction to the end of a story. Well, I'm trying something different. I am writing out an outline for an idea I have. I have a big question that might not even be able to be answered out of context. But I also think that some of you might be able to help me whether or not you know the whole premise. So, here goes.

I am outlining a story that involved a family that is basically shunned by the other members of the small town in which they live. They are bad apples, always blamed for anything that goes wrong because they are always the cause of it going wrong. A new family moves in. They are rich but insanely eccentric. One of the members of the shunned family gets to the new family quick, before they have a chance to hear about his family. He becomes the daughter's boyfriend. But he gets pulled down into the new family's bizarre lifestyles and quirks and eccentricities. Before long he realizes that his family, as bad as they are, are far better than this new circus sideshow that has moved into town. That is just a very brief description...enough for me to pose the question. The story is going to be first person and this guy who is narrating is going to explain, at the very onset of the story, that the members of this new eccentric family are now all dead. ***If you were to read that most of the main characters of the story are dead, would you still be interested in reading their story?*** I guess that's my question. I'm not finished my outline, but it's brewing and I'm getting it down now. I just find it odd that all of these people are dead. I don't know how they die, just that they are dead and the main character, the narrator, is still alive and has a lot of interesting stories to tell about the past year and a half since the new, rich, eccentric family moved into town and shook it up. Should he tell the reader that they are dead at the beginning of the story, or should he just get to that part at the end?

I know it's hard to answer without knowing all the details. Just don't want to start writing the story the way it wants to be told only to find out later that I have to write it a different way. I am betting none of this makes the least bit of sense! Thanks in advance.

Thank you all! Great answers to my question. You have given me something to think about. Thanks for the examples too!

I've been writing the outline this afternoon. I can't believe what I'm writing. I want to know what happens too! When I first decided to have the narrator tell the reader that the family are all dead, I didn't have any idea why I wanted to say that...but it's starting to make sense now. I see the end...it's really sketchy, but I can see it in the distance...at least in the outline stage. I see the girlfriend still alive now and just the rest of her family dead. And I see the narrator escaping the town where everybody has come to despise him and his family. And I see him escaping with the eccentric girlfreind in tow. I think I am going to go with the announcement of the deaths at the beginning and just hope that I can pull it off. It's just in the early stages, obviously, but it has fire under it...so I'm just gonna have fun and start writing. Thanks again!

Hey Marty,


Thanks for the post. I do feel confident right now...because stories usually come at me formed in a way that I can see the whole thing. I get really gung-ho in the onset. It's the staying power I need to perfect! When it's new and I'm excited about it I feel confident. Ask me in 3 or 4 weeks how I feel, though! hehe. I'm really in to exploring this one. I've actually been running it through the grist mill for a few weeks. It was only this weekend that I started putting the outline together...but it's been stewing for a while.

BY THE WAY...I am also in Oshawa. Are you a WCDR member by any chance?

Thanks guys. I plan on having the outline done in a couple of days and then I will tackle the writing. I've never done an outline before so I don't know how long one usually spends on it. It's an interesting concept, though. I heard so many people here talking about it that I thought I would try it. So while the story was percolating in my head I thought it was a great opportunity to put the outline to a test. My fingers are crossed. New territory is always fun. Thanks!

Thanks Marty, I will take a look. Since I'm new to the idea, any thoughts would help. Too bad about the WCDR...though I've heard that with others, too. It's helped me greatly. I was on their board for the 2003-2004 year and plan to get back on this year if the cards are right. Going to check out your link. Thanks!

I had to dig far to find this thread, but I just wanted to say that I typed the last page early this morning. I am finished this novel and I am very very pumped about it! I go away to the Muskokas tomorrow for just over a week. I will be taking this novel with me to read. I have yet to sit down and read it. I can't wait to see if it reads like I feel like it will. It was a long journey, but I loved every minute of it. 1 year and 2 months!

Thanks Siddow, for your kind words.

Oh, by the way guys...this is neither a suspense, nor a mystery. It's just a story about two families co-mingling, one very quirky and one shunned. The deaths that I discussed were not the product of a crime or suspense type story. It's just a rather quirky story about life. One death in the story is questionable...but that's not really the point of the story. And, yes, there are police involved...but again, no crime suspense novel. I'm not really sure of genre? Anyway...can't wait to read it.