Hello, its me again. Your average wanna-write-better writer. I'm trying to tackle my writing no-no's one at a time, as I discover them.
Would you believe I'm just now getting around to learning about adverbs? Good gods.
Anyway.
My problem is I have background information that I can't let go of. Of course that's not my only problem. What's also bugging the shit out of me is the pace of releasing information... if that makes sense.
But first of all... I have a prologue *ducks*.
The prologue takes place 12 years prior to the actual story starting. Her life is saved by a lady and the lady asks her to just return the favor some day. The favor shows up in the form of lady's daughter 12 years later who asks MC for help which becomes the main plot of the story. Whew... its not as pathetic as it might sound. I promise.
I also have a conversation between MC, MCs lover and a friend. Friend asks how MC and MCs lover met. That's a long story in and of itself. And a funny one. I've tagged my roomie with writing that, for fun (we write in the same world I created, my MC's lover is his creation). They talk about it, not in detail, but the basics of it. Okay, I can take that out and just not bring up the subject of their meeting for the whole series I guess. But having that sort of background information enriches the characters, in my opinion. I know almost every detail about my characters- not that I'm going to share her cup size, but some details feel really important to me and I'm convinced the reader would have fun knowing such things (how they met, not cup size).
So... how to convey information that took place before the story started without gratuitous amounts of flashbacks and using a prologue? And when my characters -do- talk about background stuff, how to keep from making it an information dump that might annoy/bog the reader, no matter how entertaining I think it is?
I'm working on a scene right now where my MC is talking to a lady she met a few years ago and haven't seen for several months. This character is (probably?) not going to pop up in the series again. I'm having a hard time holding the reigns on my How-They-Met-Story horse and keeping it as just a few thoughts for the reader. This is an example of an angle I'm thinking of going with... information revealed via dialogue and the current character's POV? Does this work? (Adrian as an anthro, if you're wondering about the ears).
My goal is revealing information (in this case, not story related) without it being a boggy dump and showing instead of telling. This is as good as my writing gets, btw. Feel free to spank me for any atrocities you see
Adrian's ears perked up and she saw someone waving and coming towards her. It was Lonna, a short and upbeat woman she met in Tradesport a few years ago. She helped Lonna clean up and get into a reputable brothel. It wasn't an ideal life, but it worked for Lonna.
“Wait here,” Adrian said to Zander and Rayna and left them alone at the table. Adrian could feel the bartender's eyes staring down at them as she greeted Lonna.
“I'm off duty, Franc, relax,” Lonna said to the bartender over her shoulder.
“I'll buy you a drink. You still like tea?” Adrian asked before going to the bar.
“That'll sooth sore old Franc," Lonna said.
Moments later Adrian joined Lonna at a privet booth, tea in hand. “What news do you have?”
“What, I don't get to hear 'You're looking great, Lonna, what's your secret?'” Lonna said.
Adrian examined Lonna low that they were face to face.Her eyes were red and face puffy. Judging by her weight, she looked like she had been using for several months. These effects aged her beyond her 21 years. “You look like shit. What have they been doing to you?”
Sooo yeah. I tried searching around here first for what I was looking for. I found some cool stuff but didn't know exactly what I wanted. This conversation starts mingling in conversation geared towards some of the actual story, Lonna has vital information for Adrian which she's using to distract Adrian from the fact that she's been kicked out of the reputable brothel for drug use... so its not a completely non-related and useless conversation.
Whew. That was a long post, but I've been unable to help myself and need advice.
Thank you all! There's a lot of patience around here
-Angela
Would you believe I'm just now getting around to learning about adverbs? Good gods.
Anyway.
My problem is I have background information that I can't let go of. Of course that's not my only problem. What's also bugging the shit out of me is the pace of releasing information... if that makes sense.
But first of all... I have a prologue *ducks*.
The prologue takes place 12 years prior to the actual story starting. Her life is saved by a lady and the lady asks her to just return the favor some day. The favor shows up in the form of lady's daughter 12 years later who asks MC for help which becomes the main plot of the story. Whew... its not as pathetic as it might sound. I promise.
I also have a conversation between MC, MCs lover and a friend. Friend asks how MC and MCs lover met. That's a long story in and of itself. And a funny one. I've tagged my roomie with writing that, for fun (we write in the same world I created, my MC's lover is his creation). They talk about it, not in detail, but the basics of it. Okay, I can take that out and just not bring up the subject of their meeting for the whole series I guess. But having that sort of background information enriches the characters, in my opinion. I know almost every detail about my characters- not that I'm going to share her cup size, but some details feel really important to me and I'm convinced the reader would have fun knowing such things (how they met, not cup size).
So... how to convey information that took place before the story started without gratuitous amounts of flashbacks and using a prologue? And when my characters -do- talk about background stuff, how to keep from making it an information dump that might annoy/bog the reader, no matter how entertaining I think it is?
I'm working on a scene right now where my MC is talking to a lady she met a few years ago and haven't seen for several months. This character is (probably?) not going to pop up in the series again. I'm having a hard time holding the reigns on my How-They-Met-Story horse and keeping it as just a few thoughts for the reader. This is an example of an angle I'm thinking of going with... information revealed via dialogue and the current character's POV? Does this work? (Adrian as an anthro, if you're wondering about the ears).
My goal is revealing information (in this case, not story related) without it being a boggy dump and showing instead of telling. This is as good as my writing gets, btw. Feel free to spank me for any atrocities you see
Adrian's ears perked up and she saw someone waving and coming towards her. It was Lonna, a short and upbeat woman she met in Tradesport a few years ago. She helped Lonna clean up and get into a reputable brothel. It wasn't an ideal life, but it worked for Lonna.
“Wait here,” Adrian said to Zander and Rayna and left them alone at the table. Adrian could feel the bartender's eyes staring down at them as she greeted Lonna.
“I'm off duty, Franc, relax,” Lonna said to the bartender over her shoulder.
“I'll buy you a drink. You still like tea?” Adrian asked before going to the bar.
“That'll sooth sore old Franc," Lonna said.
Moments later Adrian joined Lonna at a privet booth, tea in hand. “What news do you have?”
“What, I don't get to hear 'You're looking great, Lonna, what's your secret?'” Lonna said.
Adrian examined Lonna low that they were face to face.Her eyes were red and face puffy. Judging by her weight, she looked like she had been using for several months. These effects aged her beyond her 21 years. “You look like shit. What have they been doing to you?”
Sooo yeah. I tried searching around here first for what I was looking for. I found some cool stuff but didn't know exactly what I wanted. This conversation starts mingling in conversation geared towards some of the actual story, Lonna has vital information for Adrian which she's using to distract Adrian from the fact that she's been kicked out of the reputable brothel for drug use... so its not a completely non-related and useless conversation.
Whew. That was a long post, but I've been unable to help myself and need advice.
Thank you all! There's a lot of patience around here
-Angela