Ah, info-dumps! The bane of fantasy writers the world over.

A large volume of data supplied at [one] time, says the internet.

Czech: informace o výpis

In writer terms:
A great wad of information on backstory placed at an inappropriate time and/or in an inappropriate manner.

What's the lure of this? You've spent all this time developing your world and you desperately want to let the reader know all about it!

Give it time.

Your readers are smart. They don't need to know everything from the beginning. The most important thing in the first three chapters is to hook your reader into the adventure.

Start where the story starts (more on this in another post) and stay relevant to the action.

The biggest info-dump offenders are prologues and first chapters (Ryan, I'm looking at you).

Yes, yes, I've written a prologue and in my old draft I had a nice, juicy info-dump. I can tell you now, my new first chapter is much stronger without the storyteller character, and without it being seven years before the story even starts.

Don't bother reading the next five hundred paragraphs unless you really want to. This is an example of an info-dump from my old draft -- in Chapter One -- and an example of what not to do. (It also involves the fantasy trope of the storyteller!)

Also, this was almost 70,000 words ago and I'm a much better writer!

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Eight . . . hundred . . . and . . . fifty . . . four . . . unnecessary . . . words.

Why are info-dumps so bad? Because they slow down the real story, the story your readers are actually interested in.

How to Avoid Them

Stop! Reconsider before throwing them down in slews in the first three chapters. What your readers do need is grounding -- they need to know where the characters are, what they're doing and why. But of course, don't tell us these things (otherwise it would become an info-dump), but show us.

My new first chapter that I plan to write in my next draft, the main characters start out alone, hungry and desperate. But I don't want to go telling everyone why they're desperate. I'll show them instead. So in my first scene the MC will be sneaking into a house at night-time to steal a loaf of bread. That shows that they're desperately starving -- it doesn't need to be said

Later, we will find out through the dialogue of the characters that their father was taken away by the government. Or perhaps another way to approach this would be for the characters to have a discussion, which would then prompt a thought by the MC as to what had happened with the father.

And I think that's an important technique to take away from this.

Demonstrate your world-building through prompt.

When your character sees something for the first time in the book, that's a good time to throw in a line or a paragraph about it.

The path came to a gradual incline, and the horses soon began to pant. They continued to the top of the hill, where Eoin could see the entire capital city from where he stood on the hill. The water surrounding it sparkled in the thirteenth-hour sunlight. Three bridges spanned the water to link the city to the mainland. Two of them were in ruins.

Within the city, great buildings rose higher than the ones Eoin was used to back in Tarne. Rising above almost all the others he could see the church. The front of its roof was adorned with statues of the four good gods. The only building that rose higher than the church was that of the Grand Tower. Here lay the seat of power in all Duthonne. Since the King’s death several hundred years ago, they held dominance over the land as there had been no royal blood to replace the King.

The great thing is, once you've cut all those info-dumps from the beginning, it's much easier to find things to write about when you come to new places, because you didn't blow it all in the beginning.

World-build to your heart's content; it can only make your world richer and truer. Just don't expect it all to get mentioned.

A rich fantasy world calls for several social groups and organisations that, of course, affect each other. These don't have to be involved with your main plot, but it helps when your characters come across one or another of these groups to know what condition they are in.

I wrote a lot about certain groups in my last Fantasy World Building post, but this time I will include the smaller parts of society and show how they affect each other.

Social Groups and Organisations in Duthonne

The Church: When the King was overthrown in 218p.i. (which was also three years before his death), immediate power was given to the Church. The Church were expected to seek out a suitable successor to the throne. However, the Church quickly became addicted to the power and refused to give it away. Over hundreds of years the Church passed on their power to their own heirs or next of kin, until they were finally overthrown in 703p.i. (which is also the year Aundes Aura takes place). Over their roughly 500 years of power, the Church taught the people of Duthonne to hate those who don't agree with their beliefs and brand them as heretics.

All of these societies and factions relate directly to my plot, so it was natural that they would occur to me. But why not add societies that flesh out the world from the start? What I feel is important here is that the groups add a more dynamic feel to the world, that they all interact in some way, with their own goals in mind. Almost like characters in their own right.
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I began with only the countries' societies.

Duthonne: Moderately religious. Strongly oppose heretics. They believe that four of the gods are good and that the other three are evil.

Meira: Moderately religious. Lightly oppose heretics. They believe the opposite to Duthonne about the gods, and the two countries war over this.

Arlea (island): Strongly religious. Believe that all gods are good. They have traditional beliefs and are the constant where the other two countries have developed their beliefs.

Then I began to wonder: Who is in control of these countries? Not all societies are the same in this respect.

The Church: They are the seat of power in Duthonne. Seven hundred years ago the King died and their was no heir to replace him. The Church were given power and have held dominance to this day. They believe very strongly, and are far too narrow-minded as far as teaching children about the gods. Their teachings have fuelled the wars, making many people fully believe that the people of Meira are as evil as the gods they worship, and ought to be wiped out.

Those who oppose the Church are punished, the punishment being equatable to the crime. Punishments can go as far as torture and execution.

The Queen of Meira: Elegant and powerful, she loves her people and treasures their lives. She is strong in her beliefs, but she doesn't go as far as the Church when it comes to punishment. She is willing to collaborate with various groups in order to help her country.

So what else is there? I was reading a book when the next came to me, and I had to stop reading to go and take note of it.

The Order: A faction devoted to the gods. All seven of them. Each member of the Order fights with the weapon of their choice. They know when the world is in grave danger and know a number of rituals in order to prevent it from happening. These are good guys, but their means might not be in line with what other people want.

And this last group came to me the other night when I couldn't sleep.

The Underground: A faction of thieves and pickpockets in Emareus, the capital city of Meira. They know ways into the castle that even the guards don't know about. The "Thief-King" has the supreme Aura -- that of Elcalades, the Giving Father. The group is made up of men and boys, mostly poor and orphaned. The group offers them a home as children, and they grow up in the environment and learn to survive in the streets.
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All these groups affect each other. They all have a purpose in mind. Teach, rule, serve, survive. The way they interact can create a very dynamic feeling, and when unlikely collaborations occur, they become all the more intriguing.

What could possibly bring the Thief-King to work with the Queen?

Why do the characters seem to think the Order is bad when it is actually good?

Who can bring down the Church, or find someone in the King's bloodline to take over the throne?

While we're journeying with our characters, things are happening on the other side of the world. Know what's going on, and you will know your world all the better.

Catholic:                                      Anglican:

GOD                                             KING
   ^                                                ^
Pope                                            Bishop
   ^                                                ^
Kings                                           Priest
   ^                                                ^
Bishops                                  Peasants/Serfs
   ^
Priests
   ^
Peasants/Serfs

Social War: Aborigines wanted a formal apology for actions taken during the White Australia movement.

War Over Land: The Gaza Strip. Who really had it first? Where else have people fought over land? (The United Kingdom)


                                  > Protestantism
Judaism > Christianity
                                  > Catholicism > Anglicism
Hindu


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Our own world has a history, and that is what makes it true. If you have some knowledge of the history of your story's world, you can place details in the story that relate to its history, and this can help make the story truer, deeper and richer. More authentic.

For starters, you will want the country within which your characters will be travelling. If the journey spans a number of countries, you should include those as well. The best way I've found to visualise my world is to draw a map. It doesn't matter whether it looks good or bad, all that matters is that you can see where your characters are or where they are headed. Below is an image of the map I drew for my latest work-in-progress, Aundes Aura.



I have called this world Válkia. I believe there are more details to the world, particularly in Arlea, but considering my characters have only just left their home town, I don't think it is absolutely vital that I have those details right now. For the names of my towns and my countries, you may or may not have noticed that I have borrowed heavily from other languages in my quest for interesting names. The name "Tierra" comes from the Spanish word for "earth". The name "Arlea" bears a resemblance to the French "Arles". "Robarre" is what I came up with when thinking about the French pronunciation of "Robert", being "Robear". The capital "Parthon" comes from the French words "by" and "tuna", mashed together. The name of the southern country comes from the phrase "Du thon" meaning "some tuna". Finally, "Mengerikaan" in Arlea borrows from the Indonesion word for "horrible", being "mengerikan".

This is all very random, no? The roots of these names are meaningless to the point of ridiculousness (tuna, anyone?), but they help me name the places nonetheless. Who says that the names have to mean anything?

As you can see, though, each country has a different linguistic influence. Duthonne is very French driven, and Arlea so far has island-like influences, almost like a tribal language. Meira is far more subtle with its names. One town I have not found the right name for is "Anoria", near the mountain range, but for now at least I have something to work with.

Even more so than what I have drawn on my own map, there need to be differences in your landscape to make it feel more realistic and keep it a little interesting. I think my map may be geographically incorrect, but I doubt that matters much. Which is more important? The story? Or whether or not that mountain range can be there due to the placement of tectonic plates on the world? Like I said, the aim here is to keep the adventure interesting. Grassy fields are nice, but if the whole book were set in grassy fields... well, it hurts me inside to imagine that, both as a reader and a writer.

Within or between the countries you have created, you will want some conflict. This outer conflict will be very much related to your World History, and having one will help you with the other. For example, in The Lord of the Rings, there are the creatures of Mordor who act in the favour of Sauron. Pure Evil. But beyond that, there are the men of the east. Then, stacked on top of that, there are the quarrels between the allied countries, between their own countries, and between their own houses or clans.

Maybe in your own novel, there are two equally fit candidates for the Throne--how do we decide who will be King? Someone assassinates one of the canditates, perhaps? But this is not in any way related to the main characters, it is simply backstory to the world, or history. See how thinking of the outer conflict has brought us to create some history, some reality to this world?

Finally, what do you want your villages, castles or landscapes to look like? Will you go early medieval with small, stone houses? In my case, I have chosen an Elizabethan style for my world. To make sure I understood what I was talking about, I did some research to find out how the buildings were made. Elizabethan buildings had a squared wooden frame, between which was woven a "wattle" (sticks and twigs). A white plaster called "daub" was then spread over the "wattle" to create the walls.