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.

"Writing is not like painting where you add. It is not what you put on the canvas that the reader sees.
Writing is more like a sculpture where you remove, you eliminate in order to make the work visible. Even those pages you remove somehow remain."
- Elie Wiesel

Those are some very wise words from a person I've never heard of before but for this very astute observation. (Sorry, I'm still young!) But this idea should really be expanded upon.

Writing is very much like a sculpture. In your first draft, you collect your ideas and throw them onto the paper (depending, of course, how you like to write your first drafts). Then you slot them together into something cohesive, until you have something vaguely representative of a story that goes from start to finish. That might be your chunk of clay, in the general shape of your sculpture.
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So now that you're up to your second draft, how do you approach it?

In steps, that's how! At each step you will go through your manuscript once and focus on just one aspect. This makes revision much more manageable and structured.

First Pass
This is the first stage of revision. At this stage, the story truly begins to take shape. You go through and edit for content, change any details you want, and make sure they're consistent. This is also the stage where you will rewrite any scenes that have been niggling you from that first draft.

Now you have smoothed out the form of your sculpture.

Second Pass
Go through your manuscript focusing foremost on characters. Make sure the way they act is consistent throughout, or that a change in them remains later on and that they don't switch back and forth between personalities. Importantly, check that their character voice is consistent. Do they speak with more or less contractions? Do they use shorter sentences, or do they tend to drone on? Do they say the word "that" when unnecessary, or do they leave it out where possible? Are they well-spoken? Gentlemanly or sour?

You've now carved the face into your sculpture, and it's smiling at you.

Third Pass
Here you will focus on the description in your manuscript. You want descriptions that are strong, that give the reader an image. You don't want to go overboard, though. We don't want to know about the flea unless it's pivotal to the story. Again, check for consistency. You don't want anything to have suddenly moved from one side of the room to the other.

That jacket on your sculpture is sure looking fine today!

Fourth Pass
Just read through here and check that things look fairly good in general.

You step back and take a breath before you jump back in one last time.

Fifth Pass
Now it's time for the line edits. This is where you go through the lines one by one and make the writing nice and shiny. But if you notice there's more to do from one of the earlier stages, back up. If it's major, deal with that first. If it's minor, touch it up and move on. When you get to the end of this stage, you've done your first revision.

You brush the dust off the top of your sculpture's head and all the details seem to suddenly come to life. But you want to sell this - this is going to make you famous. So like any good artist, you approach it once more, striving for perfection.
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As we all know, perfection is impossible. But make something as good as it can be, and you've got a good chance at being successful.

For a more basic breakdown of the steps, go here.

I've been honing my skill in this area, and I think it's about time I gave some light to my experiences.

First I'm going to talk about the general pacing of a novel.

In this, my second incarnation of Aundes Aura, I have unwittingly developed a structure that ensures good modulation in the pacing. Put simply, when the characters are in a town, the main plot usually develops a bit further, and when the characters are between towns, their personalities and individual feelings and backstories grow. As a result, we get to understand the story from many different points of view, without ever leaving the main character.

So generally, over the course of the novel, the pacing modulates from chapter to chapter, or from one half of a chapter to the next. Say Chapter One is particularly fast-paced. You don't want it to be too fast, because you also want to introduce the characters a little, but the idea here is to kick of the plot at the inciting incident, which is the point which puts the whole plot in motion.

This inciting incident is as simple as "this is why the plot occurs". Remember that, and you'll be one step closer to a gripping beginning. The hardest part in the first page is balancing character development and quickly setting up the inciting incident.

In my first page, I jump into the inciting incident in the first few paragraphs, and this is okay because while it is all happening, we discover a little about the characters. It's perhaps better, though, to spend at least two or three pargraphs introducing the characters so the reader has some sense of them and will care more about their plight.

Just remember that an agent or publisher can base their choice on the first page, so you'll want to get stuck in as soon as you reasonably can.

One thing I originally did was start too early in the story. As in, negative plot, seven years before the real beginning of the story. I put this as a prologue, and it's actually still there just for my purposes, and most likely won't be there when I send it out to some agents.

• Beginning: The main character carries out life as normal. [In "Until They Unite", Marco is inducted into a prestigious group called the Shadow Faction.]

• Plot Point 1: Something happens that changes everything. This forces them to do something they'd rather not. [Marco is suddenly expected to embark on a mission of great urgency, and he's been with the Faction for barely a week.]

Act 2:

• Middle: The character's emotional and physical journey. The character should endure and overcome many challenges throughout this act. [Marco has to face and tame a dragon, and he and rest of the faction have to fight and tame many a beast in all areas of the continent of Xakei. He has to accept the deaths of two of the group.]

• Plot Point 2: This comes at the end of Act 2, and turns the story in a new direction again. The hero seems beaten but something happens to turn things his way. [Marco and the faction are in the Temple of Air, where they can find the final Elemental Piece. But the gigantic raven is powerful, and when they pluck the Circlet of Air from its pedestal, the Temple begins to fall in ruins, and they are still inside. They manage to escape by the skin of their teeth, a protective forcefield from the Circlet having protected them.]

Act 3:

• Lead-up to the end: The third act shows how the character succeeds or becomes a better person.
• Resolution: Ties together the loose ends and shows the result of actions taken throughout the story.
• Denouement: A comedown after the intense final points of the story. Show how the characters have changed or developed after their experience.

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A note on tension:

From the beginning of the story, the tension should become progressively higher until the climax of the story. Readers need a break, though, so after each crisis, allow some drop in tension before raising it again. Otherwise the reader could get fizzled out from the constant action.

These sections after a crisis are also a fantastic point to develop the characters and reveal tidbits about the backstory or describe the landscape to give the reader some sense of the world.

Disclaimer: The following process was suggested by Marie over at Critique Circle.

Once your novel's first draft is complete, it is essential that you revise it if you want to send it to an agent or publisher and have the best chance of getting picked up. As with a Pringle, this is all much easier if you break it down. Marie has devised five basic steps which you can take to polish it up plot-wise, subplot-wise, genre-wise, character-wise, description-wise, grammar-wise, tous les choses-wise.

1.
Edit for storyline. This is the round where you go through and make sure the plot makes sense and follows through the story. That the subplots wrap up. That you haven't forgotten, lost or dropped anything while working your way through the book. Make as many passes as needed to fix any and all plot issues and oopsies.

2.
Edit for character. Everything from behaviour to appearance. Make sure names are spelled consistently throughout the book. Also, make sure that characters don't mysteriously vanish without concluding their plotline or even more mysteriously reappear after death.

3.
Edit for description. By now things should be getting better, but make sure that you are describing things effectively, using all five senses. Also, this is a good time to make sure physical items don't unexpectedly change colour, shape or location.

4.
Edit for genre elements. For fantasy you might double check on world building. Since you've already done three passes through the novel, things really should be fairly solid but this gives you one more chance to spot a problem.

5.
Edit for grammar, punctuation and spelling. By now you should be able to run through and focus just on the clean up details. If you spot other problems, back up and give the earlier steps another pass. Don't rush things. You're not ready for the polishing up unless you've already fixed the plot. Take your time.

Repeat as needed.
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Random Fantasy Title Brainstorm: Mirror.
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Shameless Otherly-Promotion:
Marie Dees has an exciting new title being released by Cobblestone. To Have a Warrior. http://mariedees.com/?p=261

Check it out. Have a look at what other CCers are doing in the Real World!

The first Pringle enters your mouth. You crunch. The Pringle cracks into a number of pieces. You crunch again, and the Pringle breaks down into even more pieces. The flavour takes a moment to hit your tongue, but when it does, it is intense, enticing. You take another Pringle and start again.

Treat your novel like a good Pringle. Break it down into pieces. Work on them individually, and you can make them intense, enticing. Your readers will want to devour them. But with that first Pringle, it takes a while for the flavour to hit. That is your vomit onto the page, your first draft. But when you come back and edit the first time, the flavour hits you. You revise again, your second Pringle, and as you progress through the packet the flavour becomes more and more intense.

A novel is not a straight race track; it is a circuit. You drive until "the end", and then you are back at the start, and it's time to do another lap, and another and another. But there is a time when the race ends, and you must look for the checkered flag. It is not easy to find. You could keep racing forever.

But on your first lap, it is imperative that you keep your momentum. Don't dare to pull in at the pit-stop, or you may be stuck there forever.

A. Deviation.

Okay, that was truly horrible, but what can I say? I don't write poetry, I write stories. Actually, it reminds me of my early days parodying Harry Potter.

But this post is actually about taking your writing fast or slow.

So basically, I have been writing fast compared to the speed I used to write at (and would still write at if not for Write or Die). When I decided not to use Write or Die for my latest writing session, I realised something that I would like to share.

I'm sure most writers know this, but circumstances in the real world affect how you write your story world.

I think Chapter One kept tense most of the way through (I really hope it was). This wasn't really intended, and sort of came out with the choppiness of my scenes (which I have fixed), and the way it kept moving. I hadn't considered this, but I believe the way Write or Die was keeping me on toes -- I think it was keeping my characters on their toes. And from some of my critiquers' reactions, it kept them on their toes. Which, for the first chapter, is a good thing.

Chapter Two brings much of that tension down until the end of the chapter. Here we get to know characters a bit better: Their motivations; their feelings and memories of the past; how they feel about their place in the world. We meet a new character as well (Faine, and I believe he is much less conspicuous this time around -- just a good guy trying to help).

For my last writing session I opted against Write or Die, in favour of a slower approach. This seemed to work for me. My character was sitting in the cart, and I want the reader to feel, not the dullness, but the true feeling of being in moving cart for the best part of a day.

This was something I don't believe I could achieve with Write or Die, with a guy standing on my heels saying MOVE, MOVE, MOVE! That worked really well for Chapter One, where I wanted to keep the tension up, but when my character's sitting in a cart? No, I don't think so.

So, my suggestion is that when you want to keep the tension up, keep the action up. Keep things moving. And write fast. The conditions in which you are writing will come across within your writing.

If you are writing a slow or meaningful scene, I wouldn't suggest writing quickly. Consider how you can write the scene that would best translate the emotions to your reader, be it excitement, anxiousness, dullness or any other emotion. If your character is stalking a deer through the forest, stalk your words for the perfect sentence. If he is sitting in a cart, sit yourself in the cart. Would you be worrying about your sister's damning light all day in the cart, or would you stop worrying by the fifth hour?

Consider, consider, consider. Am I making you tense?

I think this post feels a little different than most of my others. It was not planned. I came across it when writing and thought, oh, I'll blog about that.

Now for a random excerpt, in which Eoin experiences pins and needles for the first time. Don't judge him. He has been in a cart for a thousand words.
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He found himself daydreaming as the day wore on. He stared absently out the windows, barely noticing when the bland scenery changed from sky to trees. The sound of dirt under the cart’s wheels changed to the crunching of leaves and twigs. Little by little, the sun lowered, and Eoin was brought back to the world when the cart stopped. He blinked, and lights danced in front of his eyes. All the passengers were getting out of the cart.

“Come,” said Faine. “No one is allowed to sleep in the cart.” He laughed, and made his way out of the cart, ducking so as not to scrape the roof with his head. When Eoin stood, pain shot through his feet and he fell to the floor. It was like nothing he had ever experienced, a tingling pain that danced around the soles of his feet.

He saw Saera come to the open door. With narrowed eyes, she said, “What happened? The cart looked like it was about to collapse.”

Eoin told her.

“Are you still in pain?” she asked.

It seemed the tingling in Eoin’s feet had subsided. “No, not anymore.”

“Then hurry up and get out of there. They’re locking it up soon.

I figured if I cut the scene with the acquaintance, it would flow better, as they could go straight from the castle to the church. I wholly believe it's worked. But through this process, I have learned something about flow.

Sometimes scenes move between areas so quickly that it seems your characters are teleporting. That's how I felt when I read the first draft anyway. But as I worked through it, I took notice of the parts that did seem to flow. What was different?

Well, when it didn't flow, it was because the paragraphs between the two areas were too short. Here is an excerpt from the first version:

"That's it," said Eoin. "You will go to the Passing tonight. I will make sure of it." He left the room and headed back towards the castle's front door. There was only one other person in town who knew Saera had the Aura, and if anyone had the answer to Eoin's questions, it would be him. Old Hanne lived in the common district, across from the house where Eoin and Saera used to live.

Eoin slammed the brass knocker against the door and waited. He smiled and nodded as someone passed him in the street. The door opened.

Soon after, the scene with Old Hanne was removed and they went straight from the castle to the church:

"That's it," said Eoin. "You will go to the Passing tonight. Just come with me." He held out his hand, and Saera hesitated before taking it. They left the room and headed back towards the castle's front door.

Eoin hated the way this society based so much on the appearance of people, and rarely gave a second thought to discover what they might actually be like on the inside. It was society's inability to look deeper than the flesh that put Saera in so much danger. If the light were to come to the surface, people would see only the light. If only they would look deeper they would see an innocent, harmless girl. Still, it was the reason Saera was still safe. No one could see what she had inside her. This curse. This light.

As he stepped out into the street, he felt confined all of a sudden. The creamy-white houses seemed to close in on him from every direction. His heart beat faster. He had to get away from here. He had to get Saera to the Church as soon as possible.

Eoin led Saera through the streets, all the way to the church. Its high, triangular roof cast a shadow upon the streets. There were no windows visible from where Eoin stood. He and Saera ascended the steps, and once they were inside, Eoin closed the door as quickly as he could. It was necessary to ensure that the holy spirits remained within.
 
The last paragraph continues and describes the inside of the church. As dictated by "To Keep or Not To Keep", I decided to describe the inside of the church because it is quite different to the first image that would come to a reader's mind.
 
So what can you do to help transitions between areas to flow into one another more easily? Well, there are a few things.
 
1. Desription: A description of the setting as the character sees it. Perhaps it doesn't have to be literal, as the mind can play tricks on us. You can go into how the character feels about the place. Again, as dictated by "To Keep or Not To Keep", this could be world-building mateial. If it has been said before, don't repeat it.
 
2. Dialogue: In Real Life, people talk as they walk. Conversations elapse time, so when the characters arrive at their destination after the dialogue has finished, it feels right.
 
3. Interior Monologue: Technically, the character thinking to himself, written as narration. An example from the above excerpt would be:
Eoin hated the way this society based so much on the appearance of people, and rarely gave a second thought to discover what they might actually be like on the inside.
And so on. Again, this elapses time in the Real World, so it feels right that time would elapse within the text, and thus bridge the gap between one area and another.
 
So if you ever find a choppy transition between areas and need a fix, just remember the "Three Bridges"*.
 
*Sounds like a good title for a new fantasy novel.

- Plot
None of that was essential to know, but it makes Faine a deeper character. Knowing that, I can give a certain tone in Faine's dialogue that reflects how he feels about his past.

You can also create backstory to a town. In Aundes Aura there is a village called Tierra, and it sits at the base of the mountains. This village is situated next to the border of Meira, and used to trade with towns from the other country. However, the Church of Duthonne does not agree with the beliefs of the people in Meira, and thus contend that it is a sin to make trades with the country. The Church ordered the village to stop, but it did not as the trades were the most efficient way of keeping the village in stock. As a result the Church ordered a demolition on the village, and it was destroyed.

In knowing that, when the characters travel to Tierra they will discover what happened, and they notice how the village looks half-built as its people try to restore it.

So while backstory may not be essential to the plot, it helps immensely with creating a deeper world and deeper characters.

Character Development: This is the way your characters progress as people throughout the story. Character development is usually given between main plot points. It contributes heavily to pacing, as it breaks up the action of the story and lets us see how the character is adapting to his situation. Character development can be shown through either dialogue or, if it is the POV character, interior monologue.

World Building: How much world building you do will obviously depend on your genre. It is most prominent in fantasy and science-fiction. Deciding on whether you should show a particular feature of the world will depend on how unique it is from what we would find in our own world. For example, we all know what a dog looks like, however, it might be worth mentioning that in this world dogs have three heads and fiery tails.

Recently I had to make a decision on whether or not to show a scene in the church. I decided it was worth showing, as it is different to what you would find here. In particular, at the far end of the church there are gigantic statues of the four Great Gods. Elcalades the Giving stands in the centre of the other three statues, who face him. When someone needs to pray to a particular god, they kneel in front of the statue of the god they wish to communicate to and pray.
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If the scene you have written does not contribute to any of these elements, it may not add anything to the story and just be filler.

Make every scene count.

To keep, or not to keep: That is the question
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to endure that which is pointless,
Or to seek out that which is not; and in so seeking,
Give enjoyment unto another.

Why include a dream in your novel? Dreams have no meaning. Right?
Wrong.
Dreams are a fantastic way of creating symbolism within your story. Something to make your reader think. With a well-written dream, you can reveal things about your character, and give hints about events to come.
You'll want to keep in mind that while dreams are illogical, you still want them to make a fair amount of sense to the reader. Now, because we are using symbolism, the dreams we create shouldn't be completely random. They must be somehow linkable to the plot, the character's history or future, or the character's relationships.
Nature is a great representation of life.
So, how might the character's life tumbling down be represented? A falling tree. Is it the character's fault that their life is tumbling down? Make it so they are cutting the tree down. Are the problems in the character's life now affecting the lives of others? Set the tree on fire, and when the character cuts it down the fire spreads through the grass and burns down other trees.
Now for an example from my own work.
The snake wove its way towards Ralta, its red eyes a pair of glowing ovals in the black night. It slithered up his leg, all the way up to his neck and coiled itself around him. Then another snake appeared, and another, and another until he was completely overwhelmed by the creatures. And there wasn’t any antidote. Why wasn’t there any antidote? Suddenly all the snakes were gone, and Saera was standing there with a bow in her hand, smiling and waving. And then a scream pierced Ralta's ear.
What does this dream tell us? Night is symbolic of evil, so we have learned that Ralta believes snakes to be sinister. The term "overwhelmed" implies that he feels trapped. He has been stuck in one place for too long. His wish for some antidote represents his desire to break free of his "prison". His sister Saera is smiling, which must mean she is happy. But if she is happy, then why does she scream? Perhaps this refers to an idea that maybe she seems happy on the outside, but Ralta believes she is not truly happy.
But then, what is the significance of the bow she is holding? Maybe Ralta feels safe around her.
I admit, I had never thought of all that symbolism when I actually wrote the dream. I simply wrote how the dream played out, and just now I interpreted it in a way that would give it meaning. So if you're writing a dream, don't stress too much about making it all symbolic. If it's written in a surrealistic style, the reader will naturally try to make sense of it.

Books are not movies; books are books, and therefore it is not as easy to put an image into a reader's mind. How do writers combat this?

Think of all your senses: touch, taste, smell, hearing and sight.

To help me describe scenes in my novel, sometimes I practise describing things that are not in my novel, but in my immediate vacinity.

"I grasp the pen, and find it is very cool to the touch. The white imprint near the end reads 'Faber Castell', and is accompanied by a tiny image of two jousting knights. As I roll the pen between my fingers, I notice that an immovable beam of light expands along the length of it. Six rows of tiny bumps line the plastic; a simple, yet unique design choice. I pull at the lid, and hear a hollow sound as it lifts off. It is a soft sound. A pleasing sound."

Did you notice I didn't mention that the pen is black? Or that it is a felt-tip pen? Or that it is a rounded-triangular shape? When readers aren't given every detail, they either consciously or sub-consciously make up the rest of the image in their mind. It is not necessary to give every single detail, but you must decide which details are worth keeping.

When you are writing a scene, either:
1) Make sure it gives the reader a clear image of the scene so they know where the characters are, or
2) Give the most important details that are relevant to the plot, background, setting etc.

As I said before, see how many of your senses you can use to describe. So, if I want to make a point about the architecture in the story, you could mention the cathedral. Talk about the colour of the building, but also talk about the cracks where it has aged, and the places where it has been spoilt by bird-droppings. Mention the nest at the corner of the roof. Is the roof flat? Triangular? Domed? You can hear the birds screeching, and their chicks tweeting. Where is the sound of that bell coming from?

That's if you want a clear picure of the scene. Now, what if you want to describe the things that are important to the plot here? The architecture and the birds become less important. Perhaps the most important thing here is the bell. Once the bell tolls, our main character knows that demons will rise from below and he will have to fight for his life. At this point, the character doesn't really care about the bird's nest on the roof, and neither should the reader. The reader should be in the moment with the character, worrying about the impending event. Descibe the character's heart racing.

Books are not movies; books are books. Thus, it is important that we choose exactly how we are going to describe a scene, because it will have a great impact on how the reader reacts to it.