Writing Starting your fantasy world

[xluferx]

I've been looking and reading, usually whenever others start their novels, is a big infodump and I've been reading that infodumps aren't good as it can bore the reader and other things.

So is a good idea to start that story with the antagonist perspective that introduce you to the fantasy world?

Or perhaps a battle to set up the stakes and the world that is at stake?

Or I should just do an infodump like others do?

 

[Valmond]

I've been looking and reading, usually whenever others start their novels, is a big infodump and I've been reading that infodumps aren't good as it can bore the reader and other things.

So is a good idea to start that story with the antagonist perspective that introduce you to the fantasy world?

Or perhaps a battle to set up the stakes and the world that is at stake?

Or I should just do an infodump like others do?

This really depends, for instance, if you choose info dump. I would recommend you blend this in with a more action pace sequence to draw in more interest.

An example is the start of my first book. This here is more or less info dump. However, I masked that underneath a chase scene that really starts the book. It allowed to give a bearing on the situation, as well as a decent enough look on the setting itself.

If you don’t want to give too much information. It might be better to go with the unreliable narrator method, where it will be difficult to distinguish between truth from lie. I use this through the entire book in combination with the theme and tone of the story. This avoids giving too much information, while also expanding. This is another method that can retain attention.

If you are starting with an antagonist perspective. You might want to also give a good bearing on the setting of the story.

What all of these points have in common? It is best to combine multiple elements into one. Fantasy isn’t a one trick pony, gotta be able to find a solid balance. However, there are multiple methods on doing pretty much any approach. It would more or less require combining elements to retain attention, while doing what you wish to do.

 

[CupcakeNinja]

I've been looking and reading, usually whenever others start their novels, is a big infodump and I've been reading that infodumps aren't good as it can bore the reader and other things.

So is a good idea to start that story with the antagonist perspective that introduce you to the fantasy world?

Or perhaps a battle to set up the stakes and the world that is at stake?

Or I should just do an infodump like others do?

Listen man. Start with drugs. Make your character high as balls. Do that and you have an award winning story

 

[expentio]

I have to say, I made an infodump chapter as well, and it works out. It might be better without but it's not impossible.
Yet I personally would abstain from the villain perspective, which will divert everything from the MC. And a random battle feels for me very artificial. I don't become invested for whoever fights and like this it's more like a nuisance that keeps me away from the real story.
The thing about avoiding infodump is to weave information into the normal stories occurrences without too much focus on it. As talks or side-mentions when it's appropriate (much easier in 1st-person narration). The problem here is that this is really difficult and some information is simply nothing that would be mentioned in a normal talk. Like the "spontaneous" discussion about how the gods created that world. So sometimes if you're simply not able to convey information like this it might be better to just cover it straight at the beginning.

 

[BubbleC]

DO NOT INFODUMP! I repeat, DO NOT INFODUMP!

Anything is better than an infodump. Natural exposition, whether it be through battle, an antagonist planning something, townspeople talking, etc., is always better in my opinion.

As a reader, I'm not here to read a textbook about this fantasy world you've made up. I don't care. That's what your goddamn glossary is for.
I'm here for an engaging story that takes place in an interesting world, and storytelling always takes precedence. You cannot make me care about a world when I don't care about the story surrounding it. Any dry exposition takes away precious time from storytelling and will almost indefinitely cut your readers' interest.

You can "infodump," as in giving exposition in an interesting tone or through dialogue; good enough writers can pull it off. But, you CANNOT infodump, as in dropping every detail there is to know through a dry, continuous monologue without action.

I know there's no strict "can's" and "cannot's" in anything, but honestly, I despise infodumps with every fiber of my being (because most aren't written well, especially on sites like these), and if you do it I will :blob_smack: you.

Plus, I feel like so many authors have this weird habit where they believe they need to explain everything there is to know about the world in the first chapter. Exposition takes place across time, and new details being revealed overtime is honestly much more engaging and interesting to me. Infodumps are a dangerous thing, and I think newbie writers should avoid infodumping at all costs and try out more creative forms of exposition.

 

[Ace_Raven]

I've been looking and reading, usually whenever others start their novels, is a big infodump and I've been reading that infodumps aren't good as it can bore the reader and other things.

So is a good idea to start that story with the antagonist perspective that introduce you to the fantasy world?

Or perhaps a battle to set up the stakes and the world that is at stake?

Or I should just do an infodump like others do?

It depends on how you gonna tell your story. If world building aspect will matter(like if there will be this taboo or certain rule about the world) then i guess information dump is not a bad choice.


But if it's a character-driven story. Then i will just make the characters subtly implying about something.


Either way it depends on how the story gonna turn out to be.


Like, if i tell story about political power struggle of a certain kingdom, first you must know about the kingdom right.

Well, it is like that.


But even in this real world there is no way we know about everything right?, it is also possible to have the world being explained to those kind of characters.

 

[Aoi_Sora]

Just try this one out

 

[lnv]

While a lot of people hate info dumps, myself included. If you are gonna do one, it is usually best to:
1) Do them as early as possible before people are hooked (but don't overdo it to bore them out)
2) Avoid the entire chapter being an infodump, preferably infodump in the beginning and get people hooked by the end so they forget. People tend to remember the end of a chapter better than the beginning so they are usually less picky on that.

Overall, while the general mentality is to avoid infodumps. That said, If an infodump can help you avoid writing 20 chapters of useless content just to "show" not "tell". Then it is an option to consider. You know, sometimes you gotta deal with the pain of the dentist so you can enjoy the candy.

Cause one of the common mistakes I see people make trying to avoid infodumps is pretty much that, writing multiple boring chapters just to "show" something that could have easily been summarized in 1 sentence. Infodump is a technique to speed up the pace of your writing so that you can continue with the plot. Just you have to be really careful when using it.

 

[ArcadiaBlade]

Info dumps are just to pander your story into a longer chapter. For me, I abhor writing info dumps and just slowly add them to the story, even if it confuses people which is which, I never try to info dump anything since I tend to bore myself into writing the details. As bad as I am with it, I prefer to basically improve my storytelling skills rather than pander my novel out like a genius, as it actually is better for you to focus on the plot than writing info dump which most people have already known much.

 

[Ai-chan]

I've been looking and reading, usually whenever others start their novels, is a big infodump and I've been reading that infodumps aren't good as it can bore the reader and other things.

So is a good idea to start that story with the antagonist perspective that introduce you to the fantasy world?

Or perhaps a battle to set up the stakes and the world that is at stake?

Or I should just do an infodump like others do?

Depends on what kind of infodumps. If it's an infodump about the world at large, you can just drop that into prologue. The prologue doesn't have to be chapter 1, although it can be chapter 1. It doesn't even need to mention the protagonist. It's totally fine to write about something else completely. So if you want an infodump at start, do it in the prologue, that's perfectly acceptable. It can be the myths, a detached story which roughly talks about the main story or it could be connected to the protagonist. It can even be a scene of the future.

It's really up to you how you want to write your story. However, if you want to drop an infodump at start, people won't complain if it's inside the prologue. If your infodump involves a huge battle where everyone died in the end, the prologue is the perfect place to do that. Think of the prologue as a 'short story' of sort where you set the stage for the main story.

 

[AliceShiki]

My only advice on this matter is... Try thinking if the information you want to provide is needed for the story.

Like, I'd say it is almost guaranteed that your readers will forget almost everything you explain in your info dump, so you'll probably have to revisit this info in different moments of the story as it is needed... Or maybe they'll have to revisit the info dump chapter to remind themselves of what you were talking about at a later point.

Those things are not problems in my views, but like... Just make sure that the info you want to provide is necessary? To give a random example...

If your main character is a priest who follows God A, you might be tempted to make an info dump about all the teachings of God A, or about all the internal workings of the pantheon and about the many gods that this world has... But do you need any of that? Or can you just vaguely mention here and there that other gods exist, and show the teachings of God A through the actions of the MC?

Like, it might feel nice to show the wonderful world you crafted to your readers, but uhn... Most readers don't care, they're here for the plot and characters, not for the world. So take a bit of time to think if the info you want to dump is truly necessary... If it is necessary, then do it... If not, skip it~

 

[Deleted member 45782]

My only advice on this matter is... Try thinking if the information you want to provide is needed for the story.

Like, I'd say it is almost guaranteed that your readers will forget almost everything you explain in your info dump, so you'll probably have to revisit this info in different moments of the story as it is needed... Or maybe they'll have to revisit the info dump chapter to remind themselves of what you were talking about at a later point.

Those things are not problems in my views, but like... Just make sure that the info you want to provide is necessary? To give a random example...

If your main character is a priest who follows God A, you might be tempted to make an info dump about all the teachings of God A, or about all the internal workings of the pantheon and about the many gods that this world has... But do you need any of that? Or can you just vaguely mention here and there that other gods exist, and show the teachings of God A through the actions of the MC?

Like, it might feel nice to show the wonderful world you crafted to your readers, but uhn... Most readers don't care, they're here for the plot and characters, not for the world. So take a bit of time to think if the info you want to dump is truly necessary... If it is necessary, then do it... If not, skip it~

Agreed. Unless its crafted in a certain way (like say a character is learning the ropes from another character or something, etc., that writes it in effectively well), i think info dump can be good in glossary or wikia of sorts. For the actual story, you want consistent nice smooth flow, not an encyclopedia.