Beginning without Infodump

MissMacchiato said:

I hate beginnings. I used to write university papers from the middle to end, and write the introduction last, and now that I'm writing novels I seem to have exactly the same problem.

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I do this too! My thesis statements always ended up at the end of my papers.

And if you're writing in first person, how can you avoid something like -

My name is Joe Blogs, and I'm a 35 year old police vet. Last year, I got hit by a car, and nothing has been the same since.

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Don't write that. There are lots of tricks to convey this sort of information in first person. For names, sometimes it works to just have your character introduce themselves to someone in dialogue. We don't need to know their name right off the bat, actually. For age you could do something like:

I felt someone run into me. "Hey, watch it gramps!"

Gramps, I thought, I'm only thirty-five. Punk.

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Obviously adjust for your characters personality. To get across the car information, maybe your character is walking down the street and hears tires skid, which reminds him of the car accident. Or he could get an insurance check in the mail, finally. Try to find something that can work its way into the plot.

Beginnings need to pull the reader into the story immediately. It doesn't have to be something dramatic like a murder, but still interesting. I would save as much of the back story as possible for later. Once you get the readers interested in the beginning, they'll want to know more about how your characters got there. But first you need to get them interested in the characters. Try grabbing the first paragraph or so from your favorite novels, and copy them over by hand to get a feel for what they did. See if you like any of the techniques there, and try them yourself.

Good luck with it!

You should read Sue Grafton's Alphabet series. She seamlessly weaves her MC, Kinsey Millhone's back-story and those of her friends, and enemies, into every book.

Well worth a read.

Remember this: only reveal information WHEN the readers need to know.

There's a tendency for writers to reveal everything because he/she knows everything. It's like keeping a secret, and you just feel the urge to blurt it out as soon as possible. The trick is to have discipline, and think about your readers. Do they need to know? And when should they know? Even when you decide the readers need to know, you will have to somehow seamlessly weave that information into the plot (dialogue, exposition, action, character development, etc.)

Who says writing fiction is easy?

I find the easiest way to avoid info dumping is to begin with scenes where things are happening, preferably with more than one character present. When a character is alone and/or not doing much (waking up, sipping tea, walking or driving somewhere alone), the temptation is to have her ruminate about her life up until now, the cause of her problems, etc. That can result in backstory and infodumps.

By the time you get through a few "things are actually happening scenes" we'll know the character better (by her actions, reactions, dialogue, etc.) At that point if you still need to include some bits of background info, the reader might care enough to remember it.

When you do get there, keep the background info brief.

ETA

My name is Joe Blogs, and I'm a 35 year old police vet. Last year, I got hit by a car, and nothing has been the same since.

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Just to bang something out to illustrate:

I limped behind Mary in the canned food aisle at Kroger. She'd lost all patience with my injuries months ago.

"Grab me some of them garbonzos, Joe," she said.

My hip creaked and pain shot down my leg as I stretched for the cans on the top shelf. Cripes, I still hate garbonzos. That's about the only thing in my life that hasn't changed since the accident.

Honestly, though, you don't even need to get the accident in there that quickly.If anything, limping and Mary's impatience will create the question of what's happened to him. It's unanswered questions that keep the reader reading.

For the four manuscripts I've written, I've gone ahead and written the 2-3 chapters of infodump. It's stuff I need to know about the story and the characters. Then I delete it, but only after I've gone ahead into the following chapters. So my old chapter 4 becomes my new chapter 1. If my crit partners can't figure out what's happening, I add stuff back in, sparingly.

One - if it's a first draft, don't worry - those beginnings aren't always made to last till the last draft - they just get you into writing the story.

MissMacchiato said:

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My name is Joe Blogs, and I'm a 35 year old police vet. Last year, I got hit by a car, and nothing has been the same since.

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I'd quit the first line. But the second... yeah could work. ( I read a book just recently taht said 'My life only started after I died the first time' or some such, and no, not a paranormal. Got me straight in, wanting to know how and why and...)

Working in the name can come a bit later imo. I need to know who this person is inside, right up. Names are just labels. Character is king.

maestrowork said:

Remember this: only reveal information WHEN the readers need to know.

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Then add in this.

ETA:

How much do you tell? (presumably only things that are relevant to the current story line?)

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Some will depend on who you're pubbing wih. My editor likes if each book stands on its own, so if someone gets book two by mistake, then at least they can enjoy it - and maybe pick up book one. Treat book one in book two the same as you would backstory in a stand alone. Ie don't assume a reader knows, but add in info as the new reader might require it. Subtly ofc.

Devil Ledbetter said:

[/I]Honestly, though, you don't even need to get the accident in there that quickly.If anything, limping and Mary's impatience will create the question of what's happened to him. It's unanswered questions that keep the reader reading.

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This. Nothing makes your readers turn the page quicker than questions that they want to be answered.

Fight your "telleverythingitis" and think of ways to raise the right questions to keep your readers intrigued and turning pages.

I agree with the above.

And I usually try to just slip it in where it fits, if I need it. In the novel I'm revising right now, for instance, it starts off with my MC telling his brothers he doesn't want to, and they launch into talking about how it's a "hunt like any other night" which leads into the fact that they're a family of vampire hunters.

When it comes to adding in the age, that one always depends on what I'm writing and what the POV character is like.

maestrowork said:

This. Nothing makes your readers turn the page quicker than questions that they want to be answered.

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And in how you present that question. Which will differ - and that's where subjectivity comes in

I limped behind Mary in the canned food aisle at Kroger. She'd lost all patience with my injuries months ago.

"Grab me some of them garbonzos, Joe," she said.

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IMO and is therefore subject to my taste.

Makes me think hen-pecked husband,for whatever reason. I don't wonder why, because I see so many. I need uniqueness. I need something. It doesn't draw me in as much as

Last year, I got hit by a car, and nothing has been the same since.

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Nothing has been the same since, How, why? What things, and how not the same?

MissMacchiato said:

I hate beginnings. I used to write university papers from the middle to end, and write the introduction last, and now that I'm writing novels I seem to have exactly the same problem.

I find it so hard to start a novel without blurting out a ton of info and overwhelming the reader!

Even moreso, since this will be the beginning of a second book. How much do you tell? (presumably only things that are relevant to the current story line?) How do you tell it in a way that isn't too telling, not enough showing?

And if you're writing in first person, how can you avoid something like -

My name is Joe Blogs, and I'm a 35 year old police vet. Last year, I got hit by a car, and nothing has been the same since.


I'd like to give the reader something to cling on to, something on which they could base a mental image of the character, but i don't want to spoon feed.

Ugh, this is so exactly why I end up writing beginnings last!

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why do you have to say it that way?

"The sky was almost as gray and unclean as the january slush piled in the medians. Davis sighed as he parked the car in front of the police station--thirty-five years, two divorces, and a bullet in his fucking leg, and it all came down to this......."

tells a bunch from withIN the story instead of stepping outside to run the laundry list......

MissMacchiato said:

My name is Joe Blogs, and I'm a 35 year old police vet. Last year, I got hit by a car, and nothing has been the same since.

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Here I am playing Devil's Advocate.

This MIGHT be a perfectly fine opening. If you're going to be really inside Joe's head and he's the kind of character who just comes right out and says what he's thinking or feeling, this might work great. But you'd better launch immediately into those unanswered questions Maestro and others mentioned. WHAT hasn't been the same? Where is Joe right now? Why is he telling the reader this? What was he doing when he was hit by the car (if that's important to the story?) Who was driving? How has he changed? What's the first question the reader will want answered? It's okay to give your narrative this kind of dry and straightforward voice, but you do need to give the reader a reason to read.

my school trick

So skip the intro and write a couple of juicy parts. You know the background, you can write any scene you want. Once you get the good parts going, work in the info dump stuff. You'll find it's a lot easier this way.

After writing some scenes and starting to string things together you may find you don't really need much info dump.

Stuck on a plot twist? Same thing. Write a love scene, a fight, the bank heist, whatever. Just don't stop. The last chapter is the hardest, because it's one that you've been putting off and ties everything together, like making the two ends of suspension bridge meet in the middle.

I didn't write my opening scene till I had half the book written. I knew the story, knew the characters. Then I rewrote it completely after the book was complete. I had no idea how I wanted to start my novel.

treu, and a dumb example

I was just reading a book, the first time a character is introduced to the reader his first and last name is used, even though everyone knows him. "Hey, Joe Smith, come over and see this."

Obvious info dump, the author couldn't wait to tell me his character's last name. Couldn't it have waited? Did knowing his last name make the story any better? Does knowing his age, height, weight, eye color help the plot? Does anyone care what his eye color is?

I, too, like the second line. Actually, the first two lines as stated might easily draw me in. What would matter would be the importance of the accident to the story. If it's only a past event, perhaps the reason Joe retired, then it's still not a bad opening, but maybe not the best.

Actually, do people really stop after one sentence? Seems to me you'd give it a paragraph at least.

My name is Joe Blogs, and I'm a 35 year old police vet. Last year, I got hit by a car, and nothing has been the same since. When I got out of the hospital, I no longer had a wife, a house, a dog, or a left leg.

I got a new dog.

Duke and I were doing another insurance surveillance job. The guy on the roof wasn't the guy we were supposed to be watching, but he was acting mighty peculiar...

or

My name is Joe Blogs, and I'm a 35 year old police vet. Last year, I got hit by a car, and nothing has been the same since. Seeing ghosts wasn't anything I was prepared for, but hey--you use what you got, right?

IdiotsRUs said:

IMO and is therefore subject to my taste.

Makes me think hen-pecked husband,for whatever reason. I don't wonder why, because I see so many. I need uniqueness. I need something. It doesn't draw me in as much as

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You missed my point entirely. I was only illustrating how putting a character into some kind of active scene ASAP, rather than beginning with My name is Joe Blow and bla bla backstory bla bla provides characterization and raises questions. That you see him as henpecked in my dashed off example shows that this approach works for characterization.

Obviously the writer needs to create a scene that illustrates the character she's working with.

it shouldn't be hard to do in first, either....


The January sky was almost as gray and unclean as the road slush that filled the medians. I pulled up to the police station, parked, and sat for a long moment taking in a bit more of the heat blasting through the vents before I stepped out. Six months ago I was hit by a car, and now it takes me twice as long to gimp-walk my way into the building as it used to. That is my new life: everything at half-speed.

MissMacchiato said:

Even moreso, since this will be the beginning of a second book. How much do you tell? (presumably only things that are relevant to the current story line?) How do you tell it in a way that isn't too telling, not enough showing?

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I'm dealing with the same problem. I even have a better set up than most writers, since the hook at the end of the last novel is essentially where this novel begins. Even so, it is hard to know how much to tell. Sometimes I pretend that this is the first novel and I just give hints as to what happened before. Much the same way I do with other areas in the first novel, especially in reference to a wip novella that precedes its events.

MissMacchiato said:

And if you're writing in first person, how can you avoid something like -

My name is Joe Blogs, and I'm a 35 year old police vet. Last year, I got hit by a car, and nothing has been the same since.

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For one of the best introductory openings for first person fantasy I've ever read, check out the first Harry Dresden book by Jim Butcher. (Read sample here: "http://www.jim-butcher.com/books/dresden/1/ch1/) I try to use him as inspiration for my own novels, because I write in first person too.

I try to set up to fit character, show a bit about the world, and fit a situation. But I didn't try to show whom my character is and his name and all that in the first paragraph. I just tried to give the reader something interesting to read and the hint of gender so they can begin building the picture up. Some things like age I don't usually go into, but if your novel is set in our world it may be more important.

In another series opening, I have a memoir style going. In it, I have another character say his name within a few paragraphs. Probably because the situation he was in and the title hints at the wrong gender. In my current, unrelated novel, the character's gender comes about because he meets his sometimes-wife in line one, but his name comes about because she calls him by a name he doesn't go by anymore. So he corrects her.

Sometimes its just best to play around with situations like this. You can get natural-like openings, but not so easily as you do other situations in the novel. Because it is the beginning and it is needs to not only be engaging but fit the story and introduce world, character, and more the reader. That's a lot to put on a few paragraphs and a few pages.

MissMacchiato said:

Ugh, this is so exactly why I end up writing beginnings last!

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I once read advice (concerning article writing) that if you can't come up with a good beginning right away, then skip it and go back to it. That might work for you since you did it before.

Sometimes it doesn't. Since I began writing out of order though I can't really do that. I have to write the beginning and end first, since they are like "bookends on the novel"; they have a lot to do with each other despite the distance between them. You may not need to go so far as to write the ending first, but if you have an idea of your ending, you likely have an idea of your beginning too. Building from that image can help.

Best of luck. Even if it takes a while, there is nothing quite like the feeling of knowing you got the beginning right.

Jodi

Devil Ledbetter said:

You missed my point entirely.

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I had a feeling I might have.

I was only illustrating how putting a character into some kind of active scene ASAP, rather than beginning with My name is Joe Blow and bla bla backstory bla bla provides characterization and raises questions. That you see him as henpecked in my dashed off example shows that this approach works for characterization.

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Oh, I see that. I just think that second line could be a good start too. I know, I know start with action - but sometimes just plonking someone down in situ doesn't work as well as that lead line (Like the one I quoted above about only starting to live after they died, where it got me interested before I was into the whole killing a big bear scene)

And that's where it gets subjective. You probably don't want a whole lot before the action, true. Maybe just that one line. *shrug* Difficult to say without knowing what comes next.

Devil Ledbetter said:

... When a character is alone and/or not doing much (waking up, sipping tea, walking or driving somewhere alone), the temptation is to have her ruminate about her life up until now, the cause of her problems, etc. That can result in backstory and infodumps.

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Just to muddy the water, my favorite writer (and a popular one too) often begins his books with the MC navel gazing. His character's ruminations that reveal back story & environment suck me right in. Its one of the things I love about his about his writing. The one I'm reading right now begins with the MC's wife woken from a drugged sleep by her son's voice, regretting the decision she & her husband made to move to their new house, ruminating over the frustrations of their life. One man's infodump is another man's fascinating read?

Layla Nahar said:

Just to muddy the water, my favorite writer (and a popular one too) often begins his books with the MC navel gazing. His character's ruminations that reveal back story & environment sucked me right in. Its one of the things I love about his about his writing. The one I'm reading right now begins with the MC's wife woken from a drugged sleep by her son's voice, regretting the decision she & her husband made to move to their new house, ruminating over the frustrations of their life.

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When you're a published, popular author, you can easily get away with that. If you're a debut author with fantastic chops, you might get away with that too.

Over the years in SYW I've read so many dull openings where the MC wakes up, yawns and infodumps about her life, or drives somewhere alone while infodumping, that they now make me want to stab myself in the eyeball with a fork. Anyway, the OP asked how to avoid starting with backstory, so I presume that's what she wants to do.

Info dump in the opening all you wish. When the novel is finished, throw away the first chapter.