That Time At The Place With The Stuff

Because I love xkcd so much, I'm going to open with this.


Human beings, when they're talking to people they know pretty well, have inside jokes. They make references to past experiences and conversations. Interesting characters will do this as well.

Don't believe me? Watch this clip from Love Actuallybetween 5:42 and 6:00.

Now, come on, isn't that an absolutely fabulous opening?

In that opener, we get a sense of who each guy is and just how well they know each other. Because they've got these shared experiences they can reference talking to each other.

Inside jokes -- so long as they're explained enough that one knows they're inside jokes -- can be a great way of explaining just how long characters have known each other, how well they know each other, and -- depending on the joke -- can provide hints to back story that might be apparent later.

Useful, no?

So, how about those zebras?

Do you like inside jokes? Do your characters tell them? How do you feel about character's rehashing shared experiences and telling inside jokes?

Mythos

In my version of the universe, I can put all of the weird aspects of my made up world into the book and no reader will ever be bored by it. In the universe as it actually exists, I know that is not so. That is why at least 50% of the mythology and such that I created for my fictional world in Supposedly Epic Book will never make it onto the page, not even in draft one. Why? Because, in my heart of hearts, even I know that most readers won't care.

However, I could not resist including at least some of it into the book. And I'm trying to convince myself it is important. After all, since I am devoting around 500 words to a mythological story, it should probably be entertaining as well as informative.

My MC is traveling to reclaim a stolen item, and when asked why it was stolen, she replied, "Well, they don't like us very much." When asked to explain that, she tells the story she was told as a child -- a myth. I want her to question the real cause of the wars, which none of them know. If she doesn't question the war, then no one's motivations are going to have many levels.

Does including the myths slow the story down too much? Gosh, I hope not. Otherwise, I'm going to have to find a way to make it go faster and more interesting while keeping it in the story. It's basically back back story. Bad form, maybe, but I want to keep it in. I loved mythology as a kid, so I have no problem reading it in a book. Others, I know, are not the same.

Does brief storytelling make things too slow? Is it too obvious as back story?

How much myth do you use in your writing? Do you ever make up the mythology for your characters?

Wait! Where'd My World Go?

When I first started outlining my current WIP, I created character analysis for my main characters, a plot outline, and also some basic information about all the cultures I might mention in my text. (All cultures in my text are fictional, so I wanted to line up the basics so they didn't run together.) Lots of nice back story, which I enjoyed.

Now that I've started writing the first draft, I've noticed that a lot of the back story isn't making it into the text. All that mythology I made up is skimmed over, and other thing are getting a vague mention, if at all. Is this bad? Is there an apparent lack of important world building going on here? Am I skimping on details because they're apparent to me but might not be for the uninitiated?

In my view, I think I've got it covered. I think a lot of the back story I came up with doesn't actually need to make an appearance in the book. It was nice for me to know how these people might feel about an event, in case I decided that someone wanted their input, but a lot of the details were just for me. Something to remember as I flushed out personalities that no one else needs to care about. The world building was useful for me as a writer, but I don't think it was anything the reader is going to miss.

Maybe a future beta reader will come to me and say, "I don't understand why these people insist on doing this thing," and then I'll return to my back story and put more of it into the text for the reader. Then, it will be nice to know I've the information on hand. Until that time though, I think it's better for the information to remain in my notebook and not in the novel.

For other useful information on Need to Know, check out this post by Lady Glamis.