While editing my current WIP (work in progress) for size, I’ve noticed a pattern when I introduce new characters. It starts with a long list of the characters, how they look, who they are, their backstory, and on and on. Then, after about a page, or three, they start acting.
Formalized, it could be a bit like this:
[[Introducing the setting]]
[[Introducing Character A]]
[[Introducing Character B]]
[[Introducing Character C]]
[[Ooops where's the POV character in all this and what are they up to?]]
[[End of info dump]]
Character A did something amazing and said: "Blah blah blah."
"No really?" said Character B.
Character C scoffed.
So, part from trimming any excess fat from any part of this first draft scene (that isn’t supposed to be great from the start anyway—Hemingway said so!) I can rearrange it in this way:
[[Introducing the setting AND where's the POV character and what are they up to?]]
[[Introducing Character A]] who did something amazing and said: "Blah blah blah."
"No really?" said Character B. [[Introducing Character B]]
[[Introducing Character C]] who scoffed.
It can still be info-dumpey, but this way the story engine gets to rev up, hopefully not even halfway down page 1 of this scene. (And yes, I know, it should rev up in the first sentence or at the very latest in the first paragraph, but I have to leave something for draft 3, 4 and 5, right?)
This becomes even more efficient if character A and B spend a page talking, and only then does character C step in. Character C doesn’t have to be introduced before that point.
A variant would be to limit the initial introductions to at most a sentence, and then add more later in the scene.
In regard to backstory, only add what is vitally important only exactly when it’s needed. So if not all backstory is vitally important, move it to the character profile document for possible use later (unless it should always stay under the surface…)
Talkwards 