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Origin Stories

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belial.1980:
A lot of stories start off with a protagonist who's relatively well established; of course there's always room for growth but said hero will usually have a fair assortment of knowledge and skills already under his/her belt.

Any pointers on writing a story that includes the character's origin? I'm trying to write a story (1st person perspective) where the young protagonist is just discovering a magical, and sometimes horrific, world that lies just below the surface of our own. I'm having a difficult time managing the flow of the story. He's going to receive a huge influx of information and I find it difficult to keep it streamlined. Any tips on smoothly working a glut of information into the story so it doesn't slow it down too much?

Also, I'm struggling to create a genuine reaction to life-changing knowledge and situations. Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance for your advice.

ballplayer72:
well if you come to a point where you just have to info dump, maybe he needs a mentor?  Or at least someone he can learn something from on a short basis (think the sifu's in Avatar). Or if youre using magic, have him seek knowledge from a spirit or spirits.  Ghosts even, or other magic beings. (fae etc.)  These already learned characters can info dump at will.

Starbeam:
Try reading Bloodblade, I forget the author's name.  It's a very similar type of thing, where a character comes into an unfamiliar world and has to learn about it.  It's good to get a feel of how to let the info out and to get a handle on how to keep the pacing going without the info stopping it.  I've got the same sort of a thing going on in one of my stories, and it helped me get an idea of how to do it without being info dumpish.  Also, like bp said, a mentor is probably going to be something you'll want as a way to get the info out without it coming across as too terribly contrived.

Quantus:
Id recommend most anything by Neil Gaiman, but specifically American Gods or Neverwhere.  The arent a guy developing magic per say, but they are definitely about somebody who is thrown into the deep end hard and has to pick up or figure out things as the story goes along. 

ballplayer72:
heres an idea feel free to use it :

Your character discovers this mad mad world through a seemingly harmless magic creature.  Satyr, fawn, something kinda cute and maybe with some hoes around it :P    He drinks the faerie koolaid. bad things start to happen.  he freaks. asks the now not so cute satyr (that looks like it normally does since it isn't fucking around with him anymore) wtf mate whats goin on?  Satyr says you really wanna know? dude says yeah man why are the walls growing tentacles wtf?   Satyr makes him a bargain he gets to know whats going on but has to X (insert your plot here.  go on a quest. retrieve the such an such from so an so and rescue any damsel with a breast size over a b cup etc.) maybe start it out as a favor. or a couple of favors.   In return the satyr could just magically dump what it knows about the magic world into his head.  Make it like a bunch of flashbacks or something like that and you can have a few pages or a chapter tops of some nice decent info dumping to set the stage

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