Can you post non-narritive chapters?

[JC_WELLS]

I am working on a series and is wondering if it was allowed to publish chapters that include things like world information? I'm new so I don't know much so any help is appreciated

 

[EmilyMiller]

I am working on a series and is wondering if it was allowed to publish chapters that include things like world information? I'm new so I don't know much so any help is appreciated

You mean like the endnotes to LoTR? Notes on elvish script and the history of the second age?

Is it part of the story?

Could you introduce the same material in-line as opposed to in an information dump chapter?

I don’t see anything prohibiting such as chapter, but it might get put into the Reviews & Essays category.

Wouldn’t it be a little jarring?

Em

 

[PennameWombat]

I am working on a series and is wondering if it was allowed to publish chapters that include things like world information? I'm new so I don't know much so any help is appreciated

If it's not actually a 'story', but simply an info-dump, you could likely post it but as Emily says, almost certainly it'd get put into Reviews & Essays. If it didn't, I can see it incurring plenty of criticism and low scores, if you allow voting, if there's no actual narrative. Or it might get rejected.

But, bigger question, why would you do that? I mean, I understand world building (look over my stories), but the stories are how you reveal your world. Let the readers experience the world through the experiences of your characters since they're the ones who live there. Info dumps are rarely pleasant reading. So it's always a case of figuring out how to reveal the world without falling back on them.

You mean like the endnotes to LoTR? Notes on elvish script and the history of the second age?

If something like this is what you mean, you could include an Afterword section on your story where you info dump, readers have already had a story and can continue on or not, their choice. But if reading that would be essential to enjoying your overall series, I'd consider that poor structure. Your story (via the narrative chapters) should provide what readers need to read and enjoy as your world is more widely revealed as you go.

Even LotR was perfectly readable without reading the appendices and endnotes. Those added to it, but weren't required to read and enjoy the narrative.

 

[JC_WELLS]

Well I mean I'm doing this series on both here an on Fetlife. I read another's series on there that put up a sort of world overview/information chapter and I thought it was a cool idea. It wouldn't even be mandatory, but more like a fun extra. It would go into deeper explanations and such. It would al be extra and would actually explain more in depth histories. Thanks for responding!

 

[EmilyMiller]

Well I mean I'm doing this series on both here an on Fetlife. I read another's series on there that put up a sort of world overview/information chapter and I thought it was a cool idea. It wouldn't even be mandatory, but more like a fun extra. It would go into deeper explanations and such. It would al be extra and would actually explain more in depth histories. Thanks for responding!

Then do it as an addendum, not a chapter interrupting the narrative. Again, like LoTR.

Em

 

[JC_WELLS]

Okay I just googled what that was. And yes that similar to what I'm doing (very similar). But, I'm publishing the series chapter by chapter and I want to know if a "chapter" (when you press create work and write stuff there) can be posted that's not an actual narrative. I just want to know if I can or if it isn't allowed on this site by admins/mods.

 

[JC_WELLS]

I also never said it would be in the middle or somewhere between the story. I just wanted to know if a non narrative chapter is allowed to be published.

 

[SimonDoom]

I'd suggest doing it as a separate story, perhaps in a separate category, from your series. That way it won't interrupt the narrative flow of the series, something that may annoy some readers. You can have a very short afterward to the chapters of your story that refers to this particular story so readers can choose to read it if they want.

 

[SimonDoom]

I also never said it would be in the middle or somewhere between the story. I just wanted to know if a non narrative chapter is allowed to be published.

Sure. The site won't stop you.

 

[JC_WELLS]

Perhaps chapter was the wrong word? I mean as in the following screenshot. Where the series is called "from family to slave training and then each book, From Vacation to Slave training part, 2, etc. I meant in that sort of way isit okay to post a non narrative piece (the part1 part 2) as?

 

[JC_WELLS]

There would probably be few parts and it would all be under the part labeled as "series" separate from my actual stories.

 

[ElectricBlue]

There would probably be few parts and it would all be under the part labeled as "series" separate from my actual stories.

I'd be asking myself what it's going to add to the story.

If the world building stuff is important to the story, it should be in the story, not bolted on somewhere else. If it's just a bolt-on, it doesn't sound essential - therefore, why bother? Sounds to me that it just going to confuse readers, which is a good way lose them.

 

[JC_WELLS]

I'd be asking myself what it's going to add to the story.

If the world building stuff is important to the story, it should be in the story, not bolted on somewhere else. If it's just a bolt-on, it doesn't sound essential - therefore, why bother? Sounds to me that it just going to confuse readers, which is a good way lose them.

It will be in the story, this would just fun extra information ON what they got from the story. Sometimes even including mini histories on pieces. It's not mandatory, but I think it'd be fun and I know I'd like to read it, others might too. Like I said it's not just a plain old information dump it's like a mini series of it's own that will explore parts of the world that are touched upon and set in the main series.

 

[JC_WELLS]

Well, according to what I'm gathering, my question that I had asked was answered with a yes it can be allowed to be published by site mods/admins. So that's really all I wanted to know. Is there a way to lock this thread or anything?

 

[alohadave]

It will be in the story, this would just fun extra information ON what they got from the story. Sometimes even including mini histories on pieces. It's not mandatory, but I think it'd be fun and I know I'd like to read it, others might too. Like I said it's not just a plain old information dump it's like a mini series of it's own that will explore parts of the world that are touched upon and set in the main series.

Go for it. It's your story. Interested readers will read it, others will ignore it.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Well, according to what I'm gathering, my question that I had asked was answered with a yes it can be allowed to be published by site mods/admins. So that's really all I wanted to know. Is there a way to lock this thread or anything?

No. It will just wither on the vine. Good luck with your story and all it's various bits .

 

[Voboy]

I am working on a series and is wondering if it was allowed to publish chapters that include things like world information? I'm new so I don't know much so any help is appreciated

Okay. So here's my reply.

When world-building, I tend to write my background info as mini-treatises or excerpts from other, phantom scholarly works about my world. If that makes sense. I do this because it's fun for me, it's a nice exercise in experimenting with more technical style, and it provides "depth" to my worlds that, I think, comes through in the finished stories, even if that background matter isn't directly quoted.

Think of how the chapter heads in Dune take the form of quotes from fake scholarly works: that's where I got the idea.

So for any fantasy/SF piece I write, there are likely to be several pages' worth of mock-scholarly exposition, for my enjoyment and reference, that I keep tucked away in my files.

My SF series took off, and I started getting enough emailed questions from readers that I decided to package a bunch of my background matter and publish it as an Appendix. It was definitely appreciated, even though I was very leery about posting it. I did it, in the end, because if I was the reader of a series I really liked, I'd want to read something like that. And I always write stuff I'd want to read. Even as boring as it is to the non-initiated and as pretentious as it might appear on the writer's part.

So? Head on over to my catalog if you want to see how I did it. It's the Appendix to the Dry, No Lube series.

 

[Voboy]

It will be in the story, this would just fun extra information ON what they got from the story. Sometimes even including mini histories on pieces. It's not mandatory, but I think it'd be fun and I know I'd like to read it, others might too. Like I said it's not just a plain old information dump it's like a mini series of it's own that will explore parts of the world that are touched upon and set in the main series.

I can't stress this enough: DO NOT info-dump all your background matter into the foreground. DO NOT. I know you like it, and are proud of it and enthusiastic about it, but there's a reason you wrote it as background material. Let it wait there, to be called forward when (if?) needed. Publishing as an appendix is fine, but it will only clog your narratives if you let it.

I take Tolkien as my model for this sort of thing. He claimed once that there is not one single reference in LOTR that does not have some sort of background matter scribbled somewhere, opaque to the reader but nevertheless sensed through the depth of the built world. His sole exception, according to him, was the reference to the cats of Queen Beruthiel, tossed off as a casual simile by Aragorn in Moria.

And yet? JRR's son Christopher did indeed find a scrap of paper among his father's things that did include a paragraph about those cats. Which JRR had not recalled writing. So in that case, it was opaque to the author as well as the reader.

I think that's wonderful.

 

[JC_WELLS]

I'm just going to ignore all other responses from here as I have gotten the answer to the actual question I was actually asking and will be going ahead with my plans. Thank you to everyone for taking time out of your day to respond. I already knew I wanted to do this, just was a matter of if the site admins allow it. Thank you again and I wish you luck on your projects

 

[Britva415]

I'd be asking myself what it's going to add to the story.

And I'd be asking myself why this "exposition" isn't part of the story.

Exposition in quotes because it's not even exposition.

 

[EmilyMiller]

It will be in the story, this would just fun extra information ON what they got from the story. Sometimes even including mini histories on pieces. It's not mandatory, but I think it'd be fun and I know I'd like to read it, others might too. Like I said it's not just a plain old information dump it's like a mini series of it's own that will explore parts of the world that are touched upon and set in the main series.

If you want to do it, then do it.

Seems that way.

No point asking questions of you already know the answer.

Em

 

[AwkwardlySet]

I can't stress this enough: DO NOT info-dump all your background matter into the foreground. DO NOT. I know you like it, and are proud of it and enthusiastic about it, but there's a reason you wrote it as background material. Let it wait there, to be called forward when (if?) needed. Publishing as an appendix is fine, but it will only clog your narratives if you let it.

I wholeheartedly agree with Voboy. A person willing to read through a wall of text that describes your world in little detail would need to be your hardcore fan already. An average reader is simply not invested enough to bother to read all that stuff and you will basically drive him away from your story. Keep the world-building material for yourself and slowly introduce it bit by bit as needed. Use it to slowly add depth to your world as your story progresses and as your readers start caring enough about your story and characters to be interested in reading all that.

 

[JC_WELLS]

If you want to do it, then do it.

Seems that way.

No point asking questions of you already know the answer.

Em

That is true, but that wasn't even the question I was asking. I was asking if the site admins/mods would allow a non narrative. NOT if others thought it was a good idea or not. Just make sure you read the question carefully.

 

[EmilyMiller]

That is true, but that wasn't even the question I was asking. I was asking if the site admins/mods would allow a non narrative. NOT if others thought it was a good idea or not. Just make sure you read the question carefully.

We are going to be such good friends.

Em