Hello everyone! Tried to search the forums but didn't come up with anything related to this. Writing a Genre-Fiction (Fantasy) story from the perspective of a youthful and precocious Noble. He's the youngest of three brothers. The oldest, once slated to be the crown prince, died due to health complications early in the protagonist's childhood (He was middle aged when he died; dad is practically a living fossil right now). There is no court intrigue or strife in the family so foul play isn't a plot driver. He just passed on peacefully leading a full (if shorter than expected) life. Thing is that he does not play a significant role in the plot, but he obviously existed (had a wife, children) and was a significant part of the family's life. His own family is not prominent in the story, though they do have a presence How do I depict him as a character without being contrived? I'm assuming a fireside "yeah he was a cool guy" chat between the protagonist and the supporting characters isn't substantial or convincing enough. I've been chewing my lip because I can't seem to execute it without feeling heavy-handed. Probably not enough of my personal details to work with (still drawing things up), but are there any good examples or rules for including these things?
The "fireside chat" sounds like it will be hard to pull off without coming across as an info-dump; but, why do you need to make a big deal of him anyway? Presumably his wife and kids will make an entrance at some point, where you can mention that they are related to the late crown prince, and that's all you really need. Incidentally, if LCP had a son, that son would leapfrog the two surviving princes in the succession stakes - at least under UK rules - so his son would be a bigger cog in the overall scheme of things. That would make this the most unusual royal court in the history of everything, not to mention pretty unusual for any family!
I agree that it's far from necessary to go into much depth on this guy's character just because he happened to be related to your MC... is there another reason it's important that you characterize him? How does his personality affect the story you're trying to tell?
Yes, that's the key. WHY do you need to let us in on this older brother's personality? If it has affected your main character, we will probably need to see how. Use your main character, if he's the POV character, to let us in on his thoughts and feelings. That should be enough.
You are all correct about it, I suppose I'm asking how to include it without the reader going "wait, who?" I'm stuck on it as a world-building problem more than anything. I might also be suffering from being too attached to the characters. Info-dumping has been a sin I've repeated.
But what's the "it" that you're referring to in "include it"? Just the fact that there used to be a third brother? Why is that an important fact? How does it influence the current world? When you know that, then you know when to include the information. Given that the brother had children, I assume one of them is the heir to the throne? In which case I assume you could mention his father when you introduce the heir...?
I'd have to agree with the consensus here. What significance does this brother have to do with the plot? Unless something he has done in life is having a profound effect on the plot now, there isn't really a need to go into him at length. If your character mentions him, for example 'if only he could see this' as people do when missing loved ones, then just simply say he passed due to his health failing and leave it at that. There is a book I read (and I think I've left at my folks' place) that had a rule about pets. If they're not a major part of the plot treat them like a piece of furniture. Yes, the brother is part of the story of your character's life, but what is his significance to the chapter that is the story you're writing?
If he lived to be middle aged, my advice would be to drive the most important features through reputation. A crown prince who lived through his thirties would have had plenty of time to establish one, and such things are easy to slide in a conversation. A nickname would also go a long way. For example, if that man was very resourceful, you could hear a wagon driver praising one of his guards who just repaired a wheel with broken stokes by saying something like "Well Jak, I never took you for Clever Olver, but I guess I was being unfair". The finer details could be shown through light flashbacks such as "He felt as cold as that time Olver fished him out of the pond in the middle of winter". Those two little allusions, while having a very little impact on the pace of the story, would already build an impression of who Olver was. Of course, that suggestion is probably a mile off from your story, but you get the idea.
"Why didn't Prince Whatsit study swordsmanship? Isn't that a thing for a king?" "Well, he was the third son, so it didn't seem likely that he was ever going to rule." "I thought he had just one brother? "It was two. One of them died." "Oh, I see. Anyway, when's lunch?"
What was your MC's relationship with his late older brother? If the departed crown prince was a mentor to him, he could think how "Prince Basil taught me how to do this" and "What would my brother Basil do?" But if it was a matter of grown-and-out-of-the-house-before-I-knew-my-toes-from-my-elbows, your deceased royal needs but minimal mention.