Midway through my WIP I switch POVs to a secondary character. He's alone, doing some work and another character from his past walks in, surprising him. Now, I want to include backstory here about how these two met, years ago. Their meeting is a short scene, but important because it hints at what happens in their future, and it establishes the POV character's odd nickname. I'm chewing on the best way to execute it. Currently, I have it where when seeing this other person again, his mind instantly flashes back to when they met, and we go to that short scene, then back to the present. But that feels like a crammed-in infodump. Maybe I reverse it instead? Where he's reminiscing about that scene and then the person shows up? But that might be too convenient. Idk... Any ideas welcomed!
How far past the infodump have you written? If it's a decent way, how would removing the info dump completely affect what you've written?
Not far. I kind of just have it as a placeholder for now, though it's a workable first draft. So moving stuff around wouldn't be an issue at this stage. I'm just trying to figure out the best way to approach it before I get too far with it.
Try not writing it at all and carry on writing. Because you know it isn't there, you won't fall back on it as a crutch, and you'll reveal the important information organically. If you then discover you need it, you can go back and add it in.
I know I'll need it for a couple reasons. One, the character doesn't talk much, so knowing how he got his nickname will be important because he wouldn't explain it himself. Also, his interaction with the other character in the past directly affects why he shows back up later. So the backstory has to be in there somewhere, but I can't just reveal it in dialogue because these two dudes are up to something in a sub-plot that I don't want to reveal right away. EDIT: I also think I misunderstood your first post about how far past that scene I am. And generally, I'm far past it because I'm writing parts of the draft kind of non-linearly, so I'm bouncing around a bit. But even still, moving stuff around won't be a problem at this point.
Right, but you wouldn't reveal it right away. The characters already know why he has it, they wouldn't need to talk about it. Then, when you feel it appropriate, you can add it in. Maybe one character asks another one why he got it, and the other character explains it.
I thought about that situation. Where someone new to the group (it's a baseball team in this case), asks the guy why people call him [nickname]. But it wouldn't have the same impact if he explained it in an answer right then. His nickname was a total accident, spoken in an unrelated sense by someone else. He then took what was said and spun it into a persona (he's also the team's mascot.) So in order for it to have the right impact, it has to be told in backstory, but I don't want to just dump a scene from his past in there, unless I find a good way to do so.
But he may not feel comfortable enough or integrated with the group to ask straight away. He's the new guy. So he asks later when he's more familiar to them. And he might not ask the person themselves, but asks another team member.
Imagine you're observing two people. You know one superficially, you know the other not at all. However, over the next few minutes, it becomes clear that they know each other both fairly well. How would this become apparent? How might the exchange go? If they allude to some event in their past, how would that sound?
I have that part. The present-day scene with these two reuniting is fine, although their discussion is ambiguous and hurried, which is intentional on my part. I essentially want to work in a flashback to their first meeting, but am trying not to just jam it in there as an infodump. I could weave it in through dialogue in a later scene(s) as well but this feels like a good spot for it. Just trying to avoid the "oh by the way, here's what happened 11 years ago" thing.
My recommendation is similar to (if not the same as) Naomasa298s. I recommend initially writing this without any flashback nor info dump. Let the reader discover this information organically through their interactions with each other and others. I would even go so far as to not even have that dialogue where someone asks about his nickname. If you write it and afterward it still feels like something essential is missing (or a beta reader thinks something essential is missing) then certainly go back and add it. But most of the time that sort of flashback / infodump isn't actually needed. Readers do a fantastic job of picking up on context clues and reading between the lines of character interactions.
Have the other character call him by the nickname, then have him think about where that nickname came from. It doesn't need to be more than a sentence or two, most likely.
