I'm writing a story about a rebellion, but that takes place 20 years after the original government was overthrown and replaced. I'm writing in third person limited, but am struggling to find a way to give the information of the events 20 years ago through the mind of my character 20 years later. I'm debating between him talking it through with another character, or just coming out and dumping it all out there at the very beginning. Thoughts?
My thoughts are that neither of those options you've suggested would be ideal. Info-dumps are generally ill-advised, and scenes that are shoehorned in as a way to get information to a reader are easily spotted and ill-advised as well. Usually, a lot of this information isn't necessary. As writers, we have a tendency to want to make sure the reader knows exactly what happened in the past, but it can be a big time mistake. If your story takes place twenty years after, why do we need to know the details? A few passing lines of narration aren't a bad thing, but you don't need to give all the information. Provide some hints and let the reader use his or her brain. You'd be surprised what can be gleaned from context. The example I always go to is Cormac McCarthy's The Road. Not a single line is given as to what caused the apocalypse, and guess what? I don't care because the story isn't about what happened to Earth. The story is about The Man and The Boy trying to survive in the face of a bleak, gray reality. So what is your story about? If it's about characters (highly suggested), ask yourself why the audience needs to know in detail what happened when the original government was overthrown. Sometimes, it's better for the audience to just know that it has been overthrown, not specifics. Hope this helps.
Infodumps at the beginning of novels is usually a big turn-off for me, and two characters talking about an event is still infodumping. I think @Spencer1990 raises a good point. You can scatter small clues as to what happened to the previous government throughout the course of the book. Just a few snippets here and there. Once you've got the reader well and truly hooked into the real story, then you can start to reveal more/bigger clues. Trust it to the reader to piece the truth together. If they're interested in your novel, they'll take the time to figure it out.
I agree with Spence that neither of these options is desirable. I'd scatter the information regarding the rebellion through the text of the main story. Revolutions are about symbols as much as they are about power changing from one group to another, many of which are simple everyday things, like the names of streets, parks, statues of one group being torn down in favor of another, etc. Question: what kind of revolution and in what setting? Urban or rural? Top-down or bottom-up?
Yeah, gonna have to go with @Spence on this one. While for you knowing how every piece of info in the historical outline is pertinent, the reader will not be all that invested in knowing all those little details that lead up to where the story kicks off. Where my own project, they mention only the pertinent info on what is currently going on, that sets the wheels of my MC into Renegade mode. And only brings up the very specific events that were in the past, that are now really pissing him off. Only the pertinent info is needed to fill the reader in on what they need to know to follow the motivation behind your characters doing what they are doing. We don't care about the day twenty years ago that goldfish bowl controversy and rally for equal rights for goldfish around the globe. So stick to the 'here and now' of your story, and don't try to play up the 'this happened back when, and affects XYZ now. That will feel great for you to know, but not every last piece should be included in the main story. Share only the bits and pieces that are relevant and important to the story overall. If you have a little wiggle room or a slower bit, add in a bit of facts about the world. But don't go crazy or it will feel like filler that is there only for padding out the run time. "He who controls the Spice, controls the Universe." -Barron Harkonan- Dune
One thing I thought of is the lead character realizes that something seems "wrong" about the past events as they're known, and does research, and discovers fabrications and cover-ups. Characters doing research, in my experience, is a decent way to handle exposition as long as something else interesting happens along the way, or as an end result. Like a personal revelation, or being caught up in some conspiracy.
This comes up a lot in fantasy. I always try to include a character who is an outsider whom the MC has to explain the nuances of the situation. If you are in a rebellion, obviously you need to explain why there rebellion is occurring, and why your MC is on the side they are on. I've got a setting in which I've written and published seven novels, and the above has worked every time, although in some cases the MC is the outsider who has t have things explained to him. It plays out perfectly naturally because obviously a person in the midst of an event will be asked 'why'. Don't dump it all at once, but have it explained as things are needed.
"Reminds me of the Nitith slave mines on Galganas 7." "Every place reminds you of some place else." "Experience, lad. You should learn to appreciate it." "A lot of good it's done us so far."
If so, just make sure that they have a reason to be talking about it, and make sure that their reactions to what the other is saying is as interesting as what they themselves are trying to say. Maybe they disagree about something that's happened? As disappointing as the first episode of SyFy's The Dresden Files was compared to the crazy-awesomeness of the books, there was one fantastic piece of exposition that the episode had, but that the books did not: Harry Dresden is saying that his old master taught him something specific, and Bob the Ghost mentions, "Yes, before you 'self-defensed' him to death?" In those two lines, we learn Harry was taught magic by another wizard Harry killed the man who taught him magic Harry has claimed at some undetermined point in the past that his master had been trying to kill him first Bob disagrees with Harry's assessment Bob is still bitter with him about what happened
