: Re: How do you guide a character into discovering a world? I'm writing a story about a creature that takes the shape of a human and travels seeing the world. This character has no clue about

I believe the most powerful solution is that the presence of the guide develops your main character (the one you do not want 'pulled from.')

I believe the answer to this is through your main character's reactions to the guide, and through their relationship.

It doesn't matter what the guide is.

If it is books, he can have a relationship with the books. Perhaps: He doesn't know how to read. He can only read a little. He becomes frustrated, annoyed, that this is the only way he has to learn the world. Eventually, he learns to read, and learns to love books, and this development can be taken to comical or other extremes.

If it is a person, he can have a very realistic relationship, pulling on all the areas that human relationships have. Power plays, attraction, repulsion, conversation, lies, truths.

If it is a mythical creature, he can have other reactions and relational issues. He may feel he is going crazy. He may feel others like him (formless) have followed him and are trying to influence him.

If it is a computer intelligence, build off of Amadeus' answer, and create his reactions and relationship to the technology. This becomes additionally interesting in the context of SF's comment, because now there can be multiple relationships occurring. And more confusion.

Your question is how to avoid detracting from the character. The answer is to make your character's reactions and/or relationship to the guide the focus of what is being learned. Incidentally, this also helps get you past issues of 'info dump,' because as he is learning, you write about his reactions to the (provided) info, not solely the info itself.

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: Re: How do you guide a character into discovering a world? I'm writing a story about a creature that takes the shape of a human and travels seeing the world. This character has no clue about

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: How to complement a novel with short stories - what to avoid I have given my novel to beta readers now. hurray! I'm also very pointedly not looking at it for a few weeks. I'm spending these

: How does one gauge the strength of any particular adverb? I am now editing for adverbs, as silly as that may sound to some people. :-) I have learned, 'by ear', that the advice to 'avoid

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