/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.12205612]

So I'm working on a book, nothing special just going to self publish it, but I'm putting my name on it and I want it to be good. We're about a 1/3d though the story and I'm introducing a new character. It's a fantasy novel, his thing is he's a Paladin, he can judge whether or not people are telling the truth and no one man can defeat a paladin in single combat.

I have him ride into town (A town our main characters are in route too, so I'm setting him up before they meet him)

As he rides into the city a young boy is marveling at his gleaming silver armor and asks his dad (they are two unnamed characters) who he is. and then his dad proceeds to info dump what a paladin is and what his powers are.

Is this okay? I can't think of a way to get this information out of the way.

I kind of need this character (He's the final fight of the book, he can tell the villian isn't lying but the hero kills him anyway for selfish reasons then goes one on one with the paladin in the final battle)

I'm still editing the chapter (for like the fourth time...) but I want to know if an infodump like this is really hacked and corny

[Anonymous No.12205675]

If you can't think of another way of getting this info to the reader then just tell the bare essentials, don't get too specific and lengthy. The difference between an info dump and just getting info to the reader is how specific you get. Only tell what is absolutely necessary.

[Anonymous No.12205708]

Finish writing your first draft before worrying about editing it.
Have him use his powers. There should be no shortage of potential lies people would want him to detect. The other one less so, but maybe drop something like "dueling a paladin" as an idiom for a futile pursuit, or an ignorant Tough Guy challenging him to try to prove himself.