Character introductions -- Too much information?

Before I get to today's topic, I had to let you know that just couldn't resist ordering more stuff from Raine Gear -- the CafePress store for my books. I adore the t-shirts, so I ordered more with different snarky quotes from Raine on them, and did the same with the bumper stickers. Being a coffee drinker, I had to have an Armed & Magical mug; and since I haul around books on a daily basis, in a few days I'll be the proud owner of a tote bag. ; ) As I said when the store opened, I went with the basics in terms of t-shirt types. But since one t-shirt pattern fits them all, if you see a particular t-shirt or item that you'd like to have but don't see in the store, just email me (lisa@lisashearin.com) let me know. If I have a pattern size that fits, I'll make it and stock it in the store for you.

And in the next month or so, I should have prints available in the CafePress store of the map of Raine's world. The map will begin appearing in my books starting with The Trouble With Demons.

Today's topic is character introductions in a novel. Since my books are a series, you'd think I would have gone with a sketchy intro for each of my characters. Unfortunately, you would be wrong. Apparently once again (according to my editor) I got a bit heavy-handed. Once again "series-itis" reared its bloated head. Since there are two books before TTWD, I felt the need to attach a bit of backstory to my character introdutions, just in case a reader picks up The Trouble With Demons before Armed & Magical and Magic Lost, Trouble Found. Anne (my ever insightful editor at Ace Books) reminded me that unless that bit of backstory is absolutely necessary to understand what was happening right then in that scene, leave it out. Or save it and use it when that information is needed for the reader to understand and enjoy the book.

Any descriptions, be it character, scene, or backstory must be relevant to what is happening at that moment -- anything more will bog down your story. The goal is to keep it moving. And when you do introduce a character's physical appearance, see if you can work in bits and pieces over the space of a couple of pages; this way the reader doesn't run smack into a wall of "insert complete character description here." Nothing disrupts the flow of a book like stopping cold to read about every physical attribute that your character has.

Coming up: Coming up for the rest of this week and into next week, I'll tell you about things I didn't know until I was published like promo, where to get really cheap/free promo materials, tax write-offs, bookstore visits, dangers of burnout, Amazon rankings, book signings, and more.

And on Saturday: Instead of the Saturday Fun Pic, I'll be joining the ladies over at The Book Smugglers for their "Chat With an Author." (The link will take you to their intro to the festivities for this weekend.) There will be cool prizes, and an interview where I tell how I got published, give tidbits of new characters in upcoming books, give a sneak peek at what I hope will be the ultimate fencing/fight scene between Raine and a new villain, and I'll also answer the question -- am I a Mychael or Tam kind of girl? ; )

It's Wednesday folks, we're halfway there.
Lisa