marine09666

I am 16 just started my novel, I am about 20 pages in and was just reviewing seeing how it was going. So far its a mess but my first drafts are always a mess, I write metaphysical Fiction, so the only way anyone is going to understand the terms is if I have the explanations in my book, the only way I can see doing this in my book is long Dialogue so I am wondering, is too much dialogue going to kill my novel? How much is to much? and is there another way I can explain some key terms in the narrative without having characters explain it to each other? I am writing in the first person my main character is looking back on his past.

edropus

If you can actually convince someone to sit down and read a metaphysical fiction book, not too much is going to kill it. Most likely you can use whatever description or dialogue explanation that you want and, as long as the reader can twist it around to make sense in their own head, you're pretty safe. That's the fun part of metaphysics.

That being said, I'd suggest lots of dialogue. Because I like dialogue. The next person might come by and say that you should keep dialogue to a minimum. It's the preference of the author, as well as the preference of the reader, so just do what feels best to you.

As far as the perspective, you've got a first person retelling of a story. I'd ask who the person is telling it to - themselves, a friend, they're writing a memoir for the ages, etc. - and ask whether THEIR audience would need an explanation or not. If so, how would it be explained to that audience?

Best of luck.

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PenPal

Since it is a first draft and it sounds like you're writing it for your own enjoyment, it might not hurt to just make a list of words and definitions. Go ahead and write the story as though everyone knows what they mean, then when you go back to revise it, you can feel as you read where definitions can flow in naturally. I've found that the thing that kills a novel is when the writer gets so wrapped up in defining things that it becomes distracting. Sometimes it's helpful just to get the story down and then you can tell what explained itself over the course of the story and what is actually in need of specific definitions.

I personally enjoy novels heavy on dialogue, so long as it is something the character would say and how s/he would say it- even if it is a definition. Of course you can just work a definition into the text, there's no law stating characters have to explain things to one another. You might try looking at stories similar to yours and see how those writers explained their worlds. I hope that helps, don't get discouraged.

marine09666

Thanks you 2 for the tips. I also like dialogue in a story but have heard that it can get long and boring, I actually was planning on trying to publish this in a few years or what ever. The thing is my idea is 100% original. It has a main theme that I am trying to explain to the reader but the main character is also a noob to the subject so I have other characters explaining it to him. This way they both learn. I try to keep it basic so no one looses there self in the definitions and I changed it all around a little to make it easier to understand.