I'm working on the first 5000 words of my novel to enter into a contest and I've been devouring writing craft workshops, books, and podcasts. I listened to one today that strongly recommended keeping the first few pages of a novel free of backstory to keep the story moving forward. What do you think about this? I'm working on 2 versions of my story now, one that includes snippets of backstory in the first pages and one that focuses on the MCs feelings about the current situation, hinting at the backstory without telling it. Would anyone here be willing to read the two versions and let me know which works better?

I am following the craft recommendations to start in the middle of the action for my fantasy novel and avoid backstory and info dumping. And now I keep getting reader feedback saying they don't understand who the characters are, what their magical powers are, how they work, despite extensive description about what's happening. I read a bunch of craft articles about this and one cracked me up, saying we need to inform the reader sneakily about the nature of the world we're building because they don't want to be educated but they also don't want to be confused. I'm feeling a bit fed up with writing for the reader. I've never been a person suited for mass consumption, and am beginning to wonder if I could write a book that would be.

This is a series of quotes from the ancient wise crystal mushroom people, The Circle of Origin, in the fantasy novel I am writing. These aren't so much unsent messages as unreceived. “A Frenite’s shape is often determined by the incongruous edge between the human desire for self determination- individual freedom of choice -and the collective awareness of interdependence of all other living things on the planet.” Dendra “Ethical reclamation is ridiculous and necessary, just as the heart asking permission before pumping the blood cells through the body would be ridiculous but necessary if the blood cells were trying with all their might to swim in the opposite direction, like humans have done for millenia.” Geo “Fire does not persuade. It ravages, renders, and restores. It is the final guarantee when persuasion fails.” Pyri “Fire does not dominate. It cooperates with life’s instinct for growth, igniting change, fueling movement.” Pyri “Domination is a temporary illusion. The balance of shared power will eventually restore itself. It is inevitable.” Obsin “Collective survival will outlast and outsmart even the most stubborn self destructive individualistic impulses. The Earth is bigger than us all.” Flouri “The song of life cannot be ignored, silenced, or corrupted without consequence. Don’t be surprised when the price of these transgressions comes due.” Lapus “Creatures of the deep waters sing and swim in the currents of Earth’s blood. Who sings in your veins?” Moon “When you remember that nothing belongs to you, not even the solidness of your body, you can let others carry what is heavy for a while and fly.” Angeli “Light does not need to be seen by eyes to exist. It will speed through the emptiest darkness with glee.” Seleni

Rewrite, edit of 6,000 words of Kingdoms Lost today. And lots of plotting. I now how the full plot of this book and a skeleton plot of book two!

First week done! Thank you everyone for jumping in, and a reminder that you can always start the challenge anytime if you'd like - just comment "I'm in" on the pinned post and start writing! Even a few sentences count. With that said, I'm gonna tag the people who've started thus far and their total days (from what I can see in the group itself, obvs if you write and don't post about it that's still excellent, I just can't see it :P). Starting with... Me! I'm at 3/28 so far. @Kieana Carda! 8/28, nicely done. @Kirsten Ivatts, at 4/28! @Kexxie Wolf, at 3/28! @Clare Naden, at 8/28! @Vera Sephora, @Jessica Huckabay, @Nesha W, and @Eliud Kimathi, who I can't see any explicit challenge posts by as of yet (which doesn't necessarily mean you haven't been writing, I know Jessica recently finished a 10k word challenge, for example). Don't be shy, though! Even posting a quick paragraph about an idea you had is enough for a day.