How to tactfully inform readers of differences in the book world to the real world?
I want to write a fantasy novel, but there are a few issues that I have with the way that I should write it. One of my questions lies in the problem of how I, the narrator/book-writer, can inform my readers about my book world without stating it outright.
For instance, if my book people had seven fingers instead of five. How could I explain this without resorting to "Since my people have seven fingers, this is the counting system."?
I would appreciate a variety of storytelling strategies here. One size doesn't fit all.
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The simple answer is that you don't. You don't tell the reader anything that is not needed to support the plot of theme of the story.
There are a lot of people who enjoy world building as a hobby and when they have built a world they want to write a novel set in it as a way of taking people on a guided tour of that world. Their primary interest in the story is to make sure that all the features of the world that they are especially proud of get included in the tour. This is a harmless hobby, but it is not how novels are written.
In a novel, story arc is paramount and story arc consists of a character resolving a conflict between two desires. At its heart is a moral choice (a choice between values) and the working out of the consequences of that choice. The plot of a story exists to bring the character to the place where they are forced to make this difficult choice and to then demonstrate that they have made it and lived with the consequences of it.
The purpose of setting is to provide a stage on which this plot can be acted out, where the incidents and coincidences on which the plot depends can be portrayed convincingly. Thus world building is the servant of setting, which is the servant of plot, which is the servant of story arc/character arc. A novel requires, and should only exhibit, as much world building as is required for the setting to do its job.
That does not mean that there is no room for details like hobbits hairy feet, which play no role in the plot per se, but it does mean that these details should be used sparingly. And don't fall into the trap (which others will inevitably recommend) of working them into the action of a scene. That approach simply detract from the reader's appreciation of the scene, or induces the writer to include an unnecessary scene just to work world building details into it. Both these things bore the reader. They can also be confusing. If a scene sneaks in the fact that one character has seven fingers, it that a feature of the race or is that particular character deformed? If you want to tell readers, for the sake of local color, that your characters have seven fingers, do what Tolkien did and just tell them.
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There are several techniques:
- Have a narrator voice explicitly stating the relevant differences.
- Take everything for granted and hint changes indirectly (e.g.: if your aliens have seven fingers describe one "wearing an inordinately expensive ring on his seventh finger")
- Describe the world giving "hind-reasons" (e.g.: "He looked at the clock's fourteen hours, one for each finger, counting slowly the time remaining before...").
- Use analogies (e.g.: "the crab was scurrying sideways on his fourteen legs. It looked like two hands united at the wrist with the hind legs shorter as pinkies and the foremost raised like index fingers pointing toward ...").
In general you can either state what relevant or let the reader "discover" differences from descriptions.
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All the answers you received are great. From your MC's POV when he first sees someone with seven fingers, you could just say: The Main Character watched the man close the distance between them. When he was close enough, the MC noticed the man's hands. No, not an Earth human but a Tzor alien, the MC realized. Tzors looked like Earth humans and only the 2 extra fingers on each hand showed their true nature. Which, after their planet Tzor was destroyed with a nuclear bomb, made them blend in with humans far easier. The Tzor raised one hand and closed the three middle fingers in the traditional greeting of his people.
See how short this is. But we know several things: that Tzors lost their planet, they look like humans, have seven fingers, live with humans and have a gesture all their own. You don't need to write a whole chapter just to show them and their seven fingers. Narrate the points when the need arises during the novel and let the flow of the story guide you.
Edit: Michael Richardson, you're right. I didn't understand it. My bad. I apologize. But I don't think it's as hard as you say. If the author starts describing the new character like he would describe a normal one, and keep with the details throughout the story, it will appear normal to the readers in the end. Maybe (I'm going to keep Tzor): The MC watched his friend, Tzor, approach. He waved at him in the gesture they had used since they were kids, with the first three fingers closed and the seventh one slightly bent. Tzor would understand it. He was more like a brother to him. They were born on the same day and had lived next to each other all their lives.
Tzor used the same gesture to wave back with not just one, but three arms. The MC grinned. He was relieved to see his seven foot, green haired friend back safe from war and his usual funny self.
Continuing along the same vein through the whole story, won't make the characters sound abnormal with 6 arms and seven fingers.
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You can also tell about such features by having a walk-on character with a deformity or amputation. I have met at least four people missing one or more fingers, or with a half finger. Check out this link of disabled politicians (in the US, but also elsewhere):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_physically_disabled_politicians#United_States
So you can have a bartender, delivery guy, messenger, store clerk, etc missing a finger, and your MC observes that:
Joe thought the worker was holding the hammer oddly, then realized he only had six fingers: The inner thumb was amputated near the bottom knuckle, and he had a weaker grip on it. Probably a work accident, he thought. It wasn't the first person he'd seen that lost a finger or three to a circular saw.
This kind of surprise or shock or 'resolved confusion' is related to conflict, or internal conflict, a puzzle to solve for an observant character. It lets you impart information, show him to be observant and a problem solver, even though the 'problem' has nothing to do with the plot; it is a character trait.
Similar to humor, it can show a character thinks out of the box, is not relentlessly serious, etc. That might not impact directly on the plot, but it can help readers relate better to the character.
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