How much is too much?

[The Unknown Angel]

As I mentioned, I'm trying to induct a new Angel into the original squadron for my Angel-driven stories. I'm currently trying to write Concerto's (Charlotte Brun) introduction story (How she got from Airline pilot to Angel pilot), and I think mission creep is starting to set in. I'm not entirely sure what I should include in her introductory story, and what should I save for later.

Should I get it out of the way that she's a excellent pilot, or should I let come into the story over time? Do I talk about her training now or later? So many questions, and I don't want her intro story to run too long.

Could I get some advice in that regard?

For now, Concerto is going to spend much of her duty as a wingman (wingwoman?) for the other Angels, and won't lead many stories. She also won't be in every story I write.

[Skybase Girl]

This may all depend on what you mean by your ‘introductory story’. If you intend to write what is essentially a biography of an original character that you wish to introduce, then it simply becomes an info dump and may not be terribly interesting. A good story needs to have a point and hopefully, a plot.
If, however, your new Angel forms part of the wider story, then I would suggest keeping it simple, bearing in mind the basic tenet of good writing: show, not tell. For instance, do you need to explain that she’s an excellent pilot? Of course she is, otherwise she wouldn’t be in the Angel squad. Do we need to know details about her training? Unless it’s directly relevant to the plot, I would suggest not.
If you plan to include her in further stories, then it’s probably best not to reveal too much about her at once. Drip feeding a back story can be much more intriguing and keeps the reader’s interest going. It may be useful for you to create a detailed bio for your own purpose as the author, but treat this as a writing tool to be referred to, rather than a story in itself. I know how easy it is to get bogged down in detail
but try to keep in mind that anything that doesn’t move the story along is probably not needed.
Good luck and keep going! It’s very hard to get what’s in your imagination out to the world. What ends up in print is never as good as it was in your head and I doubt there’s a single pit that most fan fic writers have not fallen into at one time or another. You might find the Tools and Documents section of this website useful, if you haven’t already perused it. There are helpful tips and links to a wealth of information out there. I have also found Elizabeth George’s “Write Away” and Stephen King’s “On Writing” are very good at identifying why a story may not be working and what you need to do to put it right.

[Marion]

I quite agree with Skybase Girl. Info dumps on non canon characters do not make good reading and unless you have decided to cast the character in stone, and not allow her to grow or develop through her appearances, you're making a rod for your own back. It can even become a problem with canon characters if you state everything you have decided about them at once.
In fictional stories about people who already know a good deal about each other, which I suggest would be the case on Cloudbase, the best way (I find) to make your information known is through the dialogue of other characters: e.g.: A&B know each other well, but C&D don't necessarily know them as well. So, C might say to D 'did you know that A once was (whatever) and won the (whatever) at the annual passing out parade?' (That's a VERY over-simplified example)
Still, everyone is entitled to write their story their own way and you can do it as you like. However, I would suggest that you try to bear in mind the enjoyment and involvement of your readers in the story, and in your characters, and try to write something written in a way you would enjoy reading and not just get it all off your chest at once, however satisfying that seems from the writer's point of view.

All anyone writing a story can do, is try to express what they have in their heads (and Skybase Girl is dead on the nail with

It’s very hard to get what’s in your imagination out to the world. What ends up in print is never as good as it was in your head

) in a way that will engage their readers (if they're lucky enough to have any! ) and make them look forward to future episodes featuring your characters. MUCH easier said than done!

[The Unknown Angel]

Thanks for the advice.

My introductory story is going to function as a sort of pilot episode, to introduce the character(s) and lay some of the groundwork for future stories. I'm not going to dump everything out, because it'd leave me little room to tweak her character. (In the WIP, I've been slowly stripping out details to compensate.)