This article first appeared in The Working Margins, our newsletter.
In Episode 2, Bryan and Pete unpacked the issues caused by “info dumping” (clunky expositions that clutter the page).
Here are some thoughts on smoother, more natural ways of weaving information into the story you’re telling.
Leverage your dialogue.
One of dialogue’s best qualities is as a natural and interesting vehicle for delivering crucial information to the reader.
Imagine two characters are arguing about something. Their relationship. The state of the apartment they share. The reasons why they should or shouldn’t support the Elf King’s campaign. Their differing hypotheses after analyzing the same crime scene.
Stories thrive on conflict and tension, so dialogue like this keeps the reader interested. Also, a heated discussion provides a natural reason for characters to share and compare information the way people actually do. Most readers will remain happily oblivious to the fact you’ve just relayed a swathe of important data to them. Because the data was delivered via an engaging, dramatic interaction between people. Not delivered as a wad of dry text explaining something from the author’s point of view.
Case Study: Weaving in vital information early, without boring the reader.
Let’s say you’re writing a period drama, or a haunted house story. It’s important for your readers to have a sense of the layout of the house in which your story will unfold.
You could include a floor plan of the house in the book’s front matter.
You could have a character spend paragraph after paragraph thinking about the house’s layout, remembering things that happened in this room and that room, ruminating about the colors of the wallpaper and the lintels.
The drawback of both approaches is that, as a reader, you’re giving me information which I have zero reason to care about. I’m not fascinated by this POV character yet. I haven’t locked onto your actual story yet. But I’m being bombarded with information. Not story. Not narrative. Information.
Here’s an alternative approach…
Your point-of-view character enters the house from the gardens. Immediately she hears two more characters arguing deeper within the house. This engages her curiosity (and the reader’s). It draws her through several rooms, showing the reader those rooms while both character and reader receive house-related information from the bickering couple’s dialogue.
Next time you find yourself info-dumping, try something like this.