Info-dump: Large chunk of indigestible expository matter intended to explain the background situation. Info-dumps can be covert, as in fake newspaper or "Encyclopedia Galactica" articles, or overt, in which all action stops as the author assumes center stage and lectures. Info-dumps are also known as "expository lumps." The use of brief, deft, inoffensive info-dumps is known as "kuttnering," after Henry Kuttner. When information is worked unobtrusively into the story's basic structure, this is known as "heinleining."
from Bruce Sterling, "The Turkey City Lexicon", Paragons iteration.
Perfect examples of info dumps done wrong can be found on CSI shows—where one character explains the scientific details of an experiment to another character who should already know that information.
Sometimes you have vital information that you need to weave into a story. The temptation is to just tell the reader the details and get if over with. This can lead to long passages that stall out your story. Too many of these, especially in the beginning, will stop the reader completely and they'll never get around to finishing the book.
The trick is to determine which details are vital and which are fluff, and to weave those details into your story in a way that moves the plot and action along.
Another good discussion of how to avoid info dumps is found HERE. I recommend you read the entire article because she has some good ideas on avoiding the info dump. However, I'm reposting an excerpt as your writing prompt/excercise for today:
Too much background? Do the Q&A test.A test to find out if you've put too much data in the story is to read it yourself and, paragraph by paragraph, underline any background information and write in the margin what question it's intended to answer.
from Finessing the Infodump by Paula Fleming
After doing this, look through the questions. Are some listed more than once? If your protagonist keeps flashing back on degrading episodes he's suffered because he's illegitimate, perhaps most of those flashbacks can be taken out -- your reader is screaming, "I got it, already!"
Also, are all of the questions important to the story? The history of the Fifth Dynasty may be a fascinating tale in itself, but perhaps all the reader needs here is to see a portrait of Emperor Archibald IV hanging over the current emperor's throne, a daunting presence overlooking an insecure ruler. (Question: Why is the protagonist's father unwilling to admit he made a mistake?)
If you need more practice, continue to go through your WIP to find telling sentences and add specific sensory detail.
One note: Not every single sentence in your story or book has to be jam-packed with sensory detail. That would be hard to read and extremely annoying. However, as a general rule, the more you show, the better.
Create a character with an unusual phobia (like chocolate or purple socks or whatever). Write a scene in which this character must face their phobia. What do they do? How do they respond? Do they fight through and overcome? Or do they lose their battle? Limit: 750 words.
She touched the blue and pink silk scarf in her pocket and smiled.
Write a poem that has something to do with the season—holiday, family, winter.
Write a short story that has something to do with the season—holiday, family, winter.If you post your story on your blog, feel free to leave a link in the comments section.
Write a short-short story (2,000 words or less) that has to do with Thanksgiving WITHOUT using any of the following words:
- thankful, thanks, thanksgiving or any variation
- grateful or any variation
- turkey
- pilgrim
- family
Take one of your favorite plays from Shakespeare and update it to some time in the past 100 years. You can write a scene, a synopsis or a short story.
If you're not familiar with Shakespeare, pick another book or a movie that's at least 30 years old and update it to today.
Prompt: Write about a disagreement you had with somebody from their POV, in first person, in their voice. Don't make them an unreliable narrator. [They should be 100% believable.] Take an external look at yourself, in this case in the third person. How would the other person see you? How would they describe you and your actions?
Objective: To learn how to see from other people's POVs. This is good not just for writing, but for getting along in friendships, marriages, societies.
Check: Has your antagonist become the protagonist of the story? Have you found weaknesses in your position and shown them? If not, go back and reveal them.
Write a horror story or scene using every day items, people, props. No vampires or werewolves or other fantastical creatures, but you may use ghosts. Create the creepiness with your descriptions of common items, not with the unusual.
This is how Frankenstein by Mary Shelley was born. She, Percy Shelley, Lord Byron and some others challenged each other to write "ghost" stories. Maybe today's little challenge will spark a classic from you.
P.S. My NaNoWriMo name is LDSPublisher. Please come be my buddy.
Use the following bits of information in any way you like to create a short story: Renn (person's name), Seattle, divorce, tire iron, 3 inches.
Prompt: One page. Choose a fantasy figure--Dracula, Narcissus, Santa Claus, or one of your making--and convince us of his physical reality by using mundane details.
Objective: To learn how to "prove" the existence of fantastic characters.
Check: Have you mentioned enough real, daily stuff?--dandruff, toothpaste, a hole in the sock, bad temper, toothache, mosquito bite, bronchitis, whatever. If not, go back and do it.
So why did I pick a prompt dealing with a fantasy character? Should you do this exercise even if you hate fantasy? Yes! Because if you can make a fantasy character seem real to us, you can certainly make a human character seem real too.
If you post your story on your blog, feel free to leave a link in the comments section.
Find a cliché or idiom that suggests a story line to you. Then write a short story or a few paragraphs using the cliche as either the title, the first line, or the ending punch line.
For example, you might start with, "It was a slip of the tongue, I promise!" or "Jason stared at me with cold, dark eyes. This was my friend. I couldn't believe it. He was going to throw me to the wolves." (Or if you're Melanie G, you could say, "...he was going to throw me to the werewolves..." :)
Spend a little time centering, turning from busyness back toward your own inner reflections. Then call up from your memory a snapshot or photograph of someone important to you. ... Usually it is a good idea to take the first one that comes to mind. ... If you feel some resistance, that may be an indication that there is a 'knot' to be unraveled. ...
When you have the picture, begin writing with these words: "In this one, you are..." (You are writing to the person in the photograph.)
(Exercise from Writing Alone and with Others by Pat Schneider, p. 36)
Did you know that during the 14th and 15th centuries, there were these terrible plagues and people were knocking off all over the place?You're a pizza delivery driver and it's your last stop of the night. The house is on an unlit, unfamiliar street. As you ring the doorbell, you're greeted by an unusual character who invites you in while he gets cash—and abruptly knocks you out cold. When you wake up, you're tied to a chair. What happens next?
Limit your response to 500 words or fewer.
