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Description-Writing Don'ts, Part 2 (Backstory & Info Dumps)

(Originally published November 14, 2022)


Hey, storyteller!


One of the quickest ways to kill a reader's engagement with your story is to drop a chunk of information right in the middle of the narrative. This stops the action, tension, and momentum of your story…dead. We call this form of telling an info dump.


Authors often do this when they want to describe the appearance of a character or the setting, explain how something works, show off some of the research they've done for the story, teach the readers something, or fill readers in on something that happened between scenes or in a character's past.


So, how can we convey this kind of information without ruining the story?


In this week's writer coaching session, we'll explore the pitfalls to avoid and techniques to use to prevent or correct this description danger.


You will discover:

  • the 4 main types of info dumps that can stall your story
  • pitfalls to avoid
  • techniques you can use instead of dumping information into the story
  • special considerations to help you avoid preachiness


I Have a Gift for You!

First, I have a gift for you, just for visiting my blog, my free workshop, 6 Essential Elements of a Powerful Story.


Avoiding description dangers like info dumps will help you power up your story, but there are other elements you'll need to include as well. This 25-minute video workshop walks you through how to ramp up your characters, plot, conflict, setting, and theme, plus, how to write all this in a way that makes readers feel like they're living the adventure with your characters.


And be sure to read to the end of today’s post, so you won't miss this week's Power-Up, a super practical action step you can use right now in the story you're working on.

Types of Info Dumps

Info dump is a blanket term we use to describe several ways in which an author can dump information, backstory, or other facts on their readers. There are four main types:


The Classic Info Dump


This could be information or tidbits from the research the author has done in the course of writing the story.


Sometimes, this information or research may not even matter that much to the current story, but it's always delivered in a chunk of exposition, or narrative that doesn't involve the characters’ dialogue or actions. This contributes greatly to what we call telling instead of showing. Though there are some instances where minor amounts of telling may not harm your story, chunks of it definitely will.


Even when writing fiction or memoir, authors often find research necessary in order to make sure their portrayal of some aspect of the setting or the time period is accurate and believable. This type of information serves your story best when it is mixed with action and dialogue, not delivered in huge chunks or entire paragraphs.


Keep in mind, readers don't dive into stories looking for a list of facts or a history lesson. Most will skim info dumps and pick up the story on the other side, if they don't get so bored they just abandon the story altogether.


The Backstory Dump


The second type of info dump, and perhaps the most common, is the backstory dump.


Facts and research-based information aren't the only subjects of info dumps. Even a character's past can become chunks of telling if you stop the story to describe them. We call this information about a character's past backstory.


Now, this doesn't mean you have to eliminate backstory altogether from your book, because often some event or occurrence in a character's past will have significant bearing on the current plot. All I mean here is, don't just stop the current story and dump this information on the reader in a couple sentences or a few paragraphs. Weave it into the description, like I mentioned with research-based information.


The World-Building Dump


Authors of historical fiction, fantasy, and science fiction often fall prey to the next type of info dump, which we call a world-building dump.


This occurs when we present elements of the setting, the culture, the story world—If you're writing fantasy, maybe the magic system; if you're writing sci-fi, it could be alien technology or futuristic technology—in chunks of information not woven into the story's action. This can also include descriptions of characters' clothing and other physical attributes.


The Thematic Dump


When we make the theme or main point, takeaway, or message of the story too obvious, we may be engaging in a thematic info dump. This can also lead to something we call preachiness. Stick around to the end of the post, where I will discuss that in detail.

Pitfalls to Avoid

Here are a few pitfalls to avoid, so you can make sure you're not creating info dumps in your story.


Narrative Chunks


The first pitfall to avoid, we've already alluded to, but it is narrating large passages of information or description, especially in the first few chapters.


Poor Dialogue Disguises


Also avoid thinly disguising backstory or information as dialogue. Using dialogue is a legitimate technique for correcting an info dump, and we'll discuss this later, but this can present issues if it is done poorly.


Too Much, Too Soon


Another pitfall to avoid is presenting too much information too soon. Not only does this create an info dump, but it also can kill the suspense of a story.


Unnecessary Information


And finally, avoid including unnecessary information. If it doesn't affect the plot or your character's motivations, cut it…no matter how interesting it might be.

Techniques to Use Instead of Info Dumps

So, how can we convey this information to our readers in a way that isn't an info dump?


Active Description


The first technique we can use is what I call active description.


Whether you're describing setting details, something from your character's past, his or her physical traits, or how your futuristic technology works, weave that information into the character's actions instead of presenting it in a chunk.


For example, if your character is traveling west in a wagon train, don't launch into a lengthy description of the supplies the characters will need or the dangers travelers faced in that era, or how a rifle worked in that time period. Instead, show your character scrambling to gather or make the supplies she will need or facing one of those dangers using that rifle.


Trail of Breadcrumbs


The second technique we can use is to drop little breadcrumbs of information throughout the story. This can work for any kind of information that could lend itself to an info dump. So, you can use this for setting detail, backstory, or research-based information, as well as hints at your theme.


Authors of all genres can benefit from studying how suspense writers distribute information throughout their stories. They drop little clues all along the way. Even with the mildest of genres, we can hook and keep readers engaged with hints at character backstory and other information that raises as many questions as it answers.


Author Brian Davis equated this technique with dropping popcorn to entice ducks to follow you in a park, while bestselling Christian romance author Susan May Warrant called tidbits of tantalizing information about a character's past backstory breadcrumbs.


Whatever you name it, give readers snippets of information and answers all along the way, while you raise more and more questions throughout the story. Keep in mind that when we hint at what happened in a character's past or other important information, we raise curiosity for readers, and they can't resist turning pages.


Authentic Dialogue


The last technique is one I mentioned briefly earlier, and that is to turn the info dump into authentic dialogue. The key word here is authentic.


This is the most common method authors use to correct an info dump. They will attempt to do so by turning that information into either dialogue or a character's internal monologue, which is the character's thoughts. Those are legitimate and great techniques to use, if you take the following precautions:

  • Reveal only small portions of backstory or information at a time. Even in dialogue, we need to drop those breadcrumbs.
  • Make the information natural to the flow of the conversation, or it will seem flat and forced ruining the rest of the dialogue.
  • Make sure these particular characters have a reason to be talking about this information or event, and that it fits the plot and the character's nature to disclose this. If the character who is revealing the information is normally a loner and keeps to himself and doesn't talk about anything personal or would seem out of character to disclose this information to the other character, then find a different way to reveal the backstory or information that you want to get across to the reader.
  • Avoid showing one character telling another something the second character would already know. Doing so is not natural to how we talk.

Preachiness (A.K.A. Thematic Info Dumps)

Earlier, I mentioned that we would discuss preachiness, but what is preachiness and how do we avoid it in our stories?


The theme or message is an important component of every story. However, we must take care to avoid hitting the reader over the head with it.


Preachiness occurs when characters speak or events unfold that make the author's message or agenda too obvious. This heavy-handed writing makes readers feel as if they're being coerced into agreeing with the author's perspective or beliefs.


Sometimes, one character will give a sort of mini-sermon to another character. Readers don't want a lecture, even if it's delivered to a character.


The reader may feel as if the author intended that lecture or a sermon for him or her instead of the character, or that the author thinks the reader is too dense to get the message without being told.


Remember, people learn much more from a character's noble actions than his lofty words.


For example, if your story's message is one of hope, show hope through a strong character who refuses to give up in the face of danger.


In faith-based stories, the author must take extra care to weave the message throughout the story, using the character's actions and dialogue.


For example, in Christian fiction, authors will sometimes show a character going to church and hearing a sermon that somehow changes his perspective or mindset. If you include extensive chunks of a sermon in your story, this could bore the reader or worse, irritate him. Though readers of this genre most likely enjoy going to church themselves, even they don't turn to stories for a sermon.


People tend to skim over these preachy info dumps, if they continue reading at all. In such cases, the author's message has no chance of having a positive effect on the reader, because it's never read.


Now, does this mean you should never show your characters going to church? Not at all. Just don't fill long paragraphs or whole pages with sermons. Drop a nugget or two, here and there, possibly to show what the character heard, or use conversations the character has with someone at the church service to convey the information you're wanting the character to discover.


Preachiness just doesn't work in fiction or memoir. Readers turn to stories for entertainment, but if they do learn a life lesson by observing how characters act or react in the midst of turmoil, they won't soon forget it!

This Week's Power-Up

When you need to convey information and explanation or backstory to readers, do one or more of the following:

  • Use action to show a character discovering bits of information or clues to another character's past.
  • Use a circumstance or another character's action or dialogue to prompt the viewpoint character's direct or indirect thought about a piece of his or her backstory.
  • Use dialogue to show one character revealing a piece of information or backstory to another, but only if this conversation is natural to the characters and the situations they're in.

Info dumps aren't the only writing issues that can derail our descriptions. This post was Part Two in our series on Description Don'ts. Check out Part One here.

And let's power up your storytelling!

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