Hey there, love your blog. Upon editing the second draft of my novel, I've realized I have some big ugly info dumps that screw up the pacing. Do you have any tips on how best to break them up? xoxo -M.P.
Breaking Up Info-dumps
The sad, sad truth about writing a novel is that you will always know more about your characters and settings than your readers need to know, and your eagerness to get it all out of your head usually ends in info-dumps.
As you go through your draft, highlight every block of info-dumping. Read and re-read those info-dumps, and ask yourself: 1. Does the reader need this information right at this very moment to understand what is going on? If the answer is no, then you can immediately ctrl+v that stuff to another document.
Analyse all the stuff that you’ve taken out, and ask yourself: Does this information serve a purpose, or is it just a cool fun fact?
If it’s just a cool fun fact, then sorry but however cool it is, you should probably ctrl+v that into a file titled “COOL STUFF ABOUT MY WIP” to look at whenever you’re particularly uninspired.
If it serves a purpose like building up a character or setting or foreshadowing a thing that’s going to happen later, then think of ways that you could casually work that information into your writing. But remember, If you’re writing a close POV, you should only mention what catches your POV character’s attention.
For example, a person’s appearance and personal style wears can reveal a lot about them but that doesn’t mean you should pull a My Immortal and list out everything our dear Enoby Dark’ness is wearing all at once. Same goes for settings– for example, instead of saying “She lived on Planet X, a dry desert planet with three moons,” try work in something like “She hated the constant sandstorms and scorching heart. The only thing she loved about about her home planet was the way its three moons shone in the sky at night.”
I’d also recommend taking a look at this article on structuring scenes if you’re still worried about info-dumping overtaking the rest of the scene.
Goodluck!
D
P.S. If you’re still on your first draft, info-dump away. Get it all out of your head now, and you’ll have plenty of time to revise later.
