The problem with information dumping, literally giving
too much information at once, is that it slows the story's pace and will likely
bore readers. It is often telling when the author could be showing their story
by creating active characters and events. An author could also be accused of
lazy writing because it’s frequently easier to tell than to find the right
combination of words to paint a picture.
So, how do thoughtful writers work around this? I used
to be a total pantser. I had my characters and a storyline, and I sat
down and wrote, usually editing the last chapter before starting the next one. The
more I wrote, the more I found that this method often created a sagging middle,
so I plotted a little to avoid that.
My method now is a combination of both. I have always
created a character chart for my primary and secondary characters, showing
their physical details, likes and dislikes, hopes and fears. Now, I spend more
time plotting the story arc to see what curveballs I can throw their way at relevant
points. An instance of enhancing fear is Indiana Jones getting into a plane and
finding the pilot’s pet snake, Reggie, and yelling, “I hate snakes, Jock.”
I follow the three-act structure for novel
writing but concentrate on pinch points, those milestones where you can increase
the conflict and tension. This can frequently be achieved by using dialogue. Once I have plotted the arc of my story, I throw in
suitable problems for the genre I’m writing, and then I sit down and write the
first draft as it comes, warts and all. That’s what first drafts are for. It is
one way of getting everything in my head onto the page, good, bad, or
indifferent. I believe Nora Roberts said you can’t edit a blank page, so the editing begins once
that first draft is done.
Have I used too much description of each
character's physical looks or what they wear? What they look like is less important than
what they do. Have I waxed long and lyrical in describing the setting? That is all good in a literary work but not so much in popular fiction. Readers are
usually pretty smart, so they don’t need every detail, more a snippet to create
a mental image or a question that keeps them turning the pages.
Long paragraphs or lines of dialogue are another area
I go through with a fine-toothed comb. In that paragraph, can I lose at least
ten words? This is often easy when eliminating the dreaded filler or crutch words. In my last novel, apart from the had’s and was’s and
numerous other fillers, my crutch word was really. Really? Indeed. We are also
told that the devil is in the details, but when is a detail one too many? I
wrote a scene describing a guest room. My editor commented that it read like a furniture
catalogue. Harsh? Maybe, but point taken. I removed more than half of the décor
details and distributed the rest via the heroine’s actions as she moved about
the room. Job done.
Now that this blog job is done, I will visit these
authors to see how they deal with info dumps.
Anne Stenhouse http://annestenhousenovelist.wordpress.com
Connie Vines http://mizging.blogspot.com/
Helena Fairfax http://www.helenafairfax.com/blog
Diane Bator http://dbator.blogspot.ca/
Skye Taylor http://www.skye-writer.com/blogging_by_the_sea
Bob Rich https://wp.me/p3Xihq-3i8
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