And how to avoid info-dumping?
FYI, I’ve been working on my latest book for the past year and boy-howdy this has been a big issue for me.
Not sure what writing with good exposition is?
It’s like beautiful painting when done right. But done wrong, turns into ugly info-dumping.
Too much information in a story all at once drives me nuts. How to weave it in so the seamlessly so that the reader absorbs the information without distraction, now that takes a little talent and a lot of hard work.
So what is the difference between info-dumping and good exposition?
Bridget over at Now Novel (link below) just wrote a terrific blog post that gives us examples to live by. And for me, this couldn’t come at a better time. I just finished ripping about a thousand words from my WIP because it contained too much info.
What did I learn about writing “good exposition” from this post?
- With dialog, make it realistic.
- Remember how people have conversations. No one dumps their family history all at once when they meet a stranger.
- Use to set up the history of a place.
- I can use a characters’ present and their past or even future, to flesh out historical details of their lives. But it’s important to merge the description with the scene settings.
- Write descriptions with rich atmosphere.
- use personification of objects to enhance. Give an inanimate object human-like character to show your setting’s atmosphere with a metaphor or an analogy. What’s the difference between metaphor and analogy?
- A character’s personality.
- Peppering a scene showing glimpses of a character’s personality, development, fears, loves, hopes, etc. can make the character 3D.
- Open by describing puzzling, dramatic events before the novel begins.
- Sowing curiosity, in the beginning, can develop a reader’s desire to search for an answer.
This is just a glimpse at the information Now Novel shares about avoiding info-dumping and writing with good exposition.
To read the entire post click on this link.
Good exposition examples: Narrating your story’s background
My tip…
- Read, read and read some more. Read good books, bad books, newspapers and magazine articles. Because unlike TV, and movies these venues must engage the customer with words. Fake news is a good example. These writers paint such a vivid picture readers fall for the story.
Did it help you understand how to avoid info-dumping?
Do you have any tips to share that will help me write better descriptive scenes?
Tell me, how you insert information.
I love your comments, keep them coming.
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