How to keep from infodumping?

[Kit]

I'm making it a goal to avoid exposition almost entirely. You'll learn things by context clues, either now or later on. In the meantime, it's my job to keep the action and characters absorbing enough that you'll keep reading even though you have no idea why the heck this group of children is chasing five glowing orbs down the river in the middle of the night.

 

[Wordweaver]

Overuse of exposition: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Literally 2-3 pages of descriptions of marine life viewed through the windows of the Nautilus every other chapter before finally returning to the narrative, leaving the reader going "What was happening before I read about 146 different latin names of fish species? Huh...I dont remember. Oh well, goodnight Jules Verne."

But I can think of some times when lengthy exposition is appropriate. I can't recall any specific examples, but when introducing a new important character, location, etc that will have a serious impact on the narrative, I think it can be effective to start with said character's (or whatever) backstory, even if it flashes back to the past for a few pages, maybe even a whole chapter to develop that character. The key, I think, is that the backstory HAS to be relevant to the "now" of the narrative, otherwise your just telling a random story within a story.

 

[Lord Darkstorm]

What is the published date of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea? 1870. What didn't they have back in 1870? Not having lived there, I can't say for certain, except there was no tv...no shows that give vibrant images of the creatures under the ocean. The intended audience for that books was the people then, not now. So to dismiss a book you read that is 130 years old? If you get a book published, what is the chances it will be remember or read 50 years from now? Statistics are against you, me, and pretty much everyone here.

Today we don't have to provide all the imagery for our readers. It's the culture of instant media and more of it than you could possibly watch. 30 years ago there wasn't any cable tv, and at best a hand full of broadcast channels. This changes how we write because the audience has a larger range of images to use to fill in the areas we do not.

 

[Wordweaver]

I agree 100% with what you're saying, Darkstorm, I was just giving an example. I'm sure if I was a reader in the late 1800s my view of this would have been much different...especially since nowadays I could just Google search "species of fish" and copy and paste a similar list from the results...I give Verne his due credit, he did his research WITHOUT the convenience of a search engine and was way detailed in his approach. I'm sure folks loved that. Hell, I loved 20000 Leagues (aside from the fishlists); it was groundbreaking fiction work for its time. The fact that it's still around and recognizable as a classic today is a testament to the story's quality. I was just making a point that if it is done correctly and contributes to the plot, I can enjoy a little "infodump"

 

[Lord Darkstorm]

The hardest work I've ever put into reading a book (I gave up on Lord Foul's Band), is the second half of the two towers. So much of it was slow and rather dull to me, and I read it before I ever had cable. Still, my range of available reference material in my head was too much for that much detail.

It's kind of funny that I knew 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea was old, but I was off by a good 30 years when I went to look it up. Now I'll have to pull it out and read it, just because. Well, after November.

 

[Benjamin Clayborne]

You could also spread the infodump around, writing a line or two in different chapters or scenes to explain something a little better. Info-littering, I suppose.

Hah! I'm stealing that term, that's great.

 

[Laughing_Seraphim]

The thing with style

The thing with exposition is that it really does seem to boil down to a matter of taste. Some authors are certainly more conscious about it. Sara Douglass (I'm reading Sinner now) uses very little actual exposition. There will be a thought here, a description there and so on. It's never obtrusive at all. I don't really know if I am allowed to post a segment of her text here as example, but reading the book is a fun example.
Brin and Bradley use a fair amount of exposition, sometimes in a very obtrusive manner. The difference in these two styles is clarity as far as I am concerned. It is hard not to know what is going on in the worlds of Brin/Bradley, what has happened and what the world looks like. I refer to this when planning my writing as peripheral/external color.
In the case of douglass the world outside of the immediate plot, and the back story aren't always as clear as she focuses on the here and now. I call this core/internal color.
Unfortunately from my experience one cannot have both since the reader can put up with only so much exposition.
So here are two real examples of this phenomenon.
I recall to this day that for G'Kek the hands are more personal and private than their genitals, as they were a gift of uplift. I have no idea what was happening during the plot when that information was provided. This is David Brin in Brightness Reef.

In Sara Douglass book Sinner:There was once a cult called the Plough of the Seneschal. Apparently they did some bad things. This initially comes up when one of the more powerful provinces is asking that the crown be restored to the a fore mentioned province. In the next book the reader actually gets details about the seneschal, sparsely. The plot at the time? The province is attacking it's neighbor and the animals are demon possessed.

So on one end, I have a very clear picture of the species, the universe and so on but recall a little less about the immediate plot. On the other I remember the book specific plot slightly more, but remain somewhat clueless about the world.

I guess this is one of the elements of style that authors should be consciously aware of.

 

[Laughing_Seraphim]

Overuse of exposition: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Literally 2-3 pages of descriptions of marine life viewed through the windows of the Nautilus every other chapter before finally returning to the narrative, leaving the reader going "What was happening before I read about 146 different latin names of fish species? Huh...I dont remember. Oh well, goodnight Jules Verne."

But I can think of some times when lengthy exposition is appropriate. I can't recall any specific examples, but when introducing a new important character, location, etc that will have a serious impact on the narrative, I think it can be effective to start with said character's (or whatever) backstory, even if it flashes back to the past for a few pages, maybe even a whole chapter to develop that character. The key, I think, is that the backstory HAS to be relevant to the "now" of the narrative, otherwise your just telling a random story within a story.

+1 for this Man/Woman/Koala.

One specific example I can recall right off hand would be from a book called "Black Trillium". There is a fairly lengthy description of a structure in a swamp, a description of the swamp, and then some action. The locale is framed up nicely, giving a solid image. Then stuff happens.

 

[Whitefur]

I try not to think too much about it. Sometimes, it's because my imagination refuses to work but other times it's because of the barrier I put between the upcoming flow of description and the fingers that are supposed to type all of that. Why? Because I believe that short description and more action do a much better job in hooking a reader than description. As beautiful as it may be, description is better served as a second dish, when the reader is already familiarized with the world and what's going on.

 

[Kit]

description is better served as a second dish, when the reader is already familiarized with the world and what's going on.

Clever light-colored fuzzy carnivore.....

In other words, INVESTMENT... get the reader invested enough in the story/characters that s/he actually wants to read the exposition because s/he's dying to find out {insert burning questions here}. If you do an infodump before the reader is invested enough to WANT the info, you'll lose hir.