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What do you do when the character demands an infodump?

If nothing else, the surest way to swap in some variety is to let people try out or demonstrate the magic as they go, so each experiment can provide anything from a paragraph to a chapter's worth of urgent delay before the lesson continues.
 

Zireael

Troubadour
What I'd do is cut the infodump in pieces. Piece A, scene break (maybe the sis talks to the other guy or to mom), Piece B, scene break...
 

ALB2012

Maester
Yes using dialogue works- Person A is telling about the history of the world or some such and the person B can interject and ask questions.

Personally I don't mind a lot of info if it is interesting and relevant to the story.
 

Struddles

Dreamer
When I read a book I personally LOVE (big letters for emphasis) getting into the world and reading about it. Personally I find that 1-2 pages of info dump does not hurt in the long run. What would you much rather have as a reader an amazing world that you can put yourself in or the writer just trying to get around explaining this world and just throws you blindly into it and says good luck. Honestly 1-2 pages of information can be a bit hard to read but it's the back bone of everything your trying to build. As a reader if they can't get through that small amount of information and stop reading your book simply for that factor they aren't invested and if all these things are happening to your MC and they aren't already invested and want to know what the heck is going on then something else was done wrong.

Information is how we convey the world in our head to the people reading our books. We aren't like graphic novels, comic books, movies or television we don't have the ability to build a world that people can physically see. We have to build a world in our readers that only they can see and grow attached to and as much as a frustration as it can be to write I say do it because nothing is worse in my mind then putting down a book after I'm done and basically saying what the heck is going on here I don't get it.
 

T.Allen.Smith

Staff
Moderator
When I read a book I personally LOVE (big letters for emphasis) getting into the world and reading about it. Personally I find that 1-2 pages of info dump does not hurt in the long run. What would you much rather have as a reader an amazing world that you can put yourself in or the writer just trying to get around explaining this world and just throws you blindly into it and says good luck. Honestly 1-2 pages of information can be a bit hard to read but it's the back bone of everything your trying to build. As a reader if they can't get through that small amount of information and stop reading your book simply for that factor they aren't invested and if all these things are happening to your MC and they aren't already invested and want to know what the heck is going on then something else was done wrong.

Information is how we convey the world in our head to the people reading our books. We aren't like graphic novels, comic books, movies or television we don't have the ability to build a world that people can physically see. We have to build a world in our readers that only they can see and grow attached to and as much as a frustration as it can be to write I say do it because nothing is worse in my mind then putting down a book after I'm done and basically saying what the heck is going on here I don't get it.

I'd prefer a world described to me through the senses of the POV characters. If you're talking about immersion quality, info dumping is usually avoided because of its jarring effect on immersion.
 

Struddles

Dreamer
Well I guess that's true but for the most part if your going to explain something and it's not going to be done at the moment of it happening it should be explained while something is taking place an info-dump can take place as like a dinner conversation I mean what do people normally do when sitting around a table eating food for dinner they talk though this might not be physically possible depending on the situation but it's an easy way to have alternate actions taking place while information is being given without it seeming to bland. It's difficult to write back story and make is seem appealing but I guess what I'm getting at is information should never be forsaken just because you don't want to have the reader sit through and explanation.

All in all there are good ways and bad ways of doing it but in my honest opinion the worst thing you can not do is have information. If it's not there and the reader has questions that they feel aren't answered it can bother them.

That's also a personal opinion I for one love to get into the back story of whatever I'm reading or watching and will spend hours on wiki's just reading about the lore and the stories so again it's something I don't mind so it's really up to the writer :D
 
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Addison

Auror
I recently received a book which was supposed to be a Christmas gift. (Small town mail is slower than snail mail) It was Amanda Ashby's "Fairy Bad Day" and she delivered back story on a need to know basis when the character(s) were in the right place and right time. She didn't give us the flowery, happy days flash backs to the protagonists life five years prior to the story or why the BF is so dependent on horoscopes and such.

She had a method for back story which works, in my opinion, very well. It's like what the FBI said to Nicolas Cage and Sean Connery in "The Rock", and I quote "Right now you're on a need to know basis, and you don't need to know." I actually used it on the pain in the butt gossip next door this morning. Works wonders.
 
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