Info dump
- Thread starter 7luckyclovers
- Start date
I've poured over several published books and 3 quarters of them start with an info dump. I never thought it was a bad thing to start that way if it was short and pertinent to the story. So just eliminate it?
If you want to summarize it like that, all of my first chapters are info-dumps of the highest degree.
The rules and guidelines shared and expressed within writing circles (like AW) are said to help the writer by upholding them to idealistic standards. You choose how far you want to reach those goals--if at all. This is why citing other authors and what they did/got away with isn't the best choice around critiquing circles.
You asked if it was an info-dump. It is. It's the definition of one. It's up to you if you want to put it in the book.
Agree with Maryn. It's up to you if you want to throw the reader the information and risk things. I'd rather work it into the story--as it is a vital part, right? Or, even start the story showing those events so the reader can understand them better.
Excellent. "Down the line" might be the second or third paragraph, or page two, if we need to know these things for whatever's going on to make sense.
Be aware, too, that many writers finish their novel's draft then realize the beginning is no longer what or where it ought to be. Happens all the time. So do what you think is best, then move along with writing the rest, okay?
Maryn, who often redoes page one
Be aware, too, that many writers finish their novel's draft then realize the beginning is no longer what or where it ought to be. Happens all the time. So do what you think is best, then move along with writing the rest, okay?
Maryn, who often redoes page one
If memory serves, the opening chap to "Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" is one long info-dump regarding the corporation. It was so boring, so "info-dumpy" that I could hardly believe the writer would have any kind of story I would enjoy.
Boy, was I wrong. Great story. Still hate that opening chapter. I would venture to guess that had the Scandinavian author tried getting published first in the US, rather than in Sweden, at best he would've been told to lose that intro on the corporation, and at worst, would have received a lot of rejections as a lot of readers wouldn't have gone beyond that first chap.
Parceling out necessary info over several scenes or several chaps works much better if you don't want to bring the story to a grinding halt... unless of course that info is so riveting and written so well that it keeps the reader engaged until the next plot point. Again, in "Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" there were later chaps where scenes focused on FBs to show some of the horrors that the MC had endured. Not necessarily info-dumps, but they strayed from the original storyline. However they were so interesting and well written, and provided a lot of info regarding what shaped the MC that it was a breeze to read through and worked very well.
Boy, was I wrong. Great story. Still hate that opening chapter. I would venture to guess that had the Scandinavian author tried getting published first in the US, rather than in Sweden, at best he would've been told to lose that intro on the corporation, and at worst, would have received a lot of rejections as a lot of readers wouldn't have gone beyond that first chap.
Parceling out necessary info over several scenes or several chaps works much better if you don't want to bring the story to a grinding halt... unless of course that info is so riveting and written so well that it keeps the reader engaged until the next plot point. Again, in "Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" there were later chaps where scenes focused on FBs to show some of the horrors that the MC had endured. Not necessarily info-dumps, but they strayed from the original storyline. However they were so interesting and well written, and provided a lot of info regarding what shaped the MC that it was a breeze to read through and worked very well.
> the opening chap to "Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" is one
> long info-dump regarding the corporation.
Steig Larsson died after completing the first draft of his work. Imagine how much better the manuscripts could have been should he had lived to go through a few rounds of editing.
-cb
> long info-dump regarding the corporation.
Steig Larsson died after completing the first draft of his work. Imagine how much better the manuscripts could have been should he had lived to go through a few rounds of editing.
-cb
Interesting. I'd heard he'd completed all his final drafts of the trilogy before dying. That alone shows great hutzpah that he finished the trilogy before sending them off. I'd always assumed such long inane opening chaps were more acceptable in Europe. But if what you say is true, then yeah, I wonder how much better the novels would've been if he'd had the time to revise them.
Then again, some "brilliant" agent might have advised him to lose some of the back stories which would have been tragic since they are some of the most interesting bits in his novels.