How to Avoid Info Dumps in Short Speculative Fiction
I love luxuriating in a well-built world. When I'm reading a sci-fi or fantasy novel, I'm always a fan of the cozier scenes when the characters are exploring their world, and I can absolutely get sucked into descriptions of the history or technology, even when they're not actively moving the plot forward. There's a energy in getting to know a fantastical world. It's a lower-key energy than what's generated by plot movement but it can still be enough to keep a reader invested in something like a novel, where you don't need the pace to be consistently quick.
With short fiction, worldbuilding becomes more of a challenge, especially if you're using a completely secondary world. It's especially challenging when you're working at a flash length and really don't have any extra words to spare, though I would also say there's one advantage to having an under-1,000 word constraint: you're less likely to have info dumps because there's simply not space for them. When you're working in the 3,000-8,000 word range, the temptation to info dump is strong.
There is a place for the occasional info dump in short fiction. You need the reader to understand the world you're working in. Sometimes the most efficient way to accomplish that and get on with the story is to just state it outright, as smoothly and unobtrusively as possible. That's the key. Info dumps are best when short, and need to be placed strategically. And, as a rule, I would say they should only be used when there really is no smoother choice, and to avoid them whenever possible.
As an editor, I can say we often get sci-fi and fantasy stories that have a cool premise and an interesting world, but they take too long to get started because too much of the opening pages is devoted to worldbuilding and, in many cases, the author was so focused on building the world that they neglected to give the same attention to creating characters or developing a plot—in other words, the things that actually keep a reader reading. That's the problem with info dumps in short fiction: they distract and suck up valuable real estate.
What constitutes an “info dump”?
In case you're not familiar with the term, an “info dump” is when a writer drops a whole ton of information on the page at once, in a way that's not integrated into the plot or the movement of the character through their world. Usually this is focused on the history of the world or explaining things like the magic system or technology, but it can also be a lengthy explanation of the character's background, their relationship with other characters, or their current circumstances or role in society.
While the core information being conveyed in an info dump usually is necessary for the story, very often they go into far more depth or detail than is really useful. When this really goes overboard, it distracts from the story instead of enhancing it because the reader learns things that don't end up being relevant. Granted, not every detail you include about a world needs to be “productive” in the sense that it has a direct impact on the plot—there is definitely value in including world details that set a certain mood or tone, or that reinforce a theme or recurring image, or even that are just fun and will bring the reader joy. But there's not as much room for these details in a short story as there is in a novel. The shorter the piece, the more every detail needs to serve multiple functions to earn its place.
I'll also say that info dumps don't just happen in narrative. One “cheat” writers often try is to shift the information into dialogue. This adds more movement to the delivery of the info, but it doesn't automatically pull it out of info dump land. An entire scene can be an info dump if all that happens in it is two characters talking about how some piece of technology works. If a reader's sole takeaway from a passage is worldbuilding or backstory, then I would say it's an info dump. Usually, especially for short fiction, that will mean you want to look for some other way to convey that knowledge to the reader.
How to not info dump
It might seem like the solution to info dumps is a simple “cut them.” The problem is, you need to introduce the reader to your world somehow, and showing usually requires a lot more words than telling. I've come up with a couple strategies to excise info dumps from my stories (or stop myself from writing them in the first place).
#1: Identify which details the reader actually needs.
This is my step one when I find an info dump I need to cut, and is also something I try to ask myself when I'm writing a fantasy or sci-fi story. I love to worldbuild, so when I'm brainstorming the world I'll usually come up with a lot more of it than will realistically fit on the page. Usually, I'll end up including some things that really aren't necessary in my rough draft, then once I know more about where they story starts and ends, I can go back and pare out the parts of the world that didn't end up being relevant.
There's a deeper question here, which is how to figure out which details are actually necessary. For me, the filter I use is:
- Does the reader need to know this for the plot to make sense?
- Does this detail of the world have a direct impact on characters' actions or motivations?
- Is this detail necessary to convey an underlying theme or meaning that you want readers to take away from the story?
If the answer to all of those questions is “no”, then it's likely the detail is not really necessary for the story, however much I like it.
#2: Tweak existing scenes to integrate the information organically.
The smoothest way to build a world is always in the course of the action. A lot of times, this can serve as a good litmus test for whether the info really belongs, too. If it fits in the story, you should be able to find a place that you can convey that piece of information in a way that feels natural. On the other hand, if it feels shoe-horned in everywhere you try to put it, that's often a sign that detail isn't really essential for the story you're telling.
I'll give an example of what I mean here. Say your story starts with an info dump explaining that the characters live in a far-future society where everyone is under constant surveilance. You won't need to tell the reader that if you show your character walking down the street, noticing the cameras watching from every corner, or getting stopped by a surveilance drone demanding to scan their ID. Adding those kinds of details to a scene that's already in the story is an easy way to eliminate the info dump without losing the necessary context.
#3: Make it personal.
In many cases, info dumps take a broad or global view. They explain how the entire society fuctions, or give the reader a tour of the entire continent and its various factions and conflicts. Even if the reader is interested in this kind of thing, presenting it in a global way doesn't give them a compelling reason to care.
The best way to do that is to put a face on it by linking it to one of your characters. Instead of explaining the world-at-large, shift the focus to how it specifically impacts that individual, or how that individual engages with that aspect of the world. Once you've identified that, you can integrate the information into character descriptions, thoughts, or dialogue in a similar way to the advice above.
How this looks in practice will depend on what kind of info is being dumped. If it's information about the society and culture, this is often best conveyed in how the character navigates their world or interacts with other people. So in that example above, you can convey that society is oppressive by having the character view the other people they pass with suspicion, or move through their world furtively and hyper-aware of their surroundings.
To smoothly give details on the world's history, you can take the same approach of linking them to your character's backstory. So if it's important to this setting that two kingdoms were recently at war, give your protagonist a personal connection to that conflict—they fought in it, or lost a family member, or were otherwise directly impacted. Then you can drop this information in the character's internal monologue or dialogue in an organic way: an old war injury flares up while they're dismounting their horse, or they see something that reminds them of their dead relative.
If it's information about technology or magic systems, the smoothest option is usually to show it in action. This could be the character using it directly or a background element—maybe that blacksmith the character passes on their way into town has a fire elemental instead of a forge, for instance. The character doesn't need to intimately understand how it works, and neither does the reader. Again, think about what details are necessary for comprehension, and don't try to stuff in much more beyond that unless it's doing something else for the narrative, like showing the character's level of expertise.
Do you always need to kill your info dumps?
I always try to eliminate info dumps when I find them, but there are times that massaging the necessary details in elsewhere in the story just feels ham-fisted or interrupts the flow. Sometimes you do need to set the scene. There's a genre based expectation at play here, too. If you're writing in a fairy tale mode, for example, then starting on a brief info dump is an expected trope.
I think length is the biggest thing to keep in mind. Most readers won't have a problem with a short paragraph that's written in an entertaining way and gives them information they genuinely need to know. It's when an info dump goes on for too long, doesn't fit the voice, or feels like it's taking readers on a tangent that it starts to detract from the story.
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