The Anti-Info Dump

We’ve all heard the rules about avoiding info dumps or the “As you know, Bob” moments in our writing. (And I’ll leave my thoughts on these “rules of the Internet” for another rant…). And for the most part, I agree. A huge 10-page “this is what happened so far” moment in the first chapter is a giant turn off for most readers.

But I’m starting to notice a new trend popping up as a result of this… the missing information. Now, I’ll be the first to say that foreshadowing is a very important thing in literature. It keeps your pacing fast, it keeps your reader reading. And when done well, it’s absolutely brilliant. (And Kudos to the TWoP poster who noticed that stunt casting Patty Hearst in Veronica Mars last week was a *clue* to the rapist’s identity! awesome.)

But when you’re adding in the foreshadowing, you still need to give readers enough information that they know what the heck is going on. Otherwise you run the risk of confusing them, making them mad, or losing them completely.

Let’s look at Lost. How many people have given it up this season because they were just so darn sick of clues and hints and no answers? I stumbled across this list… the top 50 loose ends on Lost. And that’s just the top 50. There are even more. I mean, I know that’s the show’s thing, but I’m not the only one who’s getting pretty darn annoyed with it all.

Now I’m not saying writers need to have a whole Dr. Evil moment, where every character stops and reveals their entire motivation, backstory, and plan (and then leaves the hero in a dangerous situation that could easily be foiled while they close the doors and don’t watch ). But, as a reader, if the writer is telling me about a character’s evil plan and I have no idea who this character is or what he does for a living (if this is related to the evil plan) and how this evil plan relates to the rest of the plot, you’ve lost my interest.

A good reveal is woven in throughout the course of the book. Let’s take a look at one of my favourite characters, Logan Echolls on Veronica Mars. (I know, it’s tv ) In the very first episode, Logan is quickly established as Lily’s ex-bf, Duncan’s best friend, and someone Veronica used to hang out with. And there’s tension between Logan and Veronica. Lots and lots of tension. And, to put it frankly, Logan’s a bit of an ass. (heh, okay, in the beginning, Logan was a lot of an ass.)

Now, Rob Thomas didn’t stop in the first episode and give us a huge Logan history. Alcoholic mom, abusive action star dad, neglected, beaten, spoiled, blah-de, blah-de blah. We found this out in pieces over a number of episodes. And the more we found out about Logan and his history, the more fans grew to love him.

And this is where RT does this very well. I don’t think I would have grown to love Logan had I found out all about his background in one fell swoop at the beginning. But I did need to know who he was in Veronica’s world to make his behaviour understandable. Otherwise, he’s just some random asswipe wandering in and out of my tv screen.

Another thing about foreshadowing and revealing information in a book is whether what you’re keeping from the reader needs to be kept from the reader. If your book is a whodunnit, then please, by all means keep the villain from me until the very end. I wanna figure it out for myself, thanks, otherwise, I wouldn’t be reading a whodunnit. But if your book is about a company that the heroine runs and it plays a giant part in the plot, don’t wait until page 200 to tell me what this company is and what they do. (or, in the case of a book I read recently, never tell me. argh.)

The worst example of this is 7th Heaven. In a very special episode where Lucy deals with her miscarriage (a powerful and important storyline), the writers waited until 52 minutes into the episode before telling us that Lucy had had a miscarriage. Up until that point, it was referred to as “what had happened.” I still can’t figure out what the point of hiding that reveal was. Not only did it make me really mad, it prevented the writers from adding in all sorts of conflict and angst and emotion that would have made the episode important and powerful, instead of leaving viewers scratching their heads, wondering what had happened that had  gotten everyone upset.

I think the important thing to remember is what does the reader need to know to make what’s happening at that time relevant. And make sure the reader knows it. Unless you’re trying to be Lost. Then, you’re just mean.

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