As writers, we’ve read about the writing craft and avoid info dumps. Why? Because we don’t want all our hard work to disappear under a huge pile of research.
Readers come first.
Information dumps
Moderation is key.
I watched a movie recently. Too much fighting. Too many special effects. And believe or not–too much sex. To be honest, it got boring. Instead of moving the story along and keeping my attention, it zoned me out.
I wanted story.
Info dumps are the same thing. Sure often researching new information is interesting. That’s probably why we are writing about it, but it must be pushed to the background.
How do the masters do it?
Who isn’t a fan of the greats? Here are some of my favorites: Tolkien, Rowling, Patterson, Connelly, Cornwall, Evanovich, and Hamilton.
And they all have one thing in common. Their stories keep me reading no matter where they take me because their research is where it belongs.
Once I started putting stories together, I can’t help but look deeper at the mechanics of excellent work.
Do you have a trick in keeping your work from disappearing under a pile of research?
