Hi there! Welcome back to another blog. In the past, I shared how I’m writing my first fantasy novel, The First Forge. In this blog, I’m breaking down how I avoid info-dumping and naturally weave important information into the story.
If you prefer watching videos to reading, here you go:
What’s my fantasy novel about?
A few YouTube viewers pointed out that I haven’t shared much about the plot of my book. So, first, I want to provide more context about The First Forge. I’m going to keep this high-level, and then I’m going to pull examples from it for this blog.
The First Forge is about a human named Vada. She lives in a castle in the mountains, called Idorna. There is only one non-human creature there—her grandmother, who is the queen of Idorna. She’s also the last of her magical race.
Somebody poisons the queen and tries to kill her. Vada suspects that the territory to the east is involved because they’ve been having issues with that territory related to trade.
Vada is tired of waiting for Idorna to take action, so she goes to this territory to the east to figure out (1) who poisoned her grandma and (2) why this territory isn’t honoring their trade agreement.
Over the course of the second and third acts (remember, I follow the four-act structure), she learns that the attempt on her grandmother’s life is the least of their concerns because there are villains much bigger at play.
I’m going to leave it at that. Again, I’m trying to keep this super concise!
The biggest thing to remember about revealing information
First, I want to share what I think is most important when it comes to avoiding info-dumping.
What I’ve learned is that you don’t have to share all the information with the reader as you go. The main character (MC) doesn’t need to have all the answers right away. In fact, they shouldn’t.
Here’s what I ask myself: “If I drop this kernel of information but don’t fully explain what it means, is it going to confuse the reader until I finally explain the meaning behind it? Is it going to cause the book to feel disjointed?
If not, then it’s okay to give them that kernel!
Here’s an example.
The opening scene of my book is Vada, the MC, and Cyren, the main male human character in the story, and they’re training in the gym in Idorna.
Cyren starts to limp. All I say in that moment is that the familiar hitch in his hip came back and that he very carefully kept a blank expression, which is what Cyren always does when he’s in pain.
So, we know he suffered some sort of injury in the past that didn’t fully heal, and we know that in the moment, he’s hurting, but he’s not going to admit that.
In fact, Vada says, “I’ve had enough for today”—trying to make it sound like she’s tired—and Cyren says, “I don’t need your pity.”
We realize that whatever happened to his leg may cause him embarrassment or shame. Maybe he’s scared of looking weak.
His injury comes up again later in Act 1. Cyren is training with the general of the human army, who he reports to. The general is getting close to retiring, and they’re talking about who will take his place. He says to Cyren, “Well, it should’ve been you, but…” and he looks at Cyren’s leg.
Here, we learn another detail. This injury cost Cyren what should’ve been his future career. What a blow to the ego!
This injury must be worth mentioning, or I wouldn’t mention it twice, but…what was the injury? What happened?
I don’t say!
Not until Act 3, when Vada is talking to who I consider to be the male protagonist. At this point, she’s in that eastern territory. The male protagonist belongs to a magical race. Just before this scene, he was attacked, and he sustained a bunch of injuries. He’s healing in bed, and she visits him and says, “This is the second time I wasn’t able to help someone I care about.”
A little later in that same conversation, we finally learn that when they were teenagers, Cyren was injured. Now, in your leg, you have your femoral artery. You slice open any artery, and you can bleed out. So when they were very young, he was injured and bled excessively. Vada tried to help him, even temporarily, and she couldn’t. Her grandmother, the last of their magical race, had to swoop in and do it.
“Who cares, Megan?” you’re saying.
Well, because Vada was born human and not magical, her mother abandoned her. She also feels responsible for ending that magical race. This is part of her internal struggle because she’s always felt inadequate—never good enough. Not being able to save Cyren, and then the male protagonist—well, those were two examples of her struggle with feeling unworthy. If she did have magical abilities, she could’ve helped them.
You don’t put all those pieces together until Act 3, but it doesn’t stop you from moving past that first chapter, where the injury is first brought up.
Now, when I was writing the first chapter, I did initially start to explain why Cyren was limping. But the first chapter is very fast-paced, and when I read it back, I could tell that including that backstory slowed it down. Also, it wouldn’t mean much to the reader yet because the reader doesn’t yet know exactly what Vada’s internal struggle is. They don’t know yet why that injury that Cyren had 15+ years ago is still relevant.
By the time I explain it in Act 3, it’s relevant. It means something.
So that’s the first thing I want to point out. You don’t have to reveal everything in real time, and not revealing certain details is often what keeps people reading.
Let’s keep going.
How do you avoid info-dumping when even the MC doesn’t know much?
I think some of this depends on what point of view you’re writing from. But let’s consider Act 2 of a book (Act 2 of 4), so roughly the second quarter of the book, which is typically when the MC is thrown into this new world.
In Act 2, the MC is supposed to be a fish out of water. They’re supposed to be lost. I say that to mean you shouldn’t feel pressured to explain everything as the MC experiences it. Don’t worry about making them feel more comfortable right away because in their reality, they don’t have the answers. They’re not comfortable.
In my second act, my goal was to let things unravel gradually. Not revealing everything as you go increases tension and conflict, which is good!
Here’s an example.
When Vada travels to the territory to the east, those creatures, many of whom are elves, are not happy to see her because they’re mad at the humans in Idorna.
Vada travels there with very little information about Idorna’s relationship with this territory and with incorrect information about the territory.
In her early conversations with the elves, they bring up details that she’s unfamiliar with. For instance, one elf mentions, “You ignored our cries for help,” which leaves her confused.
This is another little kernel of information I dropped.
She doesn’t understand this because she doesn’t yet know that the elves contacted the queen in Idorna (her grandmother) several times asking for help, and the queen ignored them.
Make sense? Vada’s a bit clueless, but I don’t explain everything in that moment. The truth comes to light as I progress. There are a lot of moments in my book where I explain something and I hope the reader goes, “Ohhhh, so that explains why earlier on, XYZ happened.”
I find it quite easy to avoid info-dumping. The tricky part, in my opinion, is making sure that by the end of the story, you’ve tied up those loose ends. If you mention something important but don’t immediately explain it, which is okay, make sure you do explain it at some point when it feels natural.
How to help your MC get used to their “new world”
When I say “new world,” that could be literal or figurative.
Again, in Act 2, the MC is supposed to be confused and even overwhelmed. But how do you get them to move out of that state so they can begin to accomplish what they set out to?
By the end of Act 2 of 4, which is roughly the middle of the book, there should be another big plot point, some sort of turning point. That’s just part of the story arc.
What I recommend, and this helped me tremendously, is to look at Act 2 in isolation and ask yourself, “Where does the MC start and where does she need to end?”
Again, this is only in reference to Act 2.
Really build this out. At the beginning of Act 2, how does she think? How does she feel? What does she believe? What are her relationships with the other characters?
Then, answer those same questions for the end of Act 2.
Knowing where your MC has to start and end is going to make it so much easier to fill in the blanks.
Let’s do another example.
I know that in the beginning of Act 2, when Vada first arrives in the eastern territory, she thinks she’s going to fix everything through brute force. Through sheer will alone. She’s a little full of herself because back in Idorna, she’s a big fish in a small pond. But in this new territory, she’s no one, and she’s a human surrounded by magic. And she’s ill-equipped and doesn’t have the information she needs. And she has chronic health problems. And she doesn’t like the creatures who live here. And they don’t like her either.
By the end of Act 2, Vada has started to warm up to these various creatures, they’ve started to warm up to her, she’s learned more about what’s really happening, and she’s started to understand that her people aren’t completely innocent and the elves in this territory aren’t the bad guys.
That gives you an idea of the transformation that needs to occur in Act 2. But how?
Well, if she and the other characters need to go from hating each other to liking each other, then I need opportunities for them to see each other doing nice things for others.
For example, there’s an incident in the book where a huge flock of sheep is killed, and it’s very gruesome. Vada steps onto this field, this pasture where hundreds of dead sheep have been ripped open, and she wades through blood and guts to help the farmer load the bodies onto a cart.
She was one of two beings who stepped up to help.
The male protagonist sees this, and while he doesn’t reveal it in that moment, we find out later that when he saw her do that, he saw her in a different light. A human—a female, no less—didn’t even hesitate to help in a very icky situation.
Considering a human exploring a magical world, other details you’ll want to cover are:
- How do they respond to the magic?
- How do they react and learn to live with it?
- What settings do they need to explore?
- Who do they need to meet?
As your MC discovers the answers to these questions, they’ll become more acquainted with their new world/circumstances.
In my book, Vada discovers that being around so much magic has a negative physiological effect on her, so she has to expose herself to it in small quantities over time to allow herself to adjust to it.
To go back to the question—how do you make the MC feel less overwhelmed?—here’s my take: That does not occur in one moment. You don’t want them to feel less overwhelmed too quickly because in Act 2, they’re trying to find their way, and that takes time. Let them be confused and overwhelmed. Consider where you need them to be at the end of Act 2, and gradually work your way there.
Putting it all together
To sum it up, try looking at it like this. If you feel yourself starting to info-dump, stop and ask yourself: “If I withhold some of this information until later, can they continue reading without being lost?”
If yes, save some of it for later.
You will come to a place in your book where you’ll go, “Ah! This is where I’ll explain it.” It’ll make perfect sense and feel super natural.
I hope you found this blog post valuable! If you made it this far, good job and thank you. Keep writing! xo