Information Dump

Exposition is a powerful and oft necessary tool for the fiction writer. Whether you’re writing a novel, movie or short story, exposition is an effective means of conveying necessary facts and background information. This can be achieved through a diary, a note, newspaper clipping, a picture, message on a phone, through the narrative or any number of other ways. But beware of going overboard. Too much exposition can lead to an “information dump,” or “idiot dump.”

One of my numerous pet peeves with many of the shoddy movies coming out of the Hollywood money making machine these days is over using exposition. It’s frustrating to be watching an otherwise average or decent movie then all of a sudden, through the course of what feels like an eternity of dialog, a character reveals in brutal, painstaking detail, all the backstory of a person, organization or event. In one fell swoop we know everything there is to know. This information dump is sometimes referred to by those in the field as an “idiot dump” for obvious reasons. It’s an insult to the viewer’s intelligence. It’s lazy writing. It’s ugly. Don’t do it!

One humorous example was demonstrated on the series Mystery Science Theater 3000. In Parts: The Clonus Horror, there is a scene where a character watches a tape that explains a company’s background and plans in meticulous detail. Tom Servo chimes, “Good thing he wandered into the Department of Backstory!”

So, we get the idea. Don’t treat the viewer, or reader, like an idiot. Don’t be lazy. For a great explanation of exposition and its proper use, please refer to pages 66-68, 103, 173, 206 and 208 of David Trottier’s The Screenwriter’s Bible, 4th Edition.

Showing vs Telling

Many writers have trouble with this. I don’t want characters in a movie, or book for that matter, to tell me how they feel. I want to see how they feel. Give me visuals. I want to see what they see. Feel what they feel. Hear what they hear.

Jane can say: “Patty showed me her garden the other day. It was so beautiful.”

What’s the problem with this? You, as the writer, have taken me out of the story and forced me to think. Now, on my own, I must try to visualize what exactly makes this a beautiful garden. So instead, show me! It might go a little bit like this:

## Jane walks into the quiet garden right at sunset. There was a soft, gentle breeze that blows her long blonde hair back ever so slightly, revealing her long, smooth neck. Jane closes her eyes, tilts her head back and breathes in deeply the sweet aroma of the Daphnes and Magnolias, allowing them to penetrate her senses. A calm sets in her body. ##

You see? Now we’re not trying to imagine what this beautiful garden is like. We remain in the story and feel what Jane feels and smell what she smells. We, like Jane, feel a relaxed, calmness come over us. Because you showed us, rather then told us. When you tell, you rip the reader or viewer out of the story and place them directly back into their own world from which they were trying to escape in the first place. When you show, they become a part of the story. They live it with your characters, and forget about their miserable real lives for a while.

The best stories ever told employ the crucial technique of showing rather then telling. So, go back over your novel’s draft, your screenplay, or whatever it is, and go through making sure you aren’t inadvertently tearing the reader or viewer out of the story by telling rather than showing.