info dumps
Excessive background explanation
Info dumps are large quantities of information delivered all at once, often in contexts where gradual revelation would work better.
In fiction writing, an info dump is exposition that halts narrative momentum to explain backstory, worldbuilding, or technical details: The second chapter was just an info dump about the planet's history.
The term is usually critical, implying the information could have been woven in more gracefully.
- expositionSystematic explanatory presentation
- backstoryCharacter's past narrative
- loreTraditional knowledge transmitted orally
- worldbuildingConstructing imaginary universes for fiction
- monologueUninterrupted solo address
talking heads · narration · lecture · wall of text · as you know · clunky · telling · showing · flashback · prologue · opening crawl · dialogue · pacing · tedious · explaining · footnotes · appendix · encyclopedia
- writing challengeswriter's block, procrastination, plot holes, weak dialogue, character development
- editing termscopy editing, line editing, corrections, revision, markup
- fan behaviorsfanboys, fangirls, nerds out, cosplays, obsesses
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