An Easy Tip to Avoid Infodumps in Your Dialogue

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

Just because a character says it, doesn’t mean it isn’t an infodump.

Dialogue is one of my favorite parts of writing. It's fast-paced, grabs attention, and usually keeps the reader reading. When two characters are having a zippy conversation, readers feel like they’re hanging out with them and part of the story.

But those conversations can also contain the dreaded infodump-as-dialogue.

Infodumping (throwing in a lot of "need-to-know" information at one time) doesn't just happen to prose. Characters can have conversations they'd never have, talking about things they'd never talk about.

Infodumps remind readers they’re reading, and can knock them right out of the story.

Dialogue belongs to the character, and when the author sneaks in and takes over their words, it makes them feel like puppets on a stage, not real people. When they start spouting information instead of conversation, it slows the pace and flattens the characters.

You’re not fooling anybody, Bob.

You’ve probably heard someone mention "As you know, Bob" conversations. They’re infodump-as-dialogue's biggest offender—a character explaining in detail what both characters already know. For example:

"As you know, Bob, since that day back in January '02, when those aliens came from their hidden star cluster in Omega 4 and dropped those pulse bombs on us that destroyed all the power in the cities, we've been living in these underground bunkers."

Real people don’t talk like this, and neither should our characters. But "As you know, Bob" infodumps aren't always this obvious. For example:

"What if we use the same trick you did for Ms. Klein's math final freshman year? Remember? Where you wrote the answers on a sheet of paper stuck to the bottom of your shoe and held it up for everyone in the room to see?"

At first glance this seems like a perfectly normal bit of dialogue. But look closer. Would the speaker really need to remind the other person what they did in such specific detail? A more natural conversation would probably go like this:

"What if we try that trick we used on Ms. Klein?"

Both characters know the history and understand the reference. However, the reader doesn't, so while this doesn't dump any info, it also doesn't convey enough to carry the scene either.

To find the balance, look for ways to convey the information naturally, while at the same time, giving the reader the important details.

"What if we try the trick we used on Ms. Klein?"

She scoffed. "Right, like sticking answers to the bottom of my shoe is going to work twice."

It doesn't get in every single detail, but odds are the important aspect of that infodump was what they did, not the specifics surrounding it. In the past, they used this tactic. The fact that it was freshman year to cheat on a math test doesn't matter to the current scene. What matters, is sticking one thing to another to hide it or pass along information.

(Here's more on The Power of Explanation Compels You: Avoiding the Dreaded Infodump) 

Here’s the one simple question to ask to avoid infodumps through dialogue:

Is it for the reader’s benefit, or the character’s benefit?

If the information is for the reader's benefit, chances are you're infodumping.

If the information is for the character's benefit (or detriment), chances are it's fine.

Let’s look at an example:

Reader benefit: "I'll rig up a small explosive device to blow open the door. That's the way we did it when I was deployed in Afghanistan as a Navy SEAL."

This explains how the character knows how to make a bomb, and where he learned it. But who talks like this? Authors forcing words into their character’s mouths, that’s who.

Character benefit: "Um, Kevin, where'd you learn to make bombs?"

"The Navy."

This feels more natural, and lets readers know Kevin was in the Navy, and that he made bombs, which are the relevant details for the scene. If more details need sharing, the character can always ask for them. 

Don't explain the magic trick before you perform it. 

One advantage to not explaining everything to readers is that they don't know exactly what's going on or what's going to happen. If they don't know, then they watch in anticipation of what will happen next. 

If your characters explain that they’re rigging a bomb to blow open the door, then readers know and watching the characters do it becomes less interesting. 

(Here's more on How Over-Explaining Will Kill Your Novel)

Like so many things in writing, if you have to dump information into your dialogue, your best bet is to keep it in the character's voice and use the terms and details they'd think were relevant at that moment.

It’s not always easy to convey information to readers.

Avoid infodumps through dialogue as best you can, but if you have to dump it, try to tease readers first with the information. If you make them want to know it, they won’t mind a little dumping.

EXERCISE FOR YOU: Look at any scenes where information is revealed through dialogue. Does it sound like natural dialogue for the character’s benefit, or are you dumping it for the reader’s benefit?

How do you feel about infodump-as-dialogue? How do you treat it? Ignore it on a first draft or fix it as you find it?

*Originally published December 2009. Last updated November 2020.

Find out more about show, don't tell in my book, Understanding Show, Don't Tell (And Really Getting It).

With in-depth analysis, Understanding Show, Don't Tell (And Really Getting It)teaches you how to spot told prose in your writing, and discover why common advice on how to fix it doesn't always work. It also explores aspects of writing that aren’t technically telling, but are connected to told prose and can make prose feel told, such as infodumps, description, and backstory. 

This book will help you: 

• Understand when to tell and when to show
• Spot common red flag words often found in told prose
• Learn why one single rule doesn't apply to all books
• Determine how much telling is acceptable in your writing
• Fix stale or flat prose holding your writing back

Understanding Show, Don't Tell (And Really Getting It) is more than just advice on what to do and what not to do—it’s a down and dirty examination and analysis of how show, don’t tell works, so you can adapt the “rules” to whatever style or genre you’re writing. By the end of this book, you’ll have a solid understanding of show, don’t tell and the ability to use it without fear or frustration.

Available in paperback and ebook formats.

Janice Hardy is the award-winning author of the teen fantasy trilogy The Healing Wars, including The Shifter, Blue Fire, and Darkfall from Balzer+Bray/Harper Collins. The Shifter, was chosen for the 2014 list of "Ten Books All Young Georgians Should Read" from the Georgia Center for the Book. 

She also writes the Grace Harper urban fantasy series for adults under the name, J.T. Hardy.

When she's not writing novels, she's teaching other writers how to improve their craft. She's the founder of Fiction University and has written multiple books on writing.

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest | Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iTunes | Indie Bound