So, while rewritting my first book, I've had to strain not to just infodump. Come on, I've written over three hundred thousand words about my characters and their world. I don't want to write another sixty five thousand without adding anything.
But I have to. It's my fault that I had to rewrite in the first place, and with taking full responsibility for that, I had to think of a way to deal with my urge to info dump.
So, I scanned the my original outline and noted things that were introduced in the first book. Once I had them all down, I squeezed them into my current outline, one chapter at a time. Yes, one dreaded chapter at a time. I also wrote a snippet about how this piece of information would be revealed. I tried to keep my character from stumbling across a book with the information. I tried to keep someone from telling him, and believe it or not, I had damn fun doing it.
I made Mr. Bryce Bourbon learn for himself, and the hard way.
For example, I wanted the first book to show the readers that Bryce Bourbon was the reincarnation of the devil. In my original series, this tid bit of information wasn't released until mid-way through the second book. It was a shock, even to me.
Anyway, since this is a huge piece of interesting story juice, I wanted it in my first book. (Really Alli.. story juice? Don't ask.) So, instead of having some character blurting it out, I have it planned to slowly happen. When he first learns how to manipulate fire, he's put into the ICU. While they're tearing the melted clothing off of his raw skin, his eyes shoot open as his conciousness painfully comes to him. As he wakes up, he sees Tony Martini helping the doctor shread the clothing off of him while cussing Bryce's teacher like a dog. "He's a damned demon for heaven's sake. What the hell were you thinking?" (It was a bit more dramatic than that, but there's the point.) So the fire happens in one chapter, he overhears that he's a type of demon in another, and later on he's going to get his ass kicked for the events that happened hundreds of years ago.
It's been so much more fun for him to learn the truth that way (and for the reader's to learn as well..) than for the prophet to tell him, "Hey, I know you... you're the devil!"
So, write out all the info dumping facts. Now, divide them into different chapters, and don't let your character learn the easy way. Put him or her through hell and back to learn the truth. You'll have an incredibly fun time with it.
But I have to. It's my fault that I had to rewrite in the first place, and with taking full responsibility for that, I had to think of a way to deal with my urge to info dump.
So, I scanned the my original outline and noted things that were introduced in the first book. Once I had them all down, I squeezed them into my current outline, one chapter at a time. Yes, one dreaded chapter at a time. I also wrote a snippet about how this piece of information would be revealed. I tried to keep my character from stumbling across a book with the information. I tried to keep someone from telling him, and believe it or not, I had damn fun doing it.
I made Mr. Bryce Bourbon learn for himself, and the hard way.
For example, I wanted the first book to show the readers that Bryce Bourbon was the reincarnation of the devil. In my original series, this tid bit of information wasn't released until mid-way through the second book. It was a shock, even to me.
Anyway, since this is a huge piece of interesting story juice, I wanted it in my first book. (Really Alli.. story juice? Don't ask.) So, instead of having some character blurting it out, I have it planned to slowly happen. When he first learns how to manipulate fire, he's put into the ICU. While they're tearing the melted clothing off of his raw skin, his eyes shoot open as his conciousness painfully comes to him. As he wakes up, he sees Tony Martini helping the doctor shread the clothing off of him while cussing Bryce's teacher like a dog. "He's a damned demon for heaven's sake. What the hell were you thinking?" (It was a bit more dramatic than that, but there's the point.) So the fire happens in one chapter, he overhears that he's a type of demon in another, and later on he's going to get his ass kicked for the events that happened hundreds of years ago.
It's been so much more fun for him to learn the truth that way (and for the reader's to learn as well..) than for the prophet to tell him, "Hey, I know you... you're the devil!"
So, write out all the info dumping facts. Now, divide them into different chapters, and don't let your character learn the easy way. Put him or her through hell and back to learn the truth. You'll have an incredibly fun time with it.
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