How do I keep from infodumping? My main character is telling some minor characters some background information, and I don’t know how to break it up. This information is necessary to know because afterwards, my main character tells these minor characters about a plan that eventually drives the story into the climax. What should I do?
Some things that you might try:
Have the minor characters interrupt with exclamations of surprise, prompts to explain further, and so on. These little things can interrupt the flow of dialogue and yet add character to the minor characters. Always a good thing!
Don’t be afraid to make the interruptions rude. I’m sure that you’ve all had to tell a story and there is that one person who makes those snarky comments that totally throws you off. Having the main character being thrown off is a good thing. It tells us what his limitations are, how he responds to stressful situations, how he deals with those that he trusts, and so on. This information is good and can show you a lot of things about the character that you never thought were possible. Mind you, you don’t have to make this snarky character “evil.” I’m sure you’ve all had a best friend who says the wrong thing at the wrong time. That totally happens in real life. Make it happen in fiction as well.
Make the main character wrong. Maybe the thing that he thought that was true is actually wrong. Make one of the minor characters call him out and say, “No. That’s not the truth. Someone lied to you. This is the truth.” That way, that puts the attention off the main character (and let’s face it: most main characters are egotistical blowhards who think too much of themselves, so it’s good to give them a break from themselves) and to the minor character, which makes it much more intriguing and less predictable. Also, it introduces the fact that people can lie. For some reason, writers often make it so that everybody tells the truth to the main character. It’s like there’s some unwritten law, “Thou shalt not hath a character who lieth to the main character.” But you, as a person, have probably been lied to quite frequently. It happens.
It also does something pretty cool... it puts doubt on what the other person says. So you, as the reader, are kept under suspense because you don’t know everything. And it might turn out that the person who was thought to be a liar was actually telling the truth and the person who is telling you that the other person was lying was really lying to you. It’s pretty cool, if you use it right!
Make people bored. Or tired. Or sleepy. Or generally unwilling to listen. And they don’t have to be rude about it by giving out all these snarky comments. Their heads can simply nod or they can ask the main character to repeat things or explain things that he’s already explained because they are tired. This is especially true for a stressful situation. Right now, it’s midterms time at my university, which means there are 35,000 brain dead student zombies walking around the campus. Yes, they are stressed out to an unbelievable amount. But they are also very tired and very fidgety in lecture.
If there are people who know the main character well, make them interrupt the main character with their version of the story. If you’ve had siblings, I’m sure that you have experienced being interrupted. I know that in our typical dinner time conversations, I’ll be telling a story and then Griffinkeeper (my brother) will say, “No, no! It didn’t happen that way! It happened this way!” And then we’ll tell the story together. It’s kind of fun, actually.
If there are people who are intimate with the story that the main character is telling... and personally involved... make them react. Make them walk out of the room or fidget uncomfortably or stop the main character. Especially if it concerns the death of a loved one. I’ve read too many stories where the minor characters hear stories about those that die, and they either sob uncontrollably or nod and don’t respond any other way. People are different. Make them react differently. And being uncomfortable is always a legitimate reaction. It doesn’t need to be totally overblown.
When the character tells of the plan, don’t make the plan perfect. Let the other characters interact with him. In my English class (which is geared for engineers, who generally become managers later on) we have to be able to hold meetings and conferences, and one of the most important things that we’ve learned is that plans are not infallible and the more people involved, the better the plan generally becomes. It’s smart leadership to allow input from other people. This doesn’t mean you have to follow the input, and sometimes you can be criticized for that, but at least you have the input. And this also means that there could be politics involved and people can try to backstab you but... hey, that’s conflict! And we love conflict. I would rather see minor characters be less cardboard and interact with the main character than to see the main character mindlessly drone about the plan and the minor characters agreeing mindlessly to the plan, which is what usually happens.
Of course, if your main character is a loner and thusly a bad leader... have it backfire on him. And don’t be afraid. At least it’ll be interesting.
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