Info-Dumping

You probably know what an info-dump is. Basically, it's dropping a wad of back-story into the text to "prime" the reader for what is to come. For instance, if Dave gets into a space shuttle and starts the engine, and then spends three paragraphs thinking about the history of space travel, that's infodumping. It doesn't matter that Dave is a spaceship pilot, or that this is a journey into space: after all, I don't think about the history of the internal combustion engine every time I start my car.

The problem is particularly bad in science fiction and fantasy (and I could imagine it being bad in historical stories, or any with an unusual setting) but it happens everywhere. A few lines about how the history of a specific character  is fine. However, the further back in the past and the more generalised it becomes, the more like a background essay it is starting to become, and the more it takes the reader out of the narrative, ie what's actually happening in this story.

Once you've finished reading this background info, you're allowed to read the story.

Now, here's the thing: the reader isn't as interested in your back-story as you are. You may have laboured hours to produce a something like this:

In the late 29th Century, the North American Conglomeration merged with the Democratic Federation of Colonies to produce the Galactic Alliance of Free Nations, which is now commonly called the Alliance. When Duncan Poke, the beloved president, was assassinated, laws were passed enlarging the space fleet and granting the navy new photon-based weapons for their capital warships. However, the Galactic Senate...

This may be fascinating to you, but let's be blunt: to a reader, you might as well say "It's a space empire and a bit like America" or just "You know, kinda like Star Trek". To drop a potted history like this on a reader runs the risk of simply boring them. Further, some settings are so familiar that you just have to say "steampunk" or "noir" and people will have a solid idea of what to expect. It's not the things that make the setting predictable that are interesting, but what make it different.

"Kinda like Star Trek."

 In some ways, this is a good thing. Anyone who's seen a bit of pop culture knows the basic rules of, say, epic fantasy. There is magic, armies fight, it's a bit like Medieval England. You don't need to explain why it's like that unless it's of great importance to the narrative - and even if that is important, you really shouldn't drop the reason on the reader in a heap of background information, like a travel guide.


What really matters is the stuff in the foreground, not the stuff that happened before the story began. It's not that a bunch of religious maniacs have staged a coup, but whether Offred is going to survive or be murdered by the secret police. Because, ultimately, it's her story. And, by following her, we learn about the setting - not because it was forced on us like a pamphlet, but because it appears naturally, in the course of the book.