Inventing Reality: A Guide to Writing Science Fiction

An info dump is a chunk of exposition that is insufficiently integrated into the story being told. It’s also known as an “expository lump” and is a specific kind of exposition.

The info dump usually involves sharing your research notes with the reader, just to prove that you’ve done the research. While it’s sometimes necessary to give such information, make sure it sounds natural in your piece and not like a cut-and-paste from an encyclopedia.

Often an info dump is given by a Stapledon, a character serves no purpose other than to relate exposition, usually at great length and without interruption. As in real life, such characters are dull.

Another kind of info dumping is “maid-and-butler dialogue” in which characters tell each other things that they already should know so that the reader can overhear them. Unfortunately, those characters sound simple minded as the lines they deliver in real life would be inane.

Having said this, even the greatest science fiction writers are guilty of info dumping. Isaac Asimov is notorious for it in “The Foundation”, often regarded as one of the best novels in the genre. Frequently, however, these writers were allowed their transgression because the story the info dump itself was so fantastic (As a child, I had the same reaction to many encyclopedia articles that opened my eyes to the wider world). But with so many science fiction conventions that have appeared time and time again, your info dump probably isn’t all that fantastic. Given this, it’s best to avoid the info dump.

Getting rid of info dumps
Sometimes you do need to include the information provided in the info dump in your story. The best way to accomplish that is to incorporate it into your tale:
n Rewrite so that it’s part of the description or so it’s implied in the dialogue - This is the best way. You are now showing the information rather than telling it.
n Have the characters read or see a news report – If the information can’t be rewritten, use this ploy. Only give the information necessary to the plot, however, not the entire news article or report.
n Provide journal entries or captain’s logs - In 10 seconds, Captain Kirk gets you caught up on the plot. Usually some conflict needs to be noted or implied in the log, however, so that there’s dramatic tension.