Hey, it’s Emily, and welcome back to our Crafting Your World series! This is our last post in this blog series, so today we will discuss how to bring all of the elements we’ve already discussed together and how to weave them naturally into your story, much like Honey’s tapestries. While building a rich and immersive fictional world is as fun as it is difficult, that is only one part of the process, because now you need to introduce your readers to the world you’ve made. The question is, how do you do that without “info-dumping” and exhausting or boring your readers?
What Is “Info-Dumping?”
Many writers gravitate towards exposition or “info-dumping” when introducing readers to their world. Often, this occurs when writers directly state facts, details, or history to the readers, rather than integrating them into the narrative organically. Here’s an example:
Ten years ago, the Kingdom of Wraviel declared war against the Kingdom of Sathia, unleashing the full might of its military upon the humble country’s lands. The declaration sent a shock throughout the fields and the towns, and everyone knew that this event would ingrain itself in the history books. It was a bloody yet quick war, and after Sathia fell, all its people became subject under its conqueror’s rule as Wraviel absorbed Sathia’s provinces into its own territory, renaming every single one after one of its former kings.
While this paragraph may set up important context for the readers of the story, it does not do so in a natural way. Too much exposition and the book will lose the reader entirely. Writers should typically avoid “info-dumping” because it:
Disrupts Immersion: Stating all the worldbuilding details will pull readers out of the story. It interrupts the narrative with explanation, and readers may feel like they’re reading a lecture and being bombarded with an overflow of information.
Lacks Engagement: “Info-dumping” can also bore readers and create a barrier between them and the story. Instead of experiencing the world with the characters, readers now have to receive information in a passive way.
Weakens Suspense: The story’s mystery suffers when writers reveal too much information too soon, especially when it all appears through one method—exposition. The strongest books incorporate their worldbuilding in several different ways.
While exposition is sometimes acceptable, such as when a writer needs to provide a small detail of background information, most of the time writers should use other methods to reveal their world, specifically through the “show don’t tell” principle. Let’s take a look at three methods you can use to organically incorporate worldbuilding into your novel.
3 Ways to “Show Don’t Tell” Your Worldbuilding:
1) Description
Description is the most common way writers can reveal worldbuilding. As you describe your world—the way it appears and functions, the way people behave and interact, and the way it changes throughout the story—readers will piece together the puzzle to form the image of the whole in their mind. Using our example from earlier, here is what the paragraph could look like with a description approach:
The history books boasted fresh leather covers, yet another mockery of Sathia’s recent loss. With a somber expression, the professor passed a copy to each of her students, her face just as pale and haunted as if she had been one of the defeated soldiers on that battlefield ten years ago when the Wravielan king shouted across a landscape of corpses and declared himself victorious. Thalia looked out the window and glared at the wooden signpost at the edge of the town. “Galdrin” it read. The name of the Wravielan king’s grandfather, the name of a murderer. How was it that overnight the conquering king had not only spattered her country with blood but also renamed every region of it, making it his own family’s legacy?
Instead of stating information about a war, this “show don’t tell” paragraph draws its readers into a scene in which they not only get to learn about the war and its history, but also see how some of the citizens are reacting. The best writing accomplishes more than one goal at a time, such as worldbuilding and characterization. To use description to incorporate worldbuilding, you can describe images to your readers, like the corpse-filled battlefield or the wooden signpost, or describe a character’s headspace, like Thalia’s glare at the signpost or her question about the king’s legacy. Try experimenting with different types of description as you reveal your world to your readers!
2) Dialogue
Another way writers can incorporate worldbuilding in a natural way is through dialogue. Characters can discuss current events over breakfast, share folklore and myths around a campfire, or debate cultural norms with neighbors. Like with description, dialogue allows writers to achieve more than one goal at a time, because dialogue allows writers to reveal character—and often multiple characters and their distinct viewpoints. Take this as an example:
“It’s not right,” said Thalia, throwing a stone at the signpost. It gave a satisfactory thud as rock hit wood. “Who says that Wravielans deserve to rule over everyone just because they won one war ten years ago? A war they started! Our mayor here in Ebrara is a coward for—”
Her mother seized her wrist and yanked her, and her basket of fresh-picked berries tumbled to the dirt road. “Now, you be quiet,” Mother said in a harsh whisper. “You know what they’ll do to any Sathian they overhear speaking treason. Please, I don’t want my daughter to rot in the dungeons all because she couldn’t keep the thoughts in her head from rolling off her tongue.” She let go of Thalia’s wrist. “Now, you’ll call our town ‘Galdrin’ just as the king ordered, and if I hear otherwise, I swear I’ll let you go hungry for a week.”
The above paragraph reveals information about the war, all while showcasing two characters’ dynamic with each other and some of the story’s stakes—should Thalia not comply with the soldiers, they could arrest and lock her away. This type of writing also increases the story’s suspense and has readers wondering what will happen. Will the town ever reclaim its old identity? Will Thalia get caught? Will her mother ever understand her frustration?
3) Action
Finally, writers can use action to reveal worldbuilding in their stories. How characters engage with elements of the world—like throwing a rock at a signpost—can clue readers into current events as well as cultural practices, societal norms, or technological advancements. Once again, using our previous example, let’s see how an action-based paragraph can reveal worldbuilding:
As the Wravielan soldier rode past on his horse, all the people on the streets scurried to the edges, laying themselves on the dirt in deep bows. Thalia grit her teeth, but she bowed too, pulling the top layer of her skirt up so the dust the horse stirred up wouldn’t ruin her new clothes. However, she made the mistake of looking up just as the soldier was looking down. They made eye contact—something Sathians were never supposed to do without permission—and immediately the soldier was off his steed and striding to where Thalia lay, his sword drawn.
This paragraph uses a suspenseful moment, with action and characters’ behavior, to show readers what the current state of the world is in. And, once again, this scene demonstrates efficient writing because it also includes more characterization for Thalia, revealing that she’s reluctant to cooperate with the expected customs, but scared enough to do so anyway.
Note that the line “something Sathians were never supposed to do without permission” is an example of exposition. As mentioned earlier, sometimes exposition is acceptable for including a minor detail of worldbuilding, but writers want to make sure not to go so overboard as to earn the term “info-dumping.”
Weaving Your Tapestry
Thank you for joining us for our final blog post in our Crafting Your Worldbuilding series! Hopefully these examples of “show don’t tell” principles to use when incorporating worldbuilding into your story have given you ideas as well as inspiration to get back to work on your WIP. Description, Dialogue, Action, and even Exposition can all be used together to keep readers engaged with your story as you provide the necessary context and show them your rich world.
If you would like to discuss these principles further and receive help applying them to your own story, feel free to reach out to us at Honeycomb via our Contact page on our website or schedule a consultation call with us via our Services page. We would be happy to clarify our tools and help you find your writing rhythm again. We also offer a variety of editing services, including a free sample edit, so take a look at those too!
Till then, bee brilliant!
Comments