5 Easy Tricks to Smuggle in Background Info

Original Post: https://www.ridethepen.com/background-info/

Information dump:
• The hand of the author becomes too visible
• The author sounds desperate to equip you with information
• Not scenic or dramatic events, just plain info

1. Let Your Characters Mention the Info

Your character needs to have a reason to mention the information.
The two most natural reasons that come to mind are:
• He has to pass his info on to another character who doesn’t know about
it
Example: Imagine a colonel who has to report some military information
to his general about what just happened in battle.

• The character’s emotions are boiling over

Example: Enthusiasm works really well too. “Jim, you will never guess in
a million years what just happened!! I won the lottery!”

2. “Show, Don’t Tell” with Body Language

Example: Uncle Albert is tired. Describe the “dark circles” under his eyes, his
constant yawning and how he forgets his keys at the office.
• Imagine what you would look like if you felt tired now, or angry, or
excited. Feel that feeling in your body, and see how your body reacts.
• Or think about the last time you felt that way, or the last time you saw
somebody feeling like that.

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3. Spread Your Info Thin
• Don’t serve your info in one big indigestible cluster.
• Instead, disperse it in small chunks over many pages or chapters. This will
make it much more unobtrusive.
• It’s often better to let your reader have the info a little while before she
actually needs it.
• In any case, make sure she doesn’t get it right before she needs it,
because that would really look constructed.
• Sometimes information is not vital, so you have more time to bring it in.

4. Harness the Power of the Media

• Your characters learn the news from TV, newspaper, or the internet.
• Many things can be dramatized to be used in media (“The audience will
only tune in and stay tuned in to watch drama.”).
• Man bites dog? Perfect! That way, you can make many things media-fit.

5. Plain description: Just Say It!

• Sometimes it may be acceptable when the author simply states
information (E.g. Beginning of Süskind’s Perfume).
• How well this works will depend on the overall style and tone of your
story; it’s a question of distance between the author and his narration.
• This style is used in some short stories, in which the narrator assumes a
more zoomed-out position (not enough pages to carefully spoon-feed
information to the reader).
• This style is less elegant and artistic.
• But if the large distance to your character seems believable and fits into
your story, your readers will just accept it as “your style of choice.”
Always be aware of your choice, should you decide to use this technique.

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