Info-dump

[XerXesXu]

Maybe it's the art of rewriting. I've noticed that the hook in many stories appears several paragraphs, or a page in, and could relatively easily be cut and pasted as the opening, then rewriting what follows appropriately.

 

[LegoHead]

This problem with your 2 examples on this thread is that they aren't info dumps. So it's being pretentious while being wrong at the same time.

Also, link to your story.

It would appear you have not grasped the concept of info dumping.

Short, erotic stories are not the medium I work within. The few works I have been fortunate enough to write bear my actual name, so please excuse me if I don't feel comfortable giving you that information. Mostly, I pitch ideas with other writers and I help hone those ideas into a compelling story that the writers above me eventually put to paper.

Yes. It's probably my reading. Nothing at all to do with your writing.

Next time I'll include emotional cues for you to follow.

 

[Bubo_bubo]

<snip>

Next time I'll include emotional cues for you to follow.

Why, how kind of you!

 

[MillieDynamite]

Why, how kind of you!

So, how kind, wasn't a phrase I tough of when I read what he said! But we all know ... I'm a bitch.

 

[jehoram]

From Apprentice Adept, Chapter 1, by Piers Anthony




Egregiously amateurish.

Well, Anthony got you intrigued about the character, which served the purpose of the introduction well.

In erotica, you need at least by the third or fourth (short) paragraph about what erotic pleasures the reader will encounter. As long as you can push that button, it works.

What doesn't work is that info-dump approach. I don't need to know how tall the MC is, or how much he weighs, or what he ate for breakfast that morning, or where he went to college or what branch of the military he served in, unless those things are intrinsic to the story line. True, it builds up an image of the character, but it doesn't do squat for the story.

(Exception to that breakfast rule: "When I threw up on Suzie's bare-shaved crotch in the process of eating her out, I regretted eating that big bowl of oatmeal the hour before.")

 

[Bramblethorn]

One person's info-dump is another person's reasonable explanation. As I suggested, some 19th Century authors did plenty of it, but so do some more modern authors. Pick any novel or short story and see how they did it.

What works in trad-pub may not always work here, though.

In general, I suspect a trad-pub book has a bit longer than a Literotica story to get the reader's interest. If a book interested me enough to buy or borrow it, I'm probably going to give it at least a chapter to win me over. On Literotica, stories are plentiful and it's very little effort to find a new one, so I'm more willing to take a gamble on an unknown author/etc. but also more willing to bail after a few paragraphs if it's dragging.

 

[thomas1965]

My summer lovin' story starts with an info dump, but I like how it turned out so I didn't see a reason to change it.

Can you show the link? You have a quite a few stories.

 

[TheRedChamber]

(Exception to that breakfast rule: "When I threw up on Suzie's bare-shaved crotch in the process of eating her out, I regretted eating that big bowl of oatmeal the hour before.")

If this is from a work in progress, please don't bother on my account...

 

[gunhilltrain]

What works in trad-pub may not always work here, though.

In general, I suspect a trad-pub book has a bit longer than a Literotica story to get the reader's interest. If a book interested me enough to buy or borrow it, I'm probably going to give it at least a chapter to win me over. On Literotica, stories are plentiful and it's very little effort to find a new one, so I'm more willing to take a gamble on an unknown author/etc. but also more willing to bail after a few paragraphs if it's dragging.

I admit I came here to write, not (again, sorry guys!) to read, so I've only read a tiny fraction of what's on here. For me, the biggest difference is not between traditional publishing and online publishing, but between novels and short stories. Or that's the way I handle it, I suppose. I guess a a series could be considered a novella (even if it's a group of sequels, not a formal series). I usually don't write more than ten, maybe fifteen chapters in either case. (I'm not very good at planning these things, on Lit or any other site.)

Many, if not most readers, seem to "buy" whatever I'm doing (based on views, votes, and comments). Maybe many of the "views" are not actually reads, but mere glances. I don't know what they're all thinking, but that's fine with me.

 

[Lovecraft_Lore]

I wonder how much information dumping someone could add to a story. Just pad the story out with weird inconsequential facts.

Jeff ate eggs for breakfast as he clandestinely watched his neighbor Julie finishing her morning workout routine of naked yoga. The eggs had come from Farmer Jeb's farm. Farmer Jeb had owned most of his chickens at least seven years but the eggs Jeff consumed had be laid by a newer bird, one only on Jeb's farm a matter of weeks. Jeff's breakfast had a slight aftertaste of eggs.

Basically write a sex story but instead of describing the sex describe a bunch of inane bullshit that doesn't impact the plot at all. Just paragraph after paragraph of it.


My guess is if the info does not advance the plot there is no reason it would need to be there.

 

[Bubo_bubo]

A reason for an info-dump, or at the least an info-dumplet, is to establish some physical characteristics of a character that might become plot relevant (much) later on. You don't want your readers to start imagining a character is a curvy brunette when several pages later it becomes plot relevant she's actually a petite blonde

 

[Thefireflies]

My guess is if the info does not advance the plot there is no reason it would need to be there.

Information not necessarily tied to the plot isn’t necessarily bad. I like to write about birds in trees chirping away and the scents of flowers in the air and clouds in the sky, cars, people, dogs, cats, music playing etc. The story doesn’t require this information to advance the plot but I personally think stories are sterile without such details.

 

[ElectricBlue]

A reason for an info-dump, or at the least an info-dumplet, is to establish some physical characteristics of a character that might become plot relevant (much) later on. You don't want your readers to start imagining a character is a curvy brunette when several pages later it becomes plot relevant she's actually a petite blonde

Info dumplet. Nice concept!

But to my way of thinking that's necessary description: it's pertinent, relevant, necessary. Unlike most info-dumps, which aren't any of those things, and in most cases, completely irrelevant to the story.

My test is pretty simple - if I get to the point where I say, who cares about this shit? that's it, back click, I'm gone.

 

[Bubo_bubo]

Info dumplet. Nice concept!

But to my way of thinking that's necessary description: it's pertinent, relevant, necessary. Unlike most info-dumps, which aren't any of those things, and in most cases, completely irrelevant to the story.

My test is pretty simple - if I get to the point where I say, who cares about this shit? that's it, back click, I'm gone.

It might be necessary description, but that won't be apparent until later in the story.

Another situation where an info-dump might be necessary (though still risky) - and I use info-dump maybe in a looser sense; even if info is relevant, if the plot comes to a halt to deliver a lot of information in one go, it's an info-dump - is when you're dealing with sci-fi & fantasy settings, where the characters are familiar with the workings of the setting, but the reader is not.

So in general, sometimes info-dumps might be necessary to steer/manage reader expectations and/or correct assumptions.

 

[thomas1965]

A reason for an info-dump, or at the least an info-dumplet, is to establish some physical characteristics of a character that might become plot relevant (much) later on. You don't want your readers to start imagining a character is a curvy brunette when several pages later it becomes plot relevant she's actually a petite blonde

Of course description is important, but at the right time. You can describe her breasts when you get rid of her bra or shirt.
Very often these info-dumps read like a warrant of apprehension.

 

[jehoram]

If this is from a work in progress, please don't bother on my account...

Relax. I promise I won't write it.

 

[Bubo_bubo]

... and once again the crotch vomit fetishists were disappointed.

 

[gunhilltrain]

Well, Anthony got you intrigued about the character, which served the purpose of the introduction well.

In erotica, you need at least by the third or fourth (short) paragraph about what erotic pleasures the reader will encounter. As long as you can push that button, it works.

What doesn't work is that info-dump approach. I don't need to know how tall the MC is, or how much he weighs, or what he ate for breakfast that morning, or where he went to college or what branch of the military he served in, unless those things are intrinsic to the story line. True, it builds up an image of the character, but it doesn't do squat for the story.

(Exception to that breakfast rule: "When I threw up on Suzie's bare-shaved crotch in the process of eating her out, I regretted eating that big bowl of oatmeal the hour before.")

Usually the tags will tell the reader the key points they need to know. The text - that can vary greatly depending on the plot and many other factors. Not everything has to be a stroke story.

I'm looking at a random story of mine where the male narrator doesn't even mention sex until the seventh paragraph and nothing really starts to happen until about the fifteenth or so - and quite slowly at that. The narrator doesn't even fully lose his virginity until the "coda" several months after the main part of the story. Why so long? Because it's taking place in 1949, and the point is how sexual mores were different for many people back then.

 

[gunhilltrain]

... and once again the crotch vomit fetishists were disappointed.

To be fair, the narrator doesn't necessarily eat the oatmeal after he pukes it. Or maybe they clean it off and things proceed. The snippet is pretty ambiguous.

 

[Bubo_bubo]

To be fair, the narrator doesn't necessarily eat the oatmeal after he pukes it. Or maybe they clean it off and things proceed. The snippet is pretty ambiguous.

Maybe the narrator's partner is into it, liking the lukewarm goopy feeling on her crotch.

 

[gunhilltrain]

Maybe the narrator's partner is into it, liking the lukewarm goopy feeling on her crotch.

It's just so much simpler - and more predictable - to just make some oatmeal and dump it on here if that's what she wants. But then, maybe I'm just not crazy enough to fit into some of Lit's stranger corners.

 

[Bubo_bubo]

It's just so much simpler - and more predictable - to just make some oatmeal and dump it on here if that's what she wants. But then, maybe I'm just not crazy enough to fit into some of Lit's stranger corners.

... yes, let's go with that. This has all to do with Lit's stranger corners. Nothing with me. No sirree!

 

[gunhilltrain]

... yes, let's go with that. This has all to do with Lit's stranger corners. Nothing with me. No sirree!

Oh, I'm pretty strange enough, or I wouldn't have been here for so long or put so much stuff on here. (I've even gone to to a couple of other sites, partially so I could publish a few things where I'm not as well known.) But yeah, I appreciate that there is always going to be someone further to the "left" on whatever scale we're talking about.

By the way Bubo, sorry, but I forgot what category your first story is going to be in. For some reason I was under the impression that you already had some here. Truly, I can't keep track of everything I've said on here or what has been said to me.

 

[Bubo_bubo]

Oh, I'm pretty strange enough, or I wouldn't have been here for so long or put so much stuff on here. (I've even gone to to a couple of other sites, partially so I could publish a few things where I'm not as well known.) But yeah, I appreciate that there is always going to be someone further to the "left" on whatever scale we're talking about.

By the way Bubo, sorry, but I forgot what category your first story is going to be in. For some reason I was under the impression that you already had some here. Truly, I can't keep track of everything I've said on here or what has been said to me.

Not yet. I have a week of downtime coming up and hope to finish/polish enough that I can start putting up things, somewhere this month (cross my fingers and hope to die - yeah I know, mixed up proverbs).

Rustyoznail advised me to put it into "First time" which would work for the first few chapters or so, but things will go beyond that after.

And don't worry, it's quite wholesome. Any kind of kinks are quite tame. While I like deviant degeneracy as an idea,I often care too much about my characters to let them slide too quickly into degeneracy.

 

[MillieDynamite]

Oh, I'm pretty strange enough, or I wouldn't have been here for so long or put so much stuff on here. (I've even gone to to a couple of other sites, partially so I could publish a few things where I'm not as well known.) But yeah, I appreciate that there is always going to be someone further to the "left" on whatever scale we're talking about.

By the way Bubo, sorry, but I forgot what category your first story is going to be in. For some reason I was under the impression that you already had some here. Truly, I can't keep track of everything I've said on here or what has been said to me.

I think I repeat myself about a quarter of the time here. Oh, I wasn't coming back tonight. But couldn't resist peeking in!