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No, a character telling a long story is not by default an info dump. The key to making sure it's not just clunky exposition is to make sure it is not a case of 'as you know, Bob' by which I mean o...
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#3: Attribution notice added
by
System
·
2019-12-08T05:01:22Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/20841 License name: CC BY-SA 3.0 License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision
by
TheNovelFactory
·
2019-12-08T05:01:22Z (almost 5 years ago)
No, a character telling a long story is not by default an info dump. The key to making sure it's not just clunky exposition is to make sure it is not a case of 'as you know, Bob' by which I mean one character should not be telling another character something they already know. An example of this would be experienced police officers explaining procedures to each other for the benefit of the reader. You should also be sure to keep the story in character, and make sure it's interesting for the readers, and preferably forwards the plot. If it is backstory / flashback type information like this, then it's also better to make sure it's not right at the beginning of your story, because it will slow down the pace a bit.
#1: Imported from external source
by
System
·
2016-02-08T11:39:38Z (over 8 years ago)
Original score: 3