How do I avoid a “mid-story info dump?”?

Question

I am revising the manuscript for a novel. About a third into the story, a major turning point occurs when the main character (through whom the reader follows the story) realizes that things are not at all how she perceived them to be, and that she has been duped by another character (let’s call him Ryan). For an entire chapter, she looks back at the events and pieces together Ryan’s moves and intentions.The problem is, this feels too much like what I would call a “mid-story info dump.” We all have been told to avoid dumping out a truckload of back story at the start of a book before the actual action gets going. Here, in a similar fashion, I’m putting the main character’s actions on hold while she analyzes Ryan’s actions. There is little dialogue, just narration. It sounds a bit like the end of a Sherlock Holmes mystery: “And here is how I solved the crime.” Except in my case, it comes a third into the book, but it is a necessary step to launch off the remaining part of the story.Is there a better way to handle this type of narration? Or should I simply not worry about it and count on the suspense created by the build-up to carry the reader forward? (If I’ve done my job correctly as a writer, the reader -- who has been duped just like the main character -- will be dying to find out what *really* happened).Thoughts?

Answer 1

I think your instinct is correct to try to avoid a "mid-story life dump." However, there's probably a good reason that there is so much back story that you now want to get onto paper at this point in your story. My advice would be to get all your ideas down on paper and then worry about where they will go - or even if you will use all of it. After you get everything down on paper, then you can make decisions about what to cut or move to other stages of the story.

If you do decide to use most or all of the back story that you are bringing in at this stage in the story, then you could certainly explore different formats to bring in the back story to keep readers interested. Perhaps a letter that the protagonist is writing to someone else, for example? The format will really depend a lot on your genre and the overall mood you want to create with your readers.

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