theliteraryarchitect:

I got a great question in my Ask recently from someone wanting to know how to identify an info-dump in their writing. Here’s my response!

For those who don’t know, an info-dump refers to areas of a story where a writer gives a long expository description, either in narrative or in dialogue, where they are basically “dumping” a bunch of information on the reader all at once, as opposed to revealing it naturally throughout the story.

Signs of an info-dump:

• Read your passage out loud. Do you get bored? You might be info-dumping.
• Has
  all conflict in your story come to a screeching halt while you spend
  more than 1-2 paragraphs explaining something to the reader? You might
  be info-dumping.
• Are two characters telling each other things they already know for, like, a long time? You might be info-dumping.
• If
  invited to read your work publicly, would you definitely NOT read that
  passage, because “nothing really happens” and you worry the audience
  would get bored listening to it? It could be an info-dump.

Signs that you are probably not info-dumping:

• Have you woven in necessary backstory and information in 1-3 sentence bursts throughout your story? Not an info dump.
• Does
  a character spend a short paragraph or two explaining something to
  another character that they didn’t already know, for a good story
  reason? Not an info dump.
• Do you keep the story going and keep
  conflict and tension alive while you gradually show your reader what’s
  going on? Not an info dump.
• Do you have just a few
  sections where you spend 200-300 words or less explaining something to
  the reader? As long as your story is on the longer side, you’re probably not doing too much info-dumping.

Again,
these are just general guidelines. After you finish your story, though,
you might want to give it to a friend or fellow writer to give you
feedback and let you know if they spot any areas that are too thick with
exposition.

Also keep in mind that whether or not a writer is info-dumping can be subjective
as well as genre-sensitive: Not everyone will agree about what makes a
passage an info-dump or not, and if you’re writing a complicated fantasy
with a lot of world-building and history, giving your reader a ton of
info can be necessary at some stages. Also, readers of fantasy tend to
be more tolerant of it because it comes with the territory sometimes. But these general guidelines should help.

forcefish:

quinintheclouds:

jumpingjacktrash:

antis-are-abusive:

churchyardgrim:

god this is a big ask but I really wish there were like….. a site where you could plug in your state/district/whatever and tick some boxes on issues you prioritize and then the site would give you a rundown of the potential candidates in your area and where they stand on those issues in like….. clean simple bullet points. gimme the cliffnotes, I literally do not have the time or energy to comb through god knows how many articles and shit to figure out who to support, just tell me what their stance is on X, Y, and Z, and that’s gonna have to be enough.

There’s BallotReady!

It goes through who’s on your ballot and explains things like that based on your address. 

this is really great. it gives you bullet points on what each candidate has said and done on each issue.

very illuminating, frankly, seeing the candidate’s own words and actions. for instance, under ‘defense/veterans’ the republican candidates almost always say something about a well-funded military, and the democrats almost always say something about getting veterans the medical care they need. makes it pretty obvious that republicans don’t care about soldiers once they’re done with them.

VOTING DAY IS TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 6TH

NOVEMBER 6TH

People in SoCal can also use VoterGamePlan.

memes–memes: