I've been blogging about writing in a more literary and meaningful fashion. I've read thousands of pages of fiction in the last year, some of it very very good, some of it mediocre, some of it so painful I couldn't finish it. What often made the difference was when information/backstories weighed so heavily in the story that both story and character have been bogged down to the point of being sunk.
Most stories and major characters need some kind of backstory. If you're writing in fantasy, sci-fi, or a similar genre, you also need to build a world. All of this can be fascinating if you slip it out little by little, allowing your character to fully immerse into the world as deeper and deeper levels are slowly revealed by interactions with each other and their slowly revealed world. Percy Jackson and Harry Potter, for instance, start in a normal world. As they interact with that normal world, we learn more and more about who they are and how they respond to a world that becomes increasingly bizarre, more magical, more surprising.
However, if that second or even first page, had started like so many amateur writers do their worlds, a reader could not get past that positive wall of info dumping wherein we learn every detail on their past and every detail on their world right away. There are readers that will plow through that, who are just as fascinated by your narrative explaining every little thing about every character and the world right away. But most of us will be turned back. It does not invest us in either emotionally in character or world, which is the point of good storytelling. The reader wants to be swept up, not bored or walled off.
The other way you can really turn off a reader with data dumping is by telling your reader all about a character and then never fulfilling your promises. This is called giving your characters informed attributes. Man, this character is hilarious. But he never does anything funny. Wow, this character is a super genius. How smart is he? So amazingly smart. But he never does anything to PROVE he's smart. We just have to take the narrator's word for it. This makes the narrator a liar and unreliable. Which is a whole separate strategy if it's used intentionally. In general, it's better to SHOW he's smart or funny. Then, your narrator never has to say it. The reader just knows.
An author can use informed attributes intentionally for a specific purpose. They can work for humor or irony. "You're so hilarious," says the enemy in a dry tone, highlighting how serious that character is. "What a genius," the main character's best friend says sarcastically. Then, the character has to prove his best friend wrong. Or you build up a big, evil, scary villain only to show the reputation was based on gossip and lies. He ends up being the protagonist's mentor. Or your characters are all about a quest to find the mighty wise one only to find out his reputation was exaggerated, and they're on their own again. Informed attributes can work if they're not used straight but as an emotional strategy.
Large spans of data dump all at once are touchy but can sometimes be done after the first chapter or two. Some authors can get away with it if they first spend the time to get the reader emotionally invested in the characters and world. The fastest way to do this is to show what your character cares about then steal it or some part of it away. Show they love their family and then slowly reveal that their dad already died or show their horror as their sister is stolen from them. Then, your reader is along for the ride, even if there is a bit of dumping here and there.
Give us the character's heart then punch holes in it. We first see Percy Jackson's bond with his mom, then she's gone. We feel Harry's ache for a family long gone. MCU's Black Widow enjoys an idyllic childhood with loving parents for the first few minutes, then it's all shown to be an illusion, all of them separate quickly.
The other place a reader rarely wants a data dump is at the end. The beginning and end of any piece of writing are the most memorable. You don't want to start or end on a data dump. Even if you're writing a mystery, the truth should slowly sneak out over the course of the story. It may be summed up by the detective at the end, but if it all comes out in one dump, the reader may find this frustrating and poorly written instead of satisfied they were able to make some good guesses based on context clues. The ending is about an emotionally fulfilling wrap-up.
Information is good and necessary to telling stories. The backstory is critical in most pieces. But if it comes in a huge dump truck first thing, you'll rapidly lose readers. Invest us in characters and your world as the truth behind them comes out. Now, it's time to look through your pieces and spread out any info you find and make informed attributes into real attributes that tie your reader closer to the story instead of walling them out.
