So I'm playing a game, made by a guy who has a habit of info-dumping. But it's always in a particular way, such as....
Character A: Says something plot-relevant
Character B: Hey, have you ever heard [conspiracy theory thing]?
Character A: Huh?
Character B: [Explanation of thing]. And it happened because of [paranormal thing]
Character A: But [paranormal thing] isn't real, that's impossible.
Character B: So how do you explain [conspiracy theory thing]?
Character A: Gives a reasonable explanation and isn't convinced at all by this conversation
But then later in the game, you learn that [paranormal thing] is very much real, and it's critical to the plot. Sometimes these explanations are a little relevant, while others you need to totally comprehend so you don't get lost when things start to get Weird (which they absolutely will).
The reason why I'm bringing this up and wanting to hear what other people think of this is because one of these conversations happen about the Mandela Effect, which made me go "uh oh, I have This Exact Same Conversation in my story." I only give one or two concrete examples of what the Mandela Effect is, while the game gives 6 or 7. And I get WHY the game does this, because nothing weird has happened yet, so the idea that this might be real has to be Inception-ed into the players' (and MC's) mind. But in my story, weird stuff has already happened, so it serves more as an explanation and shows that this is a thing that already exists in the world of the story.
I know that infodumping is very common in fantasy and sci fi, where the information that is being shared doesn't exist in reality. You can't whip out your phone and google the history of the kingdom of talking birds. But also if I read a book and a character told me, the reader, to just google a real-world thing was, I wouldn't like that very much. Why won't the author just...explain it to me? And in a way that's fun, interesting, and adds to the story? It's also not equitable to require your reader to have some sort of cultural knowledge beforehand to be able to access your story. Or to google it. The work should be able to stand on its own, you shouldn't need to do research to enjoy it. I am also a big hater of the "I'm going to explain how wormholes work even though I'm telling this to an astrophysicist who already knows this, I'm only doing this for the sake of the audience" trope. Luckily this seems to only really happen in Hollywood movies, where there's a good chance the audience wouldn't already know this info and there's not a lot of time to do things.
So then...how does one infodump in a way that's fun, interesting, and adds to the story? In a way that makes sense diegetically? And doesn't put an undue burden on the reader to come from a similar cultural/educational background as yourself to already know this information?
UNRELATED: Is the Statue of Liberty on Ellis Island or Liberty Island? Don't google it or ask anyone else, what do YOU believe to be the correct answer?
Character A: Says something plot-relevant
Character B: Hey, have you ever heard [conspiracy theory thing]?
Character A: Huh?
Character B: [Explanation of thing]. And it happened because of [paranormal thing]
Character A: But [paranormal thing] isn't real, that's impossible.
Character B: So how do you explain [conspiracy theory thing]?
Character A: Gives a reasonable explanation and isn't convinced at all by this conversation
But then later in the game, you learn that [paranormal thing] is very much real, and it's critical to the plot. Sometimes these explanations are a little relevant, while others you need to totally comprehend so you don't get lost when things start to get Weird (which they absolutely will).
The reason why I'm bringing this up and wanting to hear what other people think of this is because one of these conversations happen about the Mandela Effect, which made me go "uh oh, I have This Exact Same Conversation in my story." I only give one or two concrete examples of what the Mandela Effect is, while the game gives 6 or 7. And I get WHY the game does this, because nothing weird has happened yet, so the idea that this might be real has to be Inception-ed into the players' (and MC's) mind. But in my story, weird stuff has already happened, so it serves more as an explanation and shows that this is a thing that already exists in the world of the story.
I know that infodumping is very common in fantasy and sci fi, where the information that is being shared doesn't exist in reality. You can't whip out your phone and google the history of the kingdom of talking birds. But also if I read a book and a character told me, the reader, to just google a real-world thing was, I wouldn't like that very much. Why won't the author just...explain it to me? And in a way that's fun, interesting, and adds to the story? It's also not equitable to require your reader to have some sort of cultural knowledge beforehand to be able to access your story. Or to google it. The work should be able to stand on its own, you shouldn't need to do research to enjoy it. I am also a big hater of the "I'm going to explain how wormholes work even though I'm telling this to an astrophysicist who already knows this, I'm only doing this for the sake of the audience" trope. Luckily this seems to only really happen in Hollywood movies, where there's a good chance the audience wouldn't already know this info and there's not a lot of time to do things.
So then...how does one infodump in a way that's fun, interesting, and adds to the story? In a way that makes sense diegetically? And doesn't put an undue burden on the reader to come from a similar cultural/educational background as yourself to already know this information?
UNRELATED: Is the Statue of Liberty on Ellis Island or Liberty Island? Don't google it or ask anyone else, what do YOU believe to be the correct answer?