How to weave worldbuilding into your story without info dumps
Showing the reader your world's wonderful details without boring them is as tricky as rolling a nat 20 when it's the only thing that will save your party.
But you have to manage it somehow. Otherwise, your characters will exist in a grey blob of a world and readers won't understand what's going on.
Most writers struggle with it. The good news--or bad news if you're hoping for clear guidelines--is that there is no one right way to show off your world. Some authors, like Douglas Adams, go heavy with info dumps because they write them well enough that we're happy to read them. Others write very little detail, and most fall somewhere in between.
How you handle details and descriptions is where you develop your unique voice. While there is no right way to do it, there are a few methods you can use to transport your reader to your world. How you apply these techniques will depend on your writing style.
So, let's dig into what I call the 3 Cs and 2 Ds of writing worldbuilding descriptions without info dumps (or CDCDC for my fellow millennials who had those CD binders back in the day).
Character actions
Fold worldbuilding details into each and every scene through character actions.
This is also a great way to break up dialogue so you don't have to end every sentence with "said." AND it gives insight into your character's personality. It's a win all around, like The Puppy Bowl.
Basically, have your characters interact with the world around them, even if they're just thinking or talking.
For example, if a character tends the fire while speaking to a visitor, we know this room has a fireplace and the world probably doesn't have electricity.
If another fidgets with a small metal statue of a local hero, we know the character is nervous and we learn something about the world's lore.
If a character spins wool while they walk through the market, we know she's hardworking and that this world lacks industrial tech.
Like me, you might struggle with this. I'm not a highly visual person so my characters often exist in a world full of blobs--yellow blobs are fruit in the market. That white smudge is a wall, I guess.
So, if you draw a blank while writing character actions, you have three options:
Write in layers: For your first draft, just write what you see and know--a blobby world. When you edit, layer in details like making a parfait.
Write down everything your characters can interact with in a particular setting: Describe it to yourself first. Because the reader won't see this list, it can be a brain dump that is boring as hell. Then, sprinkle these details into your scene like adding salt to a dish. If you add them here and there, you'll avoid an info dump and the reader's eyes won't glaze over.
Look up artwork and shows with a similar setting or vibe: This can spark your imagination and help you envision your own setting. Remember to change the details to fit your world and to avoid copying someone else's work. The art is for inspiration only.
Conflict
This is the easiest way to show worldbuilding because as soon as there is action or conflict, we're interested!
The obvious example is showing how people fight in your world. If your characters get into a battle and start summoning demons, we know something about the world and its magic.
But you can use other types of conflict to show worldbuilding, too.
For example, if your main character and their love interest argue over which prince will make the best king, we know the world is a monarchy, there's a question of succession, and there's political strife. Best of all, we care because two people we like are swiping at each other like angry cats.
If your character walks through the town market and has to dodge a protest over a lack of food, we know this world is having a famine without you outright telling us.
Another way is through a character's internal conflict or backstory. For example, if a character stares up at a ruin on a hilltop and says, "This was the great watchtower of my people before the fall", we know a detail of the world. And we care because a character we like is feeling emotions about it.
If you need to tell the reader something about your world, find a way to turn that information into a conflict and show us that instead. Make sure the conflict affects characters we care about (or at least, ones we enjoy reading about such as villains we love to hate).
Curiosity
Sometimes you have to outright tell the readers a piece of info because there's no good way to weave the details into character actions, conflict, or dialogue (more on that later).
One way to write an info dump that does not bore the reader is to create curiosity around the info you'll be sharing.
If something is weird enough or teased for long enough, we stick around to find out more. This is why clickbait titles work and news broadcasts say, "This candy will kill you! More after the break."
If you tease something for a long time, we can't wait another moment to find out what that thing is. The reveal, even if it's an info dump, becomes interesting.
Think of the end of murder mysteries where the detective gathers all the suspects and explains who did it and how. It's an info dump, but we like it because we've been wondering about this info for the entire story. It also includes conflict, dialogue, and character actions to up our enjoyment like putting ice cream on a pie.
If you know you have to spell something out to the reader, don't do it right away. Tease it and hint at it for a while until we're so curious that we can't wait to learn more about it.
If you have to tell the reader something right away for them to understand the story, then focus on how the info is weird, different, or unexpected. Think of the opening of The Hobbit. It's basically an info dump. It starts by explaining that hobbits live in holes, not wet gross ones, but comfortable ones. We don't expect comfortable holes in the ground, and we wonder why anyone would live in a hole. So we read on to find out more.
For more on writing info dumps that are actually fun to read, check out this blog post.
Dialogue
This is related to the conflict because you can show worldbuilding info through characters arguing. But you can also weave details into all dialogue, even non-combative conversations.
For example, your character's phaser malfunctions and they yell, "Curse the dead goddesses!" That tells us something about your world's religion and suggests that your character believes in it (or at least, they grew up around it).
If your character is injured and someone says, "We need to get you to a bacta tank", now we know that injuries are treated in your world with something called bacta.
Weaving slang or jargon into dialogue reveals your world's details as well (as long as you don't do it so often that the reader struggles to understand what you're saying): "He sounds like a plough ran over a romusian crystal."
This also shows us something about the characters. Someone who uses agriculture-based metaphors is likely from a rural background. Someone who speaks in crude language is probably from a rougher background and so on.
Descriptions
Finally, we come to one of the most difficult ways of including worldbuilding in your story: Descriptions.
If descriptions are easy for you, count yourself lucky! It's one of the things writers most often cite as challenging.
Descriptions immerse your reader in the world: the orange sunlight reflected in a lake, the damp smell of the mushroom forest, and the glint of firelight on a sword blade as red as blood.
It's also where you're most prone to info dumping, driving the story to a halt to over-explain something in a way that makes the reader reach for their phone in boredom.
Here are three ways to write descriptions that keep your reader turning the page:
Don't include every detail of a scene or character: Include just enough to allow the reader to imagine the rest and fill in the gaps themselves.
The details you choose to share will be part of your unique writing style. Maybe you talk about the room's artificial lighting making everything washed out, the grime streaked on the metal wall of a ship, or the blank look in a character's bright blue eyes.
The point is there is no right or wrong answer! But one rule of thumb is to focus on anything that is strange to your reader or that will be important to your story. We don't need to know what a gun or blaster looks like because we've all seen them before, but we might want to know about the spellwork your character etched into the barrel.
The details you pick will define the vibe of your scene and your writing style. The key is to not share everything, but just enough to help readers envision the scene and fill in the rest.
Share details from a character's point of view: Descriptions become more interesting if they are connected to a character we like (or like to hate). For example, if the grey hull of a ship is the same color as your MC's dead husband's eyes, it's suddenly more interesting (and dramatic).
Break up long descriptions: Instead of describing everything about an object, place, or character all at once, break it into pieces and spread it out over the course of a scene.
When a new character walks in, describe their swagger and the loud print of their shirt. Then, move on. When they start to speak, add in the gravelly voice, then move on. When they pick up a mug, mention their thick fingers with painted nails.
Interspacing description with action keeps your scene moving forward--you'll notice this is similar to combining worldbuilding with character actions.
So, to immerse readers in your world without boring them with long descriptions, remember the three Cs and two Ds: Character, Conflict, Curiosity, Dialogue, and Descriptions.
If you need help building your world and creating its details, The Essential Worldbuilding Blueprint and Workbook covers all aspects of worldbuilding for fantasy, sci-fi, and urban fantasy.
It walks you through the aspects you need to know about your world to write a binge-worthy story-- and skips the unimportant elements that bog you down.
Build a world that readers can’t resist, from its solar system to its current political system.