How To Use Dialogue for Backstory and Worldbuilding—Infodump-Free!

It’s an ongoing struggle for many of us: How do I share backstory and build my world without infodumping (and boring my readers)? One of my favorite—and sometimes overlooked—tools is dialogue!

Using dialogue—and the beats that go along with it—is an excellent way to develop character relationships, reveal secrets, and move the plot forward. But it’s also a highly effective way to write backstory and world building. There’s a right and a wrong way to do this, though. Let’s look at a few:

Using Dialogue for Backstory

Dialogue is a great way to share both the history of your world and the history of individual characters. Readers often need to know what happened before, so that the now makes sense.

The Wrong Way

The rules of good dialogue apply here. In other words, people don’t speak in huge chunks of text. If your characters have thick paragraphs of dialogue because they’re explaining the history of the planet or the story behind the king’s latest military campaign, you’ve got nothing but a big ol’ infodump inside some quotation marks!

Example: Jenna frowned. “How did this happen in the first place?”

“It’s complicated,” Myron said. “For one thing, no one ever wrote down the rules of engagement. Three hundred years ago, the Wisp Ghouls arrived on these shores with nothing but the leather satchels on their backs. It took them a while to settle in and establish the Sanctuary, which took almost a decade to build. By the time it was finished and they’d moved in, the Gatherings were already taking place. Most people think the Wisp Ghouls simply brought with them their own traditions, but a few think the Gatherings developed during the building of the Sanctuary, as a way to keep their magical practices clean and organized. But things change over time, you know? And now we have all sorts of factions and rules and counter-rules, and no one can be absolutely sure what the Wisp Ghouls’ original intention was.”

The Right Way

To avoid infodumping in your dialogue, you can:

• Cut back on the amount of information you’re sharing.
• Break up the dialogue with beats and actions.
• Break up the dialogue with comments from other speakers.

Example: Jenna frowned. “How did this happen in the first place?”

“It’s complicated,” Myron said. “When the Wisp Ghouls arrived three hundred years ago, it took them nearly a decade to establish the Sanctuary. By the time they moved in, the Gatherings were already taking place.”

“Sounds like they brought their traditions with them,” Jenna said.

“That’s what most people think,” Myron said, “but a few think the Gatherings developed during the building of the Sanctuary, as a way to keep their magical practices clean and organized. And now we have all sorts of factions and rules and counter-rules, and no one can be absolutely sure what the Wisp Ghouls’ original intention was.”

Using Beats and Inner Dialogue for Backstory

Beats (statements and actions between lines of dialogue) and inner dialogue (the POV character’s unspoken thoughts) are another great way to thread in backstory and worldbuilding.

The Wrong Way

Again, the key here is to avoid overwriting/infodumping. Less is more.

Example: “Steve and Stacy never dated.” Well, that was partially true. There had been that dinner date, two or three years ago. It was an unmitigated disaster, and Stacy refused to talk about it afterward, even though Lila had brought it up several times. She figured that, in these circumstances, “never” applied. “And if anyone would know, I would.”

The Right Way

What are the key things we need to know? Those stay, and the rest goes:

“Steve and Stacy never dated.” Well, aside from that disastrous dinner date, two or three years ago. But Stacy had refused to talk about it afterward, so Lila figured that “never” applied here. “And if anyone would know, I would.”

Using Dialogue for Worldbuilding

Dialogue is a highly effective way to share details about your world, such as:

• Topography/geography
• Weather/climate/season
• Fantasy: magic rules
• Sci/fi: tech rules
• Culture (politics, religion, etc.)

The Wrong Way

I won’t bore you with another overwritten example (you’re welcome!), but the same rule applies: LESS IS MORE. If your characters are discussing the lay of the land or trying to figure out how the weapons on a starship work, make the dialogue snappy and believable, offering just enough details for the readers to understand what’s going on.

The Right Way

Here’s an example of how to do just that:

“Of course the spell didn’t work,” Aden said. “You didn’t take your shoes off! How do you expect the Earth energy to respond if you’re not barefoot?”

In the above example, we learn exactly why the spell doesn’t work, in the context of short, believable dialogue.

Using Beats for Worldbuilding

And, finally, we can use beats for worldbuilding the same way we use them for backstory (carefully and sparingly!).

The Wrong Way

Beats that are longer than a couple of lines or so are too much. Always keep an eye to trim, trim, trim!

The Right Way

“Drink this.” Jasmine lifted the crystal vial and swirled; the contents glowed first blue, then gold, then pure white—a perfect activation of the geraldine elements.

In the above example, we learn exactly how the magic in the vial works—in very few words! 

Once you master using dialogue, beats, and inner dialogue to build your world and paint your backstory, you’ll find that your writing is clean instead of clunky, your narrative tight inside of bloated. Are you ready to kick infodumps to the curb? Dive into your dialogue and watch the magic begin!

Want to dig deeper? Sign up for Jill’s SELF-EDITING CRASH COURSE (it’s free!) to take your self-editing skills to the next level.

Summary for Busy Writers: No one wants to bore their readers with infodumps that bog down the narrative. This post examines the use of dialogue and beats for worldbuilding and backstory and offers clear examples of how to do it right.