Write What You Know . . . No? AKA: When to Interest Dump and When to Resist

How to avoid quirky character traits and random trivia getting in the way of effective storytelling.

Have you ever been engrossed in a book, or a film or a TV series only to have your immersion broken when a main character breaks into a monologue about a topic completely unrelated

to the plot? I have. I have been reading scripts sent in by the public for almost three years, and I would estimate around 1 in 3 contained at least one paragraph of dialogue where a character was proclaiming their love or frustration or fascination with mayonnaise or oysters or self checkouts at the supermarket in excruciating detail. In fact, I’ve experienced it so many times that it feels like a staple for any kind of storytelling. There must be a conflict, a resolution and a whole page in the middle dedicated to rambling about prawns or the economy or absolutely anything as long as it has nothing at all to do with the rest of the story. At times it seems like writers are just inserting all their in depth knowledge and weird facts into writing to pad out the story or as preparation for their specialist topic on Mastermind. These kinds of paragraphs are always the ones that I desperately wish had been left out in the editing process - and yet it seems they rarely are. So why do so many writers tend to put these kinds of random ‘interest dumps’ into their work?

I have been guilty of ‘interest dumps’ in the past, and I likely will be again in the future. And by interest dump, I’m not referring to exposition, as this is when writers provide their readers with plot or character information. In this case, an interest dump is when the writer imparts information on the reader that is unrelated to the plot and wouldn’t damage or impact the story if it were removed.

When I have interest dumped in my writing, it is often because I am passionate about a topic, a culture, a subculture, and I think my readers would be similarly interested. Sometimes this means that I cram details about my passions and interests into my stories. For example, after years of engaging with and admiring the Goth subculture, I wrote one of my characters to be a self-proclaimed Goth, who likes to dress in a way and listen to music that aligns with the Goth subculture. Similarly, I wrote another character to have a career as a tattoo artist to embody my interest in tattoo artistry. So sometimes little details about my character’s interests or careers will leak into the story.Writers find it tempting to make their characters share the writer’s own interests because it makes the characters seem relatable and well-rounded. I know that it resonates with me when I read a book that features a character that is obsessed with something I too am interested in. In this way, writing your characters to have specific interests and passions can lead to readers connecting with your characters.

Sometimes writers feel that they have a backlog of experiences and observations about the world that demand to be heard, so they are eager to slot in these perhaps unrelated facts or interests into their stories. You can often see this pattern of real life observations merging into fiction when you watch John Green’s older vlogs during the time that he was writing his popular books, The Fault in Our Stars, Looking for Alaska and Paper Towns. I remember one Vlogbrothers video from 2008, ‘Famous Last Words’ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLm-5B7NXug) where John expresses his deep interest in the last words of famous people who have died and how this quirk was bestowed upon the protagonist of his book, Looking for Alaska. I also fondly remember in Paper Towns that one of the characters has parents who hold the world record for owning the most black Santa figurines - to me, this was one of the most memorable and enjoyable parts of the book. In fact, John Green is probably one of the biggest perpetrators of incorporating personal interests and weird facts into the stories he writes.

I mean come on, Green wrote one of his main characters, Augustus Waters to be so obsessed with pointless quirky activities and meaningful monologues that the character’s own best friend lovingly described him as ‘pretentious’ because ‘that kid never took a piss without pondering the abundant metaphorical resonances of human waste production’ (The Fault in Our Stars, pages 258-9). The metaphor of the unlit cigarette will forever be an example of this. However, I will say that 1) these traits almost always link back or add to the book’s plot in some way and/or 2) these ‘info dumps’ are written in a way that is hugely entertaining. Often what makes John Green’s characters endearing, charming and wholesome are their quirks, their obsessions and their alarming ability to spew strange facts.

I guess the crux of the ‘interest dump’ is that it must either 1) be entertaining or 2) relates to the plot. Ideally, both. What makes an interest dump alluring is when it can be connected neatly to the overall theme of the novel, film or play and even be fodder for marketing material. Writers are often drawn to titles that are metaphors or link thematically to the contents of their work. Writers often like having a moment in their work where everything makes sense and clicks into place, thematically. Think about how many times you see title drops in films. Think about every big speech in a movie where a phrase or word has been plucked out and used for the movie’s title. Having a title, a theme and a kind of dialogue or speech where the theme is explained can make a film, book or play feel cohesive.

A good example of this is Thomas Harris’ Silence of the Lambs - in the book, Lecter realises during a ‘quid pro quo’ session with Clarice that her motivation to become an FBI agent and find Buffalo Bill stems from the hope that she can ease the trauma of her childhood and ‘silence’ the slaughtered lambs she hears crying out to her at night. Hence the title Silence of Lambs refers to Clarice’s quest to overcome her childhood, which also links to how Buffalo Bill seeks to ease his trauma by actualising his tortured fantasy to make and wear his suit made of women’s skin. The book’s themes of tortured souls looking for salvation links to the title and is expressed engagingly by the characters in a kind of ‘interest dump’.

Unfortunately, many writers struggle to execute interest dumps correctly, resulting in paragraphs of random and bizarre information that readers find useless, boring and even irritating. When I read a play about domestic abuse that features a long paragraph about bread rolls or rubber ducks, I rarely think ‘wow what a great way to use metaphors to talk about the play’s themes’. Instead I often think ‘wow the writer really wanted to talk about bread rolls and nothing was going to stop them’. And I mean, that’s fine if you want to write a play about bread rolls, go ahead, follow your calling! But when your play is about something entirely different, a monologue about bread rolls feels slightly crammed in with no finesse. When done poorly, an interest dump might feel patronising, as if the writer is using the guise of talking about one thing to preach the moral of their story to their audience. It might feel pretentious, like a writer is flexing their knowledge on a subject without a proper reason to mention it. At its worst, I find interest dumps can feel like having a conversation with a stranger where the other person wants to tell you all the long winded and boring reasons why they think going to university is pointless and they refuse to listen to counter arguments or change the subject.

Writing an interest dump can be a complicated balancing act that - when executed well - can be hugely satisfying for the writer and reader. Shakespeare was a master at writing soliloquies or monologues that seemed to be about one thing on the surface but were coded with messages that related back to the plot or the overall theme. Hamlet’s To Be or Not To Be speech about whether or not to do something is a great example. Ultimately, I would advise writers to step back and consider their work when they think they have included excessive interest dumps. Ask yourself: do these details add to the story or the plot? Does this trait enrich my character’s life? Does this speech help my readers or audience understand the story’s themes better? Or am I just indulging myself by writing pages of dialogue about carrots just because it interests me? Be cautious when using interest dumps - You should aim to enthral your reader when writing about your passion, not bore them.