Daily Dialogue theme next week: Info Dump

The Daily Dialogue theme next week: Info Dump suggested by Will King.

Back to the Future (1985)

What is an “info dump”? In a movie or TV episode, it’s a bunch of exposition — information, data, personal history — laid out all at once. Since handling exposition is tricky business, sometimes it’s best just to ‘dump’ it onto the reader.

So this week, let’s cite some notable examples of movie info dumps and see what we can learn about how best to manage this particular type of exposition.

The usual drill:

* Copy/paste dialogue from IMDb Quotes or some other transcript source.

* Copy/paste the URL of an accompanying video from YouTube or some other video source.

I’d also ask you to think about why the dialogue is notable. Is there anything about the dialogue which provides some takeaway related to the craft of writing? If so, feel free to lay that wisdom on us.

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Upcoming schedule of themes:

July 18-July 24: Accusation
July 25-July 31: Apprehension [Jon]
August 1-August 7: Activisim
August 8-August 14: Recollection [Will King]
August 15-August 21: Alcoholism
August 22-August 28: Mentor [Michael Waters]
August 29-September 4: Blame
September 5-September 11: Argument [Mark Twain]
September 12-September 18: Bullying
September 19-September 25: Military Moments [Will King]
September 26-October 2: Clairvoyance
October 3-October 9: Cooking [Katha]
October 10-October 16: Coaching
October 17-October 23: Cover Up [Will King]
October 24-October 30: Discipline
October 31-November 6: All Is Lost [Melinda]
November 7-November 13: Embarrassment
November 14-November 20: Bechdel Test [Will King]
November 21-November 27: Enthusiasm
November 28-December 4: Alien Invasion [Michael Waters]
December 5-December 11: Excuse
December 12-December 18: Fish Out Of Water [Will King]
December 19-December 25: Faith
December 26-January 1: Failure [Will King and Melinda]

Be sure to post your ideas for this week’s theme: Info Dump.

Continued thanks to all of you Daily Dialogue devotees, your suggested dialogue and dialogue themes. Grateful for your ongoing support of this series.

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