When Is Information Too Much Information?

By: Mary Deborah Talik

The worst realization I’ve had as a writer was after ten painstaking months of writing, the novel I’d written had two conflicting plotlines. I grew up teaching myself to write starting from twelve years old and had no one to teach me otherwise, so there was no set structure or guide to my plot or characters. They had all the information they needed… but too much of it. Upon realizing this, and after spending some days feeling sorry for myself, I set forth to remove the two plotlines surgically and kept the one I liked best, rewriting the novel almost from scratch as I couldn’t preserve any of the scenes or chapters because of the detail that was too hard to remove. That should have been a warning sign, but it wasn't. When I finally took this new, rewritten novel to my professor, proud and excited, he just looked at me in silence for a moment as I explained what I’d had to do and how the new one was much better.

“You know you still have enough information here for two plotlines, right?”

It felt like my world had crashed down around me. It hadn’t taken as much time rewriting the novel as it had to write it the first time, but it was still nearly thirteen months of work in total. Somehow, during that time, I’d still failed at my only goal - to maintain a single plotline. But why?

I was overly zealous when it came to writing because it was my main hobby. I’d lovingly but painstakingly put details in my favorite characters and parts of the plot, but in doing so had overflowed the very small tub that is the space of a novel. I’d overwhelmed it with information. If that had been my only problem, I could’ve fixed it quickly, but there was a facet I hadn’t realized until my professor pointed it out. My second main character had little to no information on him. This brought up a new question. When is information too much information? And when is it too little?

Currently, I’m on the fifth revision (or total demolition and rebuilding) of the novel I mentioned at the beginning, and over that time, I’ve formed a small system for myself. Here are some hints formed from questions I’ve had to pose to myself, and what the underlying cause was.

Too much information:

● Did that character vanish mid-book? What happened to him? (too many characters to keep track of)

● What did that tattoo mean again? (too many fine details)

● Wait, was he really dating that girl? (conflicting and unclear relationships)

● He has two jobs? (self-explanatory)

● Does she have OCD? (nope, just a room full of excessive detail)

● Did he just die? (tangled plot)

Too little:

● What was his brother’s name again? (no family or background listed)

● Wait, he was a superfan? (no hobby/interest information given)

● This would be a really cute relationship… wait a minute. (both characters weren’t clearly defined)

● Hold on, how old is this guy? (no timeline)

● Where’s Dante supposed to be right now? (unclear plot)

Realizing you have too much or too little information can be a miserable thing. But now that you’ve gotten some hints, it’s time to do something about it.

Characters:

There’s gotta be a baseline. Strip them down to bare bones. Physical features, basic background, etc. This is not a DND sheet, keep it simple. More complex details can be added later. Clearly define relationships, boundaries, personalities, and abilities. This will prevent confusion when you slowly build them back up. Maybe pick up a very basic character sheet online, there are a lot to choose from (go simple).

Plot:

You need to be able to keep it straight in your head. If you can’t, you’ve failed. Write the plot down on paper so you can see it clearly, and identify three points: first turning point, middle, last turning point. Those three things HAVE to make it through to the end. Examine your plot, and make sure those remain steady. Split off everything else as you do. Then add back in information bits at a time.

Revision hurts, and it can be hard to admit you have too much or too little information. But the time you think you’re wasting with revision isn’t a waste. If you’ve gotten stuck, information is likely the culprit. A few hours is a small price to pay for a clear and fun novel, don’t you think? Make identification fun, and think of it as a refresh for your characters and a new coat of paint for your plot. Finding information is a treasure hunt - might as well enjoy it!