Tl;dr: Examples in an essay work like world-building in a fantasy novel: too little of them and the idea/story lacks substance, too many and it’s weighted down.
John keeps telling me to use more examples in my work and writing, and he’s right: they enliven a post, give you a hook for free, and ensure that your idea is deep enough to appear at many different places. Going from “without example” to “with example” is always progress.
Yet I noticed myself overindulging in examples. When writing my last post, I structured a whole draft by presenting one cool example after another, and noting the implications for my general idea. But the examples are not the message! What I wanted to convey was the thesis, the core idea of the post, with examples as illustration and anchors. Instead, I found myself showing off my extensive research one example at a time.
That’s when it hit me: I was info-dumping.
The image that came to my mind was a fantasy author so in love with his world-building that he takes every opportunity (and some more) to serenade you about the minutely crafted economic system or the elaborated (and linguistically coherent!) invented language.
The more I think about it, the more I like this metaphor. If I keep it in mind, I expect that my misuse of examples will be obvious, just like I notice info-dumping easily.
Here’s a couple of implications:
Don’t have too many examples. Just like too much info-dumping distracts from the story.
John told me once that three is a good number; I think that five is probably the maximum for a single post.
Always have examples. A story without a world rarely captures a reader’s attention.
Only present the relevant examples or the relevant part of the examples, not all that you’ve studied. Info-dump isn’t excused because you spent week building the world.
Don’t go into too much detail when describing the examples. Descriptions forever will annoy the reader.
As much detail as you need to get the point across, and nothing more. From time to time a bit of color or a really cool bit.
Research your examples as much as you need, but not much further. Don’t go into the deep hole of world-building and lose months fine-tuning your invented banking system if you have a single scene at the bank.
I think there are some examples that deserve a deep dive, but far fewer that you would expect.
Use examples to rekindle the reader curiosity. Show the glory of the world when the story slows down.
Works well after (or before, depending on your style) an abstract point.
Treat Examples as World-Building
Tl;dr: Examples in an essay work like world-building in a fantasy novel: too little of them and the idea/story lacks substance, too many and it’s weighted down.
John keeps telling me to use more examples in my work and writing, and he’s right: they enliven a post, give you a hook for free, and ensure that your idea is deep enough to appear at many different places. Going from “without example” to “with example” is always progress.
Yet I noticed myself overindulging in examples. When writing my last post, I structured a whole draft by presenting one cool example after another, and noting the implications for my general idea. But the examples are not the message! What I wanted to convey was the thesis, the core idea of the post, with examples as illustration and anchors. Instead, I found myself showing off my extensive research one example at a time.
That’s when it hit me: I was info-dumping.
The image that came to my mind was a fantasy author so in love with his world-building that he takes every opportunity (and some more) to serenade you about the minutely crafted economic system or the elaborated (and linguistically coherent!) invented language.
The more I think about it, the more I like this metaphor. If I keep it in mind, I expect that my misuse of examples will be obvious, just like I notice info-dumping easily.
Here’s a couple of implications:
Don’t have too many examples. Just like too much info-dumping distracts from the story.
John told me once that three is a good number; I think that five is probably the maximum for a single post.
Always have examples. A story without a world rarely captures a reader’s attention.
Only present the relevant examples or the relevant part of the examples, not all that you’ve studied. Info-dump isn’t excused because you spent week building the world.
Don’t go into too much detail when describing the examples. Descriptions forever will annoy the reader.
As much detail as you need to get the point across, and nothing more. From time to time a bit of color or a really cool bit.
Research your examples as much as you need, but not much further. Don’t go into the deep hole of world-building and lose months fine-tuning your invented banking system if you have a single scene at the bank.
I think there are some examples that deserve a deep dive, but far fewer that you would expect.
Use examples to rekindle the reader curiosity. Show the glory of the world when the story slows down.
Works well after (or before, depending on your style) an abstract point.