Preptober #3: Exposition
Today's Preptober question comes courtesy of my bestie, Christi, who is awesome.
Christi asks how she can get background information across in her upcoming NaNoWriMo project, without infodumping or overdoing the exposition.
So, what is exposition?
In and of itself, there's nothing wrong with exposition. It encompasses explanations of setting and background information necessary to the story. All stories need it, or they'd just be floating in space like some sort of Beckett-esque disembodied narrative. The problem comes in when we overdo it, when it leaks into the dialogue, and when it's clunky.
Bad:
"Hello, Susan, my sister who is six years older than me. How are you doing since your recent divorce from Ronaldo, your husband of fifteen years, who recently came out as gay?"
All of the information above should probably be communicated to the reader, yes, but people don't talk like this. Nothing will pull your reader out of your world faster than overly-convenient dialogue like this.
A big part of problematic exposition comes from one of those old, classic, pieces of writing advice that I personally disagree with: show, don't tell.
I wrote a post about this a while ago that might be worthwhile if you want more depth on why this is often bad advice. Basically, if you try to "show" everything, your book will be infinitely long and very boring. It will never end, because you can't just say "and they lived happily ever after," you have to show them living happily ever after, which will continue indefinitely!
Sometimes, it's perfectly fine to just include relevant information into the text of your story.
Better:
"How are you doing?" I asked Susan, my older sister. She'd been having a hard time since her husband of fifteen years came out as gay and asked for a divorce.
Sometimes, though, you might not want to be so blunt about things. Readers don't usually mind a little mystery, so don't be afraid to drag out the full reveal of the situation. This is what I'd call "peak exposition," revealing important information through a combination of actions and narration.
Even better:
"How are you doing?" I sat across the kitchen table from Susan, her face bare of makeup for the first time I could remember. She had dark circles under her blue eyes.
"I don't really want to talk about it," she said, her thin fingers strangling the nearly-empty coffee cup.
"Have you talked to the divorce lawyer yet?" I picked at the peeling veneer of the table.
"No." Susan shut her eyes. My own sister couldn't even look me in the eye.
"It's not his fault," I said, gently. "Some things are just... nature."
Her eyes snapped open and she stared at me, her bloodshot eyes boring into my soul. "I don't blame Ronaldo," she said. "I blame you."
I pulled back, hands dropping to my lap.
"Fifteen years," she hissed at me. "Fifteen years, we were happily married. Until my little brother seduced my husband into leaving me."
"I didn't make him gay," I protested.
"Get out of my house," Susan said, and drained her coffee cup.
This is obviously far from a perfect example, but you can see the advantage of withholding some of the information until it's important to reveal.
So, how do you know which parts of the story need to be told, which need to be shown through action, and which should be revealed through dialogue?
The unfortunate answer is, you won't, always. The only way to figure out how your book needs to be written, is to write it. Experiment with different techniques for getting your information across. Then edit. Edit, rewrite, and edit some more. It's a process of trial and error sometimes, but after you've been through the process once, it gets easier. The important thing to remember is that there's no one "right" way to do it; you have to find the techniques that feel right to you.
Thanks for reading! What techniques do you use for balancing exposition and action? Do you have any questions for me?
Christi asks how she can get background information across in her upcoming NaNoWriMo project, without infodumping or overdoing the exposition.
So, what is exposition?
In and of itself, there's nothing wrong with exposition. It encompasses explanations of setting and background information necessary to the story. All stories need it, or they'd just be floating in space like some sort of Beckett-esque disembodied narrative. The problem comes in when we overdo it, when it leaks into the dialogue, and when it's clunky.
Bad:
"Hello, Susan, my sister who is six years older than me. How are you doing since your recent divorce from Ronaldo, your husband of fifteen years, who recently came out as gay?"
All of the information above should probably be communicated to the reader, yes, but people don't talk like this. Nothing will pull your reader out of your world faster than overly-convenient dialogue like this.
A big part of problematic exposition comes from one of those old, classic, pieces of writing advice that I personally disagree with: show, don't tell.
I wrote a post about this a while ago that might be worthwhile if you want more depth on why this is often bad advice. Basically, if you try to "show" everything, your book will be infinitely long and very boring. It will never end, because you can't just say "and they lived happily ever after," you have to show them living happily ever after, which will continue indefinitely!
Sometimes, it's perfectly fine to just include relevant information into the text of your story.
Better:
"How are you doing?" I asked Susan, my older sister. She'd been having a hard time since her husband of fifteen years came out as gay and asked for a divorce.
Sometimes, though, you might not want to be so blunt about things. Readers don't usually mind a little mystery, so don't be afraid to drag out the full reveal of the situation. This is what I'd call "peak exposition," revealing important information through a combination of actions and narration.
Even better:
"How are you doing?" I sat across the kitchen table from Susan, her face bare of makeup for the first time I could remember. She had dark circles under her blue eyes.
"I don't really want to talk about it," she said, her thin fingers strangling the nearly-empty coffee cup.
"Have you talked to the divorce lawyer yet?" I picked at the peeling veneer of the table.
"No." Susan shut her eyes. My own sister couldn't even look me in the eye.
"It's not his fault," I said, gently. "Some things are just... nature."
Her eyes snapped open and she stared at me, her bloodshot eyes boring into my soul. "I don't blame Ronaldo," she said. "I blame you."
I pulled back, hands dropping to my lap.
"Fifteen years," she hissed at me. "Fifteen years, we were happily married. Until my little brother seduced my husband into leaving me."
"I didn't make him gay," I protested.
"Get out of my house," Susan said, and drained her coffee cup.
This is obviously far from a perfect example, but you can see the advantage of withholding some of the information until it's important to reveal.
So, how do you know which parts of the story need to be told, which need to be shown through action, and which should be revealed through dialogue?
The unfortunate answer is, you won't, always. The only way to figure out how your book needs to be written, is to write it. Experiment with different techniques for getting your information across. Then edit. Edit, rewrite, and edit some more. It's a process of trial and error sometimes, but after you've been through the process once, it gets easier. The important thing to remember is that there's no one "right" way to do it; you have to find the techniques that feel right to you.
Thanks for reading! What techniques do you use for balancing exposition and action? Do you have any questions for me?
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