What Is Exposition In A Novel?

Exposition is the direct communication of information about your story and its characters. It often takes the form of factual summary and explanations of either character or narrative back story in a straightforward manner. It conveys information quickly and efficiently. It can be done either by direct authorial narration or by characters in dialogue.

Most novels require some element of exposition and it can be used very effectively for conveying necessary information quickly, without slowing down the narrative. It’s effective for summarizing events, providing background or clarifying complexity. Sometimes something that would take ten pages of dialogue (which might be tedious for a reader to wade through) could be summarized in a paragraph of exposition. The key is to use it strategically when ‘showing’ would take too long, for when there is a lot of information that you need to get out quickly.

But exposition has a risk. Generally, the longer it goes on, the more it throws the reader out of their ‘suspension of disbelief’ (when humans deliberately ‘forget’ a fictional story is not real, in order to emotionally engage in it). The reader starts to disconnect from their disbelief, and even worse, become aware that the writer is effectively cheating them by throwing out information. It is particularly true when delivered in dialogue, because generally, in life, people don’t speak that way and the reader starts to see that. As a rule of thumb, never let exposition (except perhaps, for example, for lyrical descriptions of a place in a historical novel) go on more than a page.

Is It The "Tell" In "Show, Don't Tell"?

More or less, yes. The principle of "show, don't tell" is one of the most famous techniques in novel-writing. You may already have a good understanding of it, but this brief discussion is designed to help you develop and understand it in your writing. Others may have heard the phrase without really ever having it explained, but it is one of the most important “rules” in novel-writing. And like all rules, sometimes you should break it.

“Show, don’t tell” distinguishes between “showing” the story through action, dialogue, and description, versus “telling” it through straightforward exposition of facts. (The word “exposition” is very commonly used in publishing for “telling.”) Usually, you will hear that you should show, not tell. You may have heard criticism of your own work as telling not showing.

What Is An Info Dump?

An "info dump" is a term used in writing to describe a large block of information that is delivered all at once in prose. It is an often intense form of telling even when it is used in what appeared to be showing, e.g. in dialogue when two characters are talking during an action scene, and one character reveals to the other the history of the cause they are fighting for, or their own mysterious background, etc. Info-dumping most usually involves backstory or other forms of exposition, but can include world-building shorthand, character information, or explanations of complex concepts.

It often happens early in novels to get readers up to speed as soon as possible with a complex background to the narrative, with a range of characters or some complicated dilemma that the reader needs to understand.

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