Questions tagged [exposition]
This tag should be used for questions about the usage of exposition as a means of highlighting the background information of the world or characters that are being described in the literary work you are currently writing.
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How to engagingly introduce a ton of history that happens in, subjectively, a moment?
I have a character in science fiction who, for Plot Reasons, has to go into a half-conscious vegetative state for an indefinite period. The idea is that her brain is uniquely structured to solve ...
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What is the name for a narrative structure where the story starts with an exposition or summary before recounting the plot in more detail?
I can't find the name for this online and I am an engineer, so don't socialise with people that would know.
Consider the Aeneid, which begins:
Arms, and the man I sing, who, forc'd by fate,
And ...
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Just made an exposition chapter and I'm worried
I'm currently working on a fantasy novel.
Storyline wise I'm just about to charge into the second arc of the story, much more intense and action focused than the previous world building arc.
I'm ...
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Is the occasional practical exposition jarring?
I always try to keep exposition to a minimum; whenever there is any backstory or worldbuilding, I let it come out via dialogue. The narration is impersonal; I don't want it to feel like someone's ...
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How do you format a chapter intended just for exposition?
How do you format a chapter intended just for exposition? Let's say your worldbuilding is really hard to digest for most readers so you create one chapters just for that, what are the various way to ...
user36239
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How do I show that my character is intelligent?
I have a fantasy story in which the lead character is designed as your typical bland everyman protagonist whose purpose is to give the reader someone to relate to and ask questions about the ...
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I have too much exposition in my stories. What to do?
I’ve posted several chapters of my in-progress trilogy on several writing critique websites, and while many of my fellow writers have praised my worldbuilding abilities, they have remarked that I ...
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How do I provide exposition on a magic system when no character has an objective or complete understanding of it?
I'm writing an urban fantasy series in which like many urban fantasy series there is a magic-and-powers system hidden from the broader world that the supernatural phenomena of the series run on. ...
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How do I add technical exposition in my fiction novel?
I have written a fiction novel about an adolescent who commits suicide. The story explores the childhood abuse from her father that pushed her to suicide, what she and her mother have done to try to ...
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How to make "new apprentice" type info-dump less boring
I'm writing a story wherein a teenager X gets suddenly and involuntarily enlisted in an sci-fi army. I need to explain certain technology to the reader, and the army needs to explain certain ...
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Does a response agree or disagree with points they didn't address? [closed]
Math teacher here. The problem is that I'm teaching a course where students are being asked to write online and then respond to each other. Suppose a student responds to disagree with a single point ...
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How to maximize reader comprehension if worldbuilding is complicated?
Parts of my worldbuilding are critical to the plot. If readers don't understand the world, they won't understand the stakes for the protagonist and the failure conditions.
Edit. Please don't assume ...
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Setting exposition vs scene descriptions
If my main character goes to a new building – let's say in the beggining of a short story – and I describe the facade and the design of the building, is this exposition (i.e. information that is not ...
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How to prevent secondary characters stealing protagonist role when using exposition via dialogue?
Due to the evolution of modern media I prefer to depend on exposition through dialogue. I try to avoid telling the reader anything. With simple plots this is easily achieved (often through the ...
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Describing the taste of food
I’m asking about this not because I have a tendency to do so myself, but rather because I find it unusually aggravating when I come across it in other people’s works. I’m wondering if this sort of ...
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Avoiding info-dumps when writing about amnesiacs
In the story I'm writing one character suffers from amnesia as a result of an accident. I want another character, with whom they were in love, to tell about their past in order to help regain their ...
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Should I explain the reasons for gaslighting?
I have an ambiguous script situation, 2 co-protagonists begin gaslighting the MC. They each have ulterior motives which they don't say. The reader is intended to infer the lies through contradictory ...
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Should I "tell" my exposition or give it through dialogue?
When my work was being critiqued, one of the critics said that the exposition given away in my dialogue was forced and unnatural. Though, this exposition is crucial, so leaving it out is out of the ...
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Protagonist constantly has to have long words explained to her. Will this get tedious?
A while back, I redrafted my NaNoWriMo 2017 story, but it still needs another draft. This question is about one of the concerns I have.
The story takes place in a medieval fantasy setting, and the ...
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Scene & Sequel in exposition or world building
I have been trying to practice the scene and sequel structure, including the use of MRUs and I find it alternately natural and frustrating.
I understand that the goal of this structure is to keep the ...
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When should a supporting character be scrapped?
So I'm wondering if this supporting character, who I use for exposition purposes, can be made more vital in some way. When does a supporting character become necessary for the plot? What criteria do ...
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In a first-person web novel, how to make the reader aware of a motivator the POV is unaware of?
In my novel, the MC (and POV character) spares an enemy. He spared the enemy because he empathized/identified himself with them, but he was not aware of it. Later on he will understand his feelings ...
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Am I using too much exposition here? [closed]
Lillia usually arrived to school on her own. The other girls from her
hometown got a later train more often than not. She purposefully
arrived early to be able to complete homework she had ...
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Exposition: Talking Animals - How do I Reveal This to the Reader?
I'm writing a book series where most of the cast are highly anthropomorphized animals (or in some cases mythological creatures). Humans still exist in this universe, but are rare (only being found in ...
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Writing a character who is an expert in something that I can't know
I'm writing a story where the main character comes back from the dead. The character is fully lucid, knowledgeable and articulate about what has happened.
I want to depict the character as an expert, ...
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Breaking up a talky piece of writing
Dialogue is my favorite thing to write. I tend to use a lot of dialogue in my writing, which sometimes results in long, talky passages -- a bit similar to this question about breaking up exposition. ...
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Using questions in dialog to facilitate exposition
What are the guidelines on using questions in dialog (between ignorant characters) to expose setting and backstory?
A few exchanges between my characters seem to fall flat. I'm trying to sort out why. ...
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Is excerpts from an in-universe book, presented between chapters, a good way of handling exposition?
A book that I'm currently writing called Surge features an enemy faction called the Degenerates that are heavily inspired by the Scythians (Indo-Iranian horse nomads that ruled the Eurasian Steppe and ...
user29299
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Inside your character's head - when does it become too much?
I've read that leaving your character alone for too long can spell death for your novel. That you should put them out there in the world so they can interact with other characters. That you shouldn't ...
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How to fill up novels in the series after the first one?
I have an idea for a novel series that I want to write. I'm into the first one, and I've got a pretty good idea of all that I want to happen in it. I also have some ideas as to events that I want to ...
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Should mystery stories have resolutions?
I'm working on the finishing touches of a story that has as part of the plot a possibly-supernatural mystery. I'm feeling rather nervous about the whole thing though because said mystery isn't the ...
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How to expose a reader to the rules of a fantastical world? [duplicate]
I am currently in the process of re-writing my play Black Tape as a novel. Because of the change in format, more needs to simply happen - which I am entirely okay with. Main feature of the universe in ...
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How can I describe technology while avoiding problems with scaling?
Worldbuilding chat has pointed me to this stack because it's less about defining the technology and more about how to express these definitions in a relatable and realistic way.
A pretty frequent ...
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How do I decide whether to answer questions, or leave them unexplained?
At first glance, the question may be subjective, but let me provide a specific example:
A story I'm self-editing takes place in a present-day small Virginia town. At present, the town is being ...
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How early in the narrative should I start my book?
I've just recently finished building the setting and plot of a fantasy coming-of-age story. I'm happy with the way it turned out; the character arcs feel compelling and the setting supports the plot ...
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How much detail should I go into for a character taking advantage of physics expertise?
Let's imagine a book where my character holds the power of light. Reason being, everyone in his country is born with telekinesis. He however, is the only one with enough grasp of the (maybe a little ...
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My premise suggests a LOT more history than I want in my book
I'm writing a fantasy story in which there is a contemporary earth (our earth) and a secondary world. Due to certain reasons all earthlings who are able to reach the second world have great magical ...
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How do I describe Newtonian physics to the reader in a way that is realistic yet not too complex?
I have a story where I adhere strongly to plausible physics for space combat (some behind-the-scenes development for the story: How to Conduct Plausible Space Combat Intercepts and Tactical Options ...
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My Main Characters Expostion Peaks at a Point, but How? [closed]
My book starts at the end of my main characters research on a topic. And I wanted to give a feeling of him being neck deep in research.
I thought of those stereotypical moments on tv shows where a ...
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How do I write about nerdy concepts without sounding like a tryhard?
How would one express nerdy gobbledygook without sounding like a technical tryhard? For instance, if I were to explain the backstory of something and it perhaps contained the word electromagnetic or ...
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How to avoid the 'magic explanation' info dump in Fantasy novels
In the second book of his Inheritence Cycle, Christopher Paolini makes the grievous error of landing his main character in the middle of a serene woodland where he must sit and talk with an old elf ...
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My story moves too fast
I finally sat down and wrote the first chapter of my planned novel. Reading back through it, I realized that there is so much that happens in only 2000 words. People die, the protagonist is captured, ...
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Dealing with Extreme Distances - Space Travel
I know, you can go the Star Wars/Star Trek "hand wave" route and make it seem like everything is a few minutes or hours away, but...
How do I implement a scenario where space travel is as common and ...
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How to show that something is different than in real life?
I'm writing fiction set in the near future (~15-20 years). The world is still mostly the same and thus familiar to the reader, but an important part of the story is that a few things are radically ...
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How should I introduce new and complex technologies or tools?
I'm writing a Science Fiction book. While this book doesn't push reality very far, there are some new technologies and tools that I have added. One tool is used more frequently than all the others, ...
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Too much exposition in my full-length play: how to fix it?
Dear Writers & Playwrights;
I'm working on my first full-length play. In workshops, the feedback is consistently, "Too much exposition." I agree with the criticism.
What I'm struggling with is . ...
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How Much Exposition is Too Much Exposition
I am in the process of figuring out how to write a mostly autobiographical piece (maybe, eventually, novel) about my experiences related to dancing (Swing, Blues, and a little Hip-Hop, in case you ...
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How do I avoid a “mid-story info dump?”
I am revising the manuscript for a novel. About a third into the story, a major turning point occurs when the main character (through whom the reader follows the story) realizes that things are not at ...
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Expositing a lack of racial difference
I have a story set in a fantasy-Africa, in which the protagonist must make her way from her rural home to a coastal city in order to seek medical treatment that will save her life. One beta reader for ...
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