![]() ![]() Setting exposition, plot exposition and character exposition tend to be woven together. Write setting exposition that vivifies your world Use your own characters’ present, past and/or future in exposition to flesh out their lives and create a vivid sense of time and place. We get a sense of its size and surrounds, as well as the promise of dramatic events in Colonel Buendia’s future (but not yet why they come to pass). Marquez moves seamlessly from describing an intimate memory of the Colonel’s father to describing their hometown, Macondo. Note how expertly Marquez blends his main character’s past (and foreshadows his dramatic future). Marquez, One Hundred Years of Solitude (1970), p. At that time Macondo was a village of twenty adobe houses, built on the bank of a river of clear water that ran along a bed of polished stones, which were white and enormous, like prehistoric eggs. Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendia was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice. His novel Cien años de soledad (translated as ‘One Hundred Years of Solitude’) begins with historical setting exposition and expository character details that bend time: Historical exposition: One Hundred Years of Solitude The Colombian author Gabriel Garcia Marquez blends personal and social history brilliantly in his novels. By page two of The Shining, we already know King’s setting is intimidating and have been introduced to the story’s main characters. If you use dialogue for exposition, keep to information that is relevant to your plot. There is a question mark over whether his son is extraordinary, too.The position Jack’s interviewing for may be intimidating or daunting in some untold way. ![]() King gives us character exposition via dialogue. Your wife isn’t a bit intimidated by the idea?” And there’s your son, of course.” He glanced down at the application in front of him. “I asked if your wife fully understands what you would be taking on here. That was bad Ullman was the type of man who would file such lapses away in a mental Rolodex for later consideration. Ullman had asked a question he hadn’t caught. In the opening chapter of The Shining, ‘Job Interview’, the protagonist Jack Torrance is interviewed by a man named Ullman for the winter caretaker position at the creepy Overlook Hotel: An exposition dump or ‘expository lump’ takes your reader out of the story. Ideally, you want to weave exposition in naturally, barely showing the author’s hand. Info-dumping refers to when you jam a slab of expository information into a section of story so that it feels as though the author is thinking ‘here is everything I need to tell the reader, let me get this out of the way’. King’s story opening gives us plenty of character exposition and setting exposition. It shows how you can use dialogue for exposition to reveal a little about your characters and their immediate (or past/future) situation: Dialogue as exposition: The Shining Stephen King’s classic horror novel The Shining (1977) gives a strong example of good story exposition. It tells us something that helps us as readers understand what’s going on or at least makes us curious to learn more about a place, situation or circumstance. It refers to the expository or introductory element of a story.Įxposition in literature and other story media reveals. ‘Exposition’ is a useful term when we talk about dramatic structure. Let’s explore these ideas further with examples of expository paragraphs and their effects: Use expository dialogue to build scenarios Describe relevant backstory if necessary.Use character exposition to reveal key information.Write setting exposition that vivifies your world.Use expository dialogue to build scenarios.What elements of time, era or duration (the ‘when’) does this expository part of the story reveal?ĩ exposition examples (and their lessons).What do we learn about where the action or conversation is unfolding, if anything?.Why is this information being shared, why might the author telling us this specific information?.What is interesting or suspenseful about the place or situation we’re thrown into?.Who is being introduced (and what do we learn about them that seems significant?).Read 9 exposition examples that show how to introduce characters, settings and scenarios memorably: What to look for in exposition examples in fictionĪs you read the examples in this article, ask: ![]() Exposition introduces your reader to important and intriguing details of your story – who, what, why, where and when. There are many types of exposition in stories, in literature, film and other media.
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