5/20/2023 0 Comments Define exposition in literature![]() He proposed that the plot of story goes through the following dramatic arcs: German playwright and novelist, Gustav Freytag is credited with analyzing the structures of stories. The plots of traditional stories are believed to follow a certain pattern. In this five-part series on the structures of plots we bring to you what goes into plotting and why it is an extremely important literary element. You can start In Medias Res, which just means in the middle of things, and not explain everything and trust your audience to enjoy the game of catch up.In our earlier post on the questions to consider while Plotting, we briefly spoke to you about what plotting entails when you are writing a novel. Ever walked into a film late and been surprised by how much you enjoy not understanding everything? Sometimes it’s great to just watch a world unfold without being given all the pieces of the puzzle. You should avoid unnecessary exposition where possible by using less. If you don’t jump forward though, the exposition that you have skilfully worked in to the beginning of your tale will hopefully be sufficient to last the rest of the story. This is like starting a story all over again in some respects, as you will have to work out ways to work exposition in that feels natural and satisfying. This technique greatly reduces the need for exposition because it means once you manage to bring your audience up to speed at the beginning you might not have to worry too much about any further exposition.įor example, if your story jumps forward five years at one point, then you will probably have to let your audience know some of what happened in that five years. It basically means everything happens in one go, in one place. Aristotle was a fan of the ‘three unities’. Sometimes when a work of art jumps in time more exposition is needed, as we have to find out what’s happened in the gap. To avoid bad exposition consider Aristotle’s unity of time and place. Skilful handling of exposition is vital to foreshadowing the key events that will become important later in your story.Ĭheck out the Letter Review video below for more on foreshadowing and Deus Ex Machina. One important principle to consider is foreshadowing. If there is a television in the background of your story which has details about a fire that has broken out somewhere in your story world, this might be exposition that will become relevant later in your tale, and this is a satisfying way to work this information into the story. You have to find ways to introduce information about your story that feels natural in your world! Remember that tension should go up! And lines which reveal character and advance your plot are generally more likely to be lines that contribute to the rising tension in your story. Lines like these can bore the audience because they don’t feel relevant to the overall direction of the tale. If your dialogue or your summary passages of your novel aren’t doing either of these things, then the lines may not be earning their keep in your story. Remember that dialogue should also generally advance the plot or reveal character. We can learn all about the world the story takes place in, and all about how Hamlet is thinking and feeling about the events taking place in the world, by listening to the protagonist talk to their best friend. Hamlet’s friend Horatio is someone that he can talk to and explain how he is feeling. Introduce a best friend character who is a ‘confident’ for your protagonist. Have a poster in the background of the action tell us something. Have info come in via a radio broadcast in the background (ever seen a zombie film?) We also want stories to emotionally manipulate us, but we don’t want to feel emotionally manipulated. We want scripts to teach us things, but we don’t want to feel that we are being taught. When something is ‘didactic’ it’s like we can sense that we are being ‘taught’ something. Ever heard of ‘show don’t tell.’ That’s what this is all about. As responders to a work of fiction we don’t really like to be ‘told’ things. ![]() It’s best to avoid didacticism in your exposition. See our guide below for more! Avoid Didacticism Remember to avoid didacticism, show rather than tell, consider unity of time and place, and use less. It’s one of the skills of creative writing that takes practice, but like riding a bike the more you do it the better you get (and you don’t forget). An example of bad exposition is when two characters discuss something only to convey information to the audience: it feels forced. The challenge is to work in the backstory in a way that feels natural. Stories require exposition in one form or another.
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