#STORY EXPOSITION HOW TO#

But it can also be conveyed through narration, through written material in the character’s surroundings, and in many other possible forms. The musikron isn’t in our viewpoint, neither are its doubters the information about them is coming to us through exposition instead of us experiencing it first-hand.Įxposition often takes the form of dialogue, as it does in this example. We learn how a musikron works, we learn that people doubt it’s real, and we also learn some small facts from Eric and Colleen’s past experiences. In the example above, there are several pieces of exposition woven together. “Everyone says it’s a fake it really isn’t.'” He wears a little metal bowl on his head and just thinks about the sounds-the musikron plays them.” She stole a quick glance at him, looked ahead. ‘Well, the musikron is something like a recording and playback machine only the operator mixes in any new sounds he wants. I’m just on the science and news networks.’ He said, ‘I don’t subscribe to the entertainment circuits. He thought, She thinks I’m a fuddy probably am! Her laughter caused a passing couple to turn and stare. ‘You never did tell me what a musikron is.’ “On the bayside walk, Eric and Colleen matched steps. Here’s an example of exposition from Operation Syndrome by Frank Herbert: So how can they (and the reader) become aware of it? This is where we use exposition. They can’t experience that event directly, because it happened long ago, to another person. Text that gives your reader information which comes from outside of the current viewpoint.įor example, say your viewpoint character needs to learn about an event that was part of another character’s childhood. It’s a writing technique used to convey certain information to the reader. (We won’t be discussing dramatic structure in this article, but if you want to learn more, you could read our article about Freytag’s Pyramid.) ExpositionĮxposition, sometimes called narrative exposition, is something different. Not all stories include the exposition, but many do. It introduces us to the protagonist and explains some of the circumstances of their life, so that when the “inciting incident” happens, we understand why it matters.

In some models of dramatic structure, the exposition of a story is the opening scene.

What Is Exposition?įirst let’s clear something up: we’re talking about “exposition”, not “ the exposition”.

#STORY EXPOSITION HOW TO#

What is exposition, and how can you use it effectively to make your story flow well and have depth? This guide will help you understand exposition and how to use it. You might have seen it referred to in negative terms, and maybe you’re nervous about getting it wrong, especially if you’re writing a book for the first time. You’ve probably come across the word exposition in reviews and in writing advice.

Story exposition