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Topic #488
Tell us about a writing lesson you learned the hard way.
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I think aspiring writers and writers newer to the craft will benefit from the answers to this question the most. However, those who have years under their belt can always use the reminder and other perspectives on the topic. Such a good question. Let’s see…what lesson…
Exposition is a huge problem across all forms of writing, excepting poetry. This lesson was a bit more difficult for me to learn, so tied to the detail I envisioned, and the idea that every point was important for the reader to see each bit I saw. Eventually, it does get through that you can’t control the image written on the page like that. If you’re a film director, photographer, visual artist of all kinds–you can do this, but you can’t achieve the inner world of the character like a writer can. There are tradeoffs in the arts. Hence, the genres and formats, etc. But, did you know that you can do exposition in film, too? It’s the dialogue. Put that in your pocket! It’s just another way it shows up.
Show don’t tell.
I love the fact that at some point, writers got together with visual artists and theater happened (and from that film and video games). Our respective arts truly are the greatest of friends. One day, we will have immersive technology that enhances this relationship to its furthest extent. I hope that I will be here to see that evolve into something more like the holodeck. The headsets are pretty cool so far! Can you imagine what creations are to come?
In essence, exposition is the visually minded artist trying to portray an image in words. Boy, do we get away with ourselves, too. Pile on a neurodiversity, and you’re really going to struggle with this. Why? Because the writer is so stoked about their story. They want to explore every aspect of it possible. In their mind, they’ve stumbled upon a phenomenal world, think Disneyland. Imagine coming up with the worlds of Wonderland or Oz, and literally able to walk it. Well, that’s essentially what their authors were able to do. This is key to a compelling story, and that’s why this is such a Catch-22.
The feelings we have about this are so strong and fabulous, we want to give that opportunity to others. However, we forget that words can’t convey the fantasy like being their can. An image will bring you close, but still imperfect. Oh, the frustration we feel!
Then, of course, there are folks who will just not care what we have to offer. They may not care about the detail to the point we do. They just want the rundown real quick. That’s tough for someone like me to understand, because I know how awesome this thing is that I am trying to describe to the world. It was a hard lesson to understand that most people cannot visualize. If they can, they may not be that into it. They may also not visualize on the level that I do, even if they do want to be immersed. Learning that this is ok, and that I don’t have to hammer it home, that was hard!
I’m not trying to be rude, but I feel sorry for folks who can’t picture stuff in their heads. That there are no narratives running. They have no inner dialogue, no images. It must be so quiet–a thing I am jealous for, as there is a lot going on in my head at all times. I could use the rest! (Remember, I dream every night, and it goes on and on, and I visualize and dialogue all day. That’s exhausting.)
I became aware of this difference when my mother was unable to see what my father described for the renovations to their home. I was a teenager back then. It floored me, because I was already working with this high speed cinema brain. My dad was confused, too, though. Let me tell you, I defended her, but I had so many questions, and tried to figure out how to present information in a more effective manner for her. Drawings still did not quite make the grade, but it was in the right direction. She needed a model, but she still could not take the image of the drawing or a model and see it in her home.
You’d think this was going to help me understand how exposition is useless. Nope. I thought overwriting would fix it. Sort of like the traveler going to a foreign country and shouting English at the residents, because then it will get through to them. Yeah, that’s not how that works. I know.
The other issue that I discovered came about in my aforementioned obsessive examination of this world I created. Because I saw it so clearly, I obsessed on each detail in the scene. Did it matter that the toaster on the counter was red? No. Not in the least. I just wanted to immerse myself in this space like a holodeck program so badly, that I attempted to recreate it in the format I knew best. Sure, I can draw, but I can’t draw anywhere near as well as write. It’s doodles versus realism.
While I want to walk around that imagined kitchen and touch all the things, and breath it in, there are no readers that need that. Super fans can get like this, sure. That said, super fans are more rare. We can’t write just for them. The majority readers need us to get quickly from point to point, and keep the flow moving.
Letting go is hard. We love our worlds and characters so much. We hope our readers will, too. The best means to ensuring this love is economic use of words. Keep them from nodding off, but don’t make them marathon run. A pleasant drive from point A to point B is the smart solution.
How do you remain on task? I make art for myself. While I don’t like the idea of AI, I tool around with it to make myself art pieces to satisfy that part of my brain that needs the deep detail. It’s super satisfying and discardable. I’m not married to most of it. I will use my art skill to draw on top of images to force the AI to render the way I want, by using images it produced close to the prompt, but missed the mark. Basically, I am working through the feeling, letting myself obsess, and getting over it.
Prior to AI, I would write it out, or draw doodles to accomplish the same. AI makes scrap paper stuff like this quicker, and gets me through it faster. That’s the only benefit I find in it for my work.
Despite these exercises, there is still exposition. However, I don’t overwrite like I used to. This is the more important factor. Exposition can be useful, and it will be found in almost all works of literature. It’s okay! What you need to get rid of is the overwriting, and limit unnecessary exposition (like the toaster). Eventually, experience will lead you in the right direction.
How do you do it?
Take a deep breath. Ask yourself if descriptions really need to be written out to propel your narrative (plot). Look at things like Star Wars (original 3 films). The paragraph at the start is expositional set up for the story–segues from one point in the saga to the next. A frame. Not everything needs this. You’ll have to be honest with yourself and truly examine if such a thing is a necessity. Likewise, the rest of the tale piecemeal drops the details of the world all around you as you go through it. Info dumps are not great. Don’t do them, if at all avoidable.
I ran into this issue in Trailokya, because it required outlining the structure of the multiverse and how it got here. Similar to Star Wars. A few pages at the outset gave a minimal primer. This is not unusual for fantasy series. Sometimes, I think I could skip it. However, it additionally serves to state that this is not the world as you know it and why. I find it necessary, despite the lingering doubt.
Primers aside, the reader does not need every detail of character outfits, rooms, food, features, or those trees they may be sitting under. This goes beyond aesthetic choices. It bogs down the story like conversational tangents. If you can keep this in mind, you’ll do much better. Just picture Bilbo muttering on about something in the middle of telling Frodo the story. You look like a dithering old man. Sure that detail is important to you, but your audience is losing the plot! Therefore, you start to look like you don’t know who or where you are. You don’t want that dragging down your story.
Remember, show don’t tell to avoid exposition and overwriting. Don’t info dump in description or dialogue. If you’re immersing the reader, help them feel it and see it. Expressions, movement, tones, and moods, are all great ways to show. A sweaty brow and bouncing leg goes much farther than just saying the guy is anxious.
Will you catch it all? Probably not. Write the draft. That’s the first and most important step that you can take as a writer. Get your draft done. Now, when you start rewriting, you will start adding to the story, but you can also keep an eye out for Bilbo’s mind trailing off. You’ll be doing this through each draft, and it will still have some exposition. The thing is, it’s a tool. Don’t overuse it. It can be effective in specific cases, but you don’t use a hammer to build a whole house. It’s more of a screwdriver.
Hopefully this has been helpful, and you’ll not struggle with it the way I and many other authors have in the past. Click on the links below to see the other responses to this question by our authors on the Open Book Blog Hop. Don’t forget to subscribe before you leave. The hop will arrive in your inbox each Friday without having to search. See you next time!
I hate reading information dumps; they remind me of the school textbooks I used to detest. So, when I’m writing, I try to introduce the backstory and all the worldbuilding as a part of the dialogue or action scenes. I think it’s easier to digest if it has relevence or context. It’s surprising how much you can add to conversations or set-piece confrontations without slowing things down..
It’s one of my peeves, too, even though I am guilty! probably why. But I also don’t like when something that could be shown instead of dialogue in film/tv. Often it is done for economy, but it’s kinda lazy to me. Same thing, guilty as charged, and it peeves me to see others get away with it, when there is supposedly a standard. The gatekeepers, it shows, are just as subjective as anyone else, and it tells me they’re no more an authority. Yet, they will bar most writers from achieving their goals by it.
I’ve been through the same thing! I always felt the need to paint every picture in full detail, thinking it would make the story richer. Learning to trust the reader’s imagination and focus on the core of the story was a huge breakthrough for me.
There is so much we want to tell our readers that they don’t care about. Trimming down info dumps can be hard but is needed.