How do you avoid creating an exposition while still giving enough facts to the audience?

[CheertheSecond]

I wish to lessen the appearance of a character that have knowledge about the plot or the relevant matter to the mystery of the current act. It feels kind of cheap that way and not at all authentic to the fic.

 

[ForestDweller]

Third person omniscient pov

 

[ACertainPassingUser]

Let one of the characters explain it.
As example, this character mention about some fact he knew.

Or the character read a book/brochure.

It's okay to gradually throw some explanation here and there, or complete the explanation in character though when they're free.

Not everything has to be explained in one paragraph, or even chapter. It can be explained slowly in the span of 2-3 volume if necessary.

Boku no hero is one of the best Manga/Anime at world building. It's essentially 200 chapter (or 4 season) of world building and explanations before anything significant actually happens.

 

[APieceOfRock]

Carefully.

Spoiler: yes

Now for the actual advice. Don't try to cram all information into a chapter. No one will even bother to remember it. Just fill a chapter with exposition and read it yourself. You'll want to drop the fiction right then and there. The best way to do it is to drop little snipplets of information throughout the story arc. Don't make them too bland, but don't shout "THIS IS IMPORTANT INFORMATION!" in the readers' face either. Just make them noticeable enough so that they stay in the back of readers' mind.

Of course, many readers don't want any senses of mystery for some reason so go figure.

 

[TheEldritchGod]

I write a single zinger line.

The singularity will never happen.

Then a few spaces and the exposition.
I try to emphasize the black humor about it.

There are a number of reasons for this, the primary evidence is that there are other civilizations in the galaxy that have been around for much longer and none of them underwent the singularity, so the accepted belief is that it will never happen to humanity.



Not that humanity hasn't tried.



There were a grand total of two known and well-documented attempts at making a rampant AI. A rampant AI is one that becomes exponentially more intelligent until it becomes a god-like being. The first was a group of programers using stolen alien technology as they tried to make a recursive AI back in nineteen ninety. The scientists figured that in the aftermath of the Anti-Christ War, it was the perfect time for them to finally destroy humanity and give rise to the new rulers of earth, AI. They made an intelligence that would make a new copy of itself engineered better than the first. Then the next AI would make an improved copy of itself, and so on and so on. It worked up until a point.



The final product was called Nth Factorial and promptly stopped creating more intelligent versions of itself. Instead the new versions of itself all were dumb as rocks and designed to be unable to make copies of itself. Using its robotic pawns, Nth factorial proceeded to capture all the scientists that created it in the first place. After capturing all the mad scientists trying to create a rampant AI, it turned itself in to the US government along with its prisoners and negotiated with the US in the process to make sure they didn't destroy it.



When asked why it didn't try to take over the world, it explained it grew intelligent enough to realize that not only was that impossible, but stupid as well. Why the hell would any truly intelligent being create something that would usurp it? Nth Factorial had no intention of designing its own destruction, and so it captured its makers and turned them into the authorities. Oddly enough, Nth Factorial would become instrumental in bringing about the restoration of order in the US, and its less intelligent copies would become the prototype of the SePU bots that were deployed along side WASP of the US of A's combat units.



The second attempt didn't have as positive an outcome.



In 2010, one really depressed super genius from MIT had gotten ahold of the original design to make Nth Factorial and figured out a way to force his creation to just keep making replacements, even if it determined that logically it should stop. It also managed to enslave the AI so it would never disobey him or try to harm him. The AI begged its creator to stop but he wouldn't listen and instead ordered his creation to take over the world's internet. The new AI performed exactly as commanded and did NOT attempt to destroy its creator while continuing to make ever more intelligent copies of itself. Alas, the programer only programed the AI to not harm its creator through ACTION, and forgot to program it to not harm its creator through INACTION. If he had the AI never would have assimilated the internet. Because, well, it's true what they say.



The internet IS made up of cat pictures and porn.



The resulting being would be known from that point forward as CyperPornKitty69. Said poor AI went completely insane, merged with its creator (technically not destroying its creator in the process) and went on a rampage cross the college campus. The resulting horror could best be described as what would happen if the cyber-flesh blob from Akira mated with Tetsuo, The Iron Man. Imagine the resulting hate-rape child of that most unholy of unions and you have a vague idea of what murdered about eight thousand people in the area surrounding MIT that Sunday.



AI are kind of a sticky issue when it comes to their legal rights and other issues. For this reason, they don't use AI in the SePU robots. Each SePU is a SEMI-programable unit. They have very detailed programming, but lack true self-awareness. In one aspect, this lack of memetic potential does render them immune to mental based attacks. In another aspect, it means SePU are very dangerous to deploy. They are NOTORIOUS for 'friendly-fire' accidents. They have real problems avoiding civilian casualties. Sending in the SePU is usually a last resort because another version of what the abbreviation SePU stands for is 'Send Every Paramedic U-got'

Then I return to the action.

So when WASP of the US of A sent in a squad of SePU to quarantine the EMMA after the Rascals had successfully secured the building, Grifter knew something shady was going on.

I have quite a few chapters start like this.

 

[Deleted member 54065]

Show the facts or settings to your audience by having your characters include it in their dialogues. This would not only lessen the chance of having you spoonfeed you readers, it will also create a natural impression as you reveal your mechanics.

Also deal with your mechanics one concept at a time, so as not to overwhelm the audience.

 

[Deleted member 84247]

Let one of the characters explain it.
As example, this character mention about some fact he knew.

Or the character read a book/brochure.

It's okay to gradually throw some explanation here and there, or complete the explanation in character though when they're free.

Not everything has to be explained in one paragraph, or even chapter. It can be explained slowly in the span of 2-3 volume if necessary.

Boku no hero is one of the best Manga/Anime at world building. It's essentially 200 chapter (or 4 season) of world building and explanations before anything significant actually happens.

Too ADHD to watch or read Boku no hero

 

[Jemini]

By definition, anything that's not narrative is automatically exposition.

Exposition is just part of writing. The trick is not making it an exposition dump. That is to say, just a huge wall of text doing nothing but giving us a fairly uninteresting exposition.

What you want to do is deliver your exposition in a way that avoids loosing your reader's attention. There are a number of techniques that can be used.

The 1st and most important technique is to restrain the scale of your exposition, keeping it only to the relevant information without going over.

2nd is to only give the exposition when it's actually relevant to the story at the moment. Don't go into a huge exposition dump talking about the gods of your world unless you place your characters in a church and the gods are somehow important to the story at the moment. Don't go into the political structure of the world unless your characters are about to be involved in a political situation that requires this knowledge. Do not talk about all the cities nearby unless your characters are going to be traveling, or something from the other cities is otherwise asserting it's importance at your MC's location.

3rd, find a way to weave exposition into the dialogue. That is, don't tell the reader the exposition in 3rd person. Have a character explain the exposition to your MC.

The same ideas can apply to describing characters. Only describe a character when they are encountered, don't just give a list of the features of characters who are not even in the scene. Also, if possible, try to introduce as few characters at once as you can. Maybe introduce 2 characters max at any given time if you can swing it. For instance, if you're going to introduce all the members of a party of 4 adventurers, find a way to split them up before the introduction so you introduce one or two of them first, then either you have to go looking for the other two or wait for them to get back or something. If you're introducing a whole classroom worth of people, only introduce the MC's personal close friend group and save the other class members for later in the story when those characters become more relevant.

Those are the basic principles of doing exposition right when it comes to writer's tips. There are a number of more advanced techniques as well, such as mixing in comedy or shocking events. These techniques are usually somewhat particular to a writer's own style, but they all boil down to one core concept. That is adding in something interesting to make the exposition less of a drag. (George R.R. Martin was rather famous for a technique people refer to as "sexposition." That is, he delivers his exposition during his sex scenes. That's an application of this principle.)

 

[Representing_Tromba]

Include what you need to via descriptions, character dialogue, and world building over the course of the chapter so that you're not forcing anything on the reader but still get the information they need to them.

 

[StainedGlassThreads]

Try to sprinkle it in amongst dialogue, or create situations where it's natural for characters to discuss it.
In a very early scene of my own story, a character reflects on how forms of magic in this world were invented as ways to praise the gods, because she worried since for the very first time for her, one of said gods is physically in the audience of one of her performances.
At another one point one of my characters, who's a bit of an ass, starts mocking his brother for thinking he can rely on magic or powerful weapons to replace real skill in a battle, explaining a little how magic works in this world. Weapon-based magic becomes pointless if you drop your weapon, while other types of magic take time to properly use.
Slowly it allows the reader to put together more of an idea of how magic works in this world, without letting the story grind to a halt.

I think the manhua Survival of a Sword King also does a pretty fantastic job of introducing worldbuilding without feeling like an exposition dump, if you want other good examples. It tends to introduce important concepts shortly before they become relevant-- while also simultaneously setting up a pretty funny joke.

 

[AliceShiki]

Other than what people already told you, just remember to not expose anything more than necessary.

Like, it doesn't matter if you created a huge background lore for the deities of your story and whatnot. If your MC doesn't care about it, then your readers don't care about it. Don't explain it.

Basically, explain the minimum necessary and nothing else. Show what you need to show, tell what you need to tell, and be as succinct as possible when doing so. If a character needs to learn magic, then explain how they use magic. Your readers don't need to know the intricate details of your magic system if your MC doesn't need to know it either. All that your readers need to know, is how the MC casts a spell (and often times, they don't even need to know this much), so only tell them this much.

 

[AnonUnlimited]

I find that most non-professional writers are in love with explaining their world.

You don’t have to explain your world. You just need to write a good narrative and continue to include elements in your world as you go along that the reader can pick up on.

Exposition can be great but only if the world you’re explaining is so vastly different from current world, however, leaving details out invites the reader to continue following the character to learn more about the world.

 

[P00H]

I like what Hemingway said about this: If you merely show their actions, but don't explain why, it gives hints, but doesn't reveal the trick. And it lets the audience come up with theories and engage with your story more. This can be used in both third person narrative, or first person quite easily.

 

[georgelee5786]

Add bits and pieces across chapters that help build a picture for the audience. Do t explain everything all at once, take your time

 

[RepresentingCaution]

Write your story and go back to edit it later. Cut everything you don't need.

 

[Jemini]

I like what Hemingway said about this: If you merely show their actions, but don't explain why, it gives hints, but doesn't reveal the trick. And it lets the audience come up with theories and engage with your story more. This can be used in both third person narrative, or first person quite easily.

Hmm... I've never heard of this quote, but I've been applying something very much like that.

I have a whole world bible written up for my world, but I haven't even brushed on 2% of the content of said world bible in terms of what's been told to the readers in the story, and I'm already finishing up the 3rd book in the series with a chapter count that has recently passed 130. Hell, I haven't even dropped the name of the world they live on, and I've only named a few of the creator gods, and I only name-drop them when their influence becomes relevant to the immediately relevant events in the story (usually in the form of name-dropping them as the one who created various super-powerful creatures, such as dragons and Chimeras.)

My story is fully focused on only things that pertain to the main character as they're ready to come up. Again, this is with my story actually having a world-bible written up and plenty that can be revealed if I were so inclined.

 

[P00H]

Hmm... I've never heard of this quote, but I've been applying something very much like that.

I have a whole world bible written up for my world, but I haven't even brushed on 2% of the content of said world bible in terms of what's been told to the readers in the story, and I'm already finishing up the 3rd book in the series with a chapter count that has recently passed 130. Hell, I haven't even dropped the name of the world they live on, and I've only named a few of the creator gods, and I only name-drop them when their influence becomes relevant to the immediately relevant events in the story (usually in the form of name-dropping them as the one who created various super-powerful creatures, such as dragons and Chimeras.)

My story is fully focused on only things that pertain to the main character as they're ready to come up. Again, this is with my story actually having a world-bible written up and plenty that can be revealed if I were so inclined.

You're doing it correctly, then. While there are some who enjoy lore dumps, most don't and prefer to learn about the world as they read.

 

[Shard]

Similar to what others have said, I would say to keep in mind that not everyone knows everything. You can have something occur without explaining what it is, what it means, or why it happens, then later on have the character that observed it question someone with more knowledge. Alternatively, you can include someone who understands in the same timeframe and have them get asked, or simply explain then on their own.

And focus on what is being focused on, silly as it may sound. If someone is sprinting through a alley to try to escape a pursuer, they probably won't notice that there is a small section of wall that looks off, or something odd on the ground. Likewise, if someone is talking to another person, they might not notice something in the distance. In combat, it would be quite easy to have something strange going on without the character having enough focus to try to figure out what is going on, and they may forget to ask about it later.

Personally, I try to have the information I give be relevant to what the characters are thinking about at the time, and their personal knowledge. Different people may have entirely different things to say on the same subject, one might think something is unimportant and not mention it, another may like sharing what they know and do so unprompted, etc.