Writing Show, Not Tell In Dialogue

[BouncyCactus]

As a world builder, everything I write is an exposition dump!

What do you mean you don't need to know the details of this one specific isolated nation method of timekeeping that is not relevant anywhere else?

Of course, you do! Here is a Wall of Text on its origin, evolution, cultural significance, and how it died off three centuries ago, yet ingrained itself into the linguistic expression of this nation's language!

Joke aside, I tend to do an info dump piecemeal at a time, and if through dialogue, I tend to twist the universal truth with some bias to create a perceived truth by a character, or uncertainty, or hide some aspect that the characters do not know of. Said, there is a war going on that is affecting the entire continent, whatever info a frontline veteran speaks of is different from a commanding noble at the rear, and difference from a civilian at home, and then the merchants, the friends vs foes, the neutral parties vs the involved parties. In this way, you are telling the reader about the war, but also showing how the war is affecting, or not affecting certain regions/demographics/etc by each group's views on the war.

 

[Dieter]

I was gonna say something but it seems you alr have enough responses.

 

[John_Owl]

But in order to give them the freedom to imagine, you must first set up a sturdy framework. You are still trying to share your world with the readers after all, not force them to build a world with nothing but piecemeal bones or sparse hints. Leave some gaps, but avoid too many. Not everyone in your audience wants to, or should be expected to, put in the effort to imagine what immerses them.

I've always found that saying to be an excuse for laziness.

oh, for sure. I didn't mean world building in it's entirety. Create the world. set up the rules. Paint that picture.

But I meant the details. Unless there's some magical stitching, does the reader REALLY need to know that they used a cross-double stitch to dew the patch to the shirt? is it absolutely vital that you explain every little detail of the MC's face until they know it's Viggo Mortensen, or is it acceptable if they picture the MC more as Pierce Brosnan or Gerard butler, or any other number of similar-looking people?

That's what I was referring to. Fill in enough that imagining isn't a chore, but that the brain can automatically fill in the missing holes without any effort from the reader specifically.

Writing is an art. And in any art, sometimes, it's more what you didn't show than what you did.