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The Do’s and Don’t of Exposition in Literature
Afraid you’re overexplaining? Here are some things to consider.
One of the most common questions new writers ask is, “Am I explaining too much?”
It’s a sensible thing to ask. We’ve all seen at least one example of extremely bad expository text, those passages in novels that explain what’s going on in very blunt, inelegant terms. They’re boring (at least if they’re not hilarious), they drag the action to a halt and they can break the narrative, especially if they go on too long.
And yet exposition is necessary, at least some of the time. There are moments where the author needs to make some point very clear, and there’s just no way to do it without a character (or a document or something else) laying it right out.
So let’s consider some of the mistakes writers make with exposition.
Situations where exposition should be cut
As we’ll discuss later, there are situations where expository dialogue or text is necessary, but whenever possible it should be removed or at least kept short to maintain narrative momentum. Here are a few things to look for:
