WIP Challenge: Day 19, Monday

[enemytosleep]

Another day has come and gone, so now it's time to check in. \o/



How many new words did you write today? Did you reach your goal? Were you editing instead? Researching? Or was today a day of rest?

...and today's discussion topic:

Now for some exposition! Giving a story depth and coherence is important, but when does exposition become too much (info dump)? Or conversely, when is it not enough to give the reader a clear view of your story? Please share any tips or tricks you have for finding the right balance, or ask questions if you have them. I can't help you with this, Enemy needs All The Help with expo. T_T

Comments

[enemytosleep]

Busy weekend was busy. Hopefully I can make some headway tonight on one of these.

Yuujinchou Exchange Bonus Treat #3 (due Mar 24): No new words. Current word count: 654

Yuujinchou Exchange Bonus Treat #5 (due Mar 24): No new words. I have an idea for a little drabble that may or may not happen depending on available writing time this week. Current word count: 0

Help_Japan (due 18 years ago - 750 word min): No new words. I promise to give this love after the Yuujinchou exchange stops eating my brain. O.o Current word count: 3,666

Historically, I tend to not give enough exposition on a first draft. I fear the info dump and sometimes leave things too unclear/subtle for readers to know where I'm going with something. ;;_;; I pretty much always have to add more in after getting it back from beta. I'm glad to have some awesome betas who can help me with this, though.

[linaewen]

What an awesome graphic!! It makes me smile so much!

I have not been slacking today. I posted a new 2,170 word chapter (finished yesterday, whoo!) for one of my long-dormant fics. I also updated some other archives where I have started posting. I will probably take a break to pay attention to Real Life for a bit, but hopefully I can keep my momentum going here and get some more writing in today. On to the next chapter!

I'm not sure how I find the right balance with exposition; sometimes I rely on using quotes from book canon to summarize where I am going so I don't have to rephrase it and say it so much more awkwardly than the original author! Or I try to make the info dump a part of the conversation and trick the reader into not noticing it's an info dump. ;-) A lot of my exposition seems to take place as description of setting, and my readers seem to like that.

[enemytosleep]

Yay, I'm glad you like them. :D

Awesome word count - and super awesome than you were able to post something for one of your dormant fics! \o/ I hope the high will carry you over to the next installment, too!

I've used the dialogue trick too, though again my paranoia of overdoing things tends to leave me occasionally leaving things vague. T_T I like the idea of using source quotes, especially when you're writing from something like Tolkien!

[roane]

I am PLANNING to take this evening off, if my brain will let me. I posted chapter 2 of Denial last night, and I'm kind of stuck on the last bit. I'm hoping a chat with one of my betas this evening will knock something loose.

It's funny, one of the reasons I love fanfic so much is that there isn't as much a need for exposition! The assumption for me is that if you're reading it, you know the world, so I don't necessarily have to tell you everything. I wrote primarily original SF&F before, and the exposition got SO tricky. I usually tried to weave it into the setting, since the setting also usually took some explaining as well.

[enemytosleep]

I hope a short break and some plot discussion can help get things moving in the right direction again. :D

This is very, very true! Which makes my fail so much worse, haha. Still, depending on the fandom, there are sometimes instances where a fair amount of expo is needed to set up a plot, as opposed to missing moment fics and the like where things clear right from the start That is two votes for weaving it into the setting, though, so I will have to try that at some point!

[roane]

Well like, a good example I read somewhere--some writing book I read, I think--about using setting. "Joan stepped towards the door, which irised open." So what you've told your reader with that one sentence, is that you have a world where doors open this way normally and expectedly (because Joan doesn't freak out about it)--and that implies a lot of things: futuristic, automated, not quite like our world, etc. You've also indicated that Joan probably has feet and is at least somewhat able-bodied. That's a LOT of stuff to pack into one sentence (and not always stuff one can take for granted in SF&F).

The trick with exposition is to tuck it into the corners. You can do it just by having your characters interact with their world. You don't have to spell everything out for the reader, ever. It's usually better if you don't. Like, I'm thinking about "The Hunger Games". Collins doesn't tell us right away everything about the world. She lets us discover it by ourselves. So we all have slightly different views of that world, but similar enough for the story to work.

I think part of the problem some of us (ME) have as writers is that we want to make sure that the reader sees EXACTLY what we see, and reading doesn't work that way. It's give and take. We fill in outlines and a few details--just enough--and the reader does the rest. The hardest thing is to trust the reader.

[roane]

Adding: I think it's especially difficult for fandoms that are based on visual mediums because we're all used to seeing (roughly) the same things, so we want to write that way too.

[enemytosleep]

Another good point!

[enemytosleep]

♥

This is very good device, and a great example of "tucking expo into corners," which is a phrase I think I'm going to adopt as it works so well. My issue is sort of the opposite: I'm SO afraid of over explaining to the reader that I don't always explain enough - which is also a problem as there has to be some story there (otherwise everyone's saying "Wait? What happened? I'm confused."). My beta is good at pointing out areas where I need to add in a bit, but I would love to get over that fear of force-feeding a reader and find a better balance on my own.

[roane]

OHOHOH. Another example that just occurred to me. And it's even kind of fanfic related, since well a) it's my fandom (yeah sorry, again), but b) it's an adaptation of another canon. The first episode of Sherlock has Lestrade (the police inspector Sherlock works with the most) threatening Sherlock with a drug raid on his flat because Sherlock is withholding information. A viewer who's familiar with the original canon knows that Victorian Sherlock was a regular user of morphine and cocaine (just a harmless character quirk then, not so much to our modern eyes).

So: canon!viewer is wondering "Oho, so is he a user in this version or isn't he?" not!canon viewer is probably reacting pretty much the same way that John Watson does ("THIS guy on drugs? Seriously?"). It is never, EVER stated, but from the scene and the way the actors play it, it's apparent that BBC's Sherlock did, at one point in the not-so-distant past, have a potentially very serious drug problem, and that everybody knows it but his new flatmate. (Who is now wondering what the hell he's gotten himself into.) It also suggests (from Sherlock's slight nervousness) that the problem might not quite be as over as he'd like.

One scene, a TON of exposition, and most of it unspoken.

If memory serves, Criminal Minds deals with one of the characters' PTSD-related drug addiction in a similar fashion: mostly off-screen and through implication. Also very well handled.

[enemytosleep]

If I had a gold star, I'd give it to you. \o/ This was extremely helpful and reassuring, and hopefully the next fic I write will be much better on its first go.

[dhae_knight_1]

Criminal minds has a long and proud history of dealing with most everything that way. Nowadays, of course, that is one of the things I miss the most; that subtlety that required you to focus and listen and think your way through every episode. Back when a week's worth of thoughts could be packed into a 42-minute ep.

Nowadays? Nowadays I'm happy if I can et through the main titles without knowing who the unsub is, having sussed out his or her psychosis and/or motives and general outlook on life. It... kinda pisses me off. :-(

[dhae_knight_1]

Thank God, my thesis-related writer's block dissolved today, and I actually got some work done on the damn thing. Jeez. What a relief.

I like to play with information. I still remember Children of the Earth and her epic, 5-10 pages of entirely unrelated exposition on the climate and nature of the Ice Age that would crop up every now and again. And then there are books that can provide a lot of information with word-choices. Like... Night's Dawn, where the main doors of these giant, living space-stations were sphincters. Very... evocative... ;-)

*facepalm* ETA that I wrote almost 600 words yoday on something I'm still not entirely sure is going... Anywhere. Oh, well. I'm writing. :-)

[enemytosleep]

So awesome that you got past your block and were able to get work done, both on your thesis (important!) and fanfic (fun!). :D

[insignia]

I'm slacking, because I don't have a big round cat to keep me in line ._.

My exposition tends to be way too brief and vague, because I try to be subtle and go too far with it. Heh. I'm trying to train myself to be more descriptive.

[enemytosleep]

XD

THIS. This is my problem. T_T There has been a lot of good advice posted here, though, so I'm going to try and use it and see how it goes!

[crowdog66]

I wrote a new chapter of "Impulse" (which started as a single chapter short story but apparently had more to it than initially met the eye).

Exposition? I play it by ear, but I try to follow the "show, not tell" rule: either the information is revealed through action, or it's revealed through conversation between the characters which also showcases their personalities.

[enemytosleep]

Woo, you are a chapter-producing machine! \o/

That is a good rule that I try to abide by - but then I freak out and think I've done too much and I take it back out and then things start to get confusing for people. <--this is why I use a beta! Though with everyone's helpful advice I will hopefully start to do better and relax about this more.

[roane]

Ha. "Take a break tonight". Right. THANKS, BRAIN. Another 1000 words and a new chapter up on "Denial". really hoping to finish it tomorrow.

[enemytosleep]

XD But hopefully it will be done soon?

[riceishere]

Argh I haven't been checking in for the longest time. I want to blame it on spotty internet connection but it's mostly because RL has been taking over my weekends.

I did manage to write some stuff down: the Wrinkle in Time fanfic is finally moving! With 500 new shiny words! I think I might finish it by the end of this week. I realized that all I needed to do was change the POV for the story to start making sense. And me not being anal about the science (I can improve those later AFTER I get the first draft down).

With regards to exposition, I guess it gets to be too much when you have paragraphs upon paragraphs of exposition so close together without any breaks at all. Usually what I do is I slip in the expo stuff in between the action or the dialogues, just small chunks of info - that way it doesn't read like a history book. IMO exposition only gets bad when you're 1.) repeating redundant/unnecessary info already, 2.) have like pages of it so close together that you're already telling the details of your story instead of showing them.

[enemytosleep]

Ah, well we're glad to have you check in when you can. And hey, you got words down! \o/

Good point re: breaking it up. :D

[terabient]

I worked a little on bingo fics, but I've put that on the back burner since I have a post due for month_of_meta this week, as well as finishing up preparations for Anime Boston in April. This week's free time is already...not so free for fic writing, unfortunately. :(

Exposition is such a tricky thing. I don't know if I do a good job of it or not, but one thing someone told me that stuck is to trust your readers. If given a choice between over-explaining and being a little too subtle, go with subtlety; too much, or too obvious exposition, often comes across as condescending to the reader. Too little exposition can cause confusion or lead to unexpected reactions later on, but as a reader I would much rather experience those kinds of emotions over instead of being smashed with the Exposition Bat.

[enemytosleep]

Ah, I hope you can get a handle on all your projects. :3

Sage advice, and a bit comforting for me (the one who panics and removes expo) that someone would rather be confused than force fed some Expo with their Info Dump. ^^; Hopefully I can find the right balance eventually.