If you are curious how to approach exposition for your genre, pick up a favorite novel in the same genre. Study the opening chapters, and ask:. Great story exposition often introduces us to a specific, intriguing scenario. You could flash back to a significant memory, or tease a future story event if the narrator is omniscient or non-involved, that is, and thus knows what will happen in the future. When the team reached the site at five-thirty in the morning, one or two family members would be waiting for them.
And they would be present all day while Anil and the others worked, never leaving; they spelled each other so someone always stayed, as if to ensure that the evidence would not be lost again.
The vigil for the dead, for these half-revealed forms. Story exposition has many functions. Besides explaining circumstances where necessary, it also sets up place and time. If your reader needs to know, for example, that your story unfolds in pre-modern England, how can you creatively expose or explain these specifics?
An elderly husband and wife, Axl and Beatrice, go on a quest to find their long lost son. You would have searched a long time for the sort of winding lane or tranquil meadow for which England later became celebrated. There were instead miles of desolate, uncultivated land; here and there rough-hewn paths over craggy hills or bleak moorland. Most of the roads left by the Romans would by then have become broken or overgrown, often fading into wilderness.
Ishiguro gives specific examples of the way this harsher, wilder landscape differs from the modern world. Even on a strong horse, in good weather, you could have ridden for days without spotting any castle or monastery looming out of the greenery. Mostly you would have found communities like the one I have just described, and unless you had with you gifts of food or clothing, or were ferociously armed, you would not have been sure of welcome.
These details create a sense of the wild, unforgiving landscape that will make any travel seem like either a brave or foolhardy decision. Story exposition supplies key character information fast, in contemporary novels and classics alike. Introducing curious, intriguing details about characters early is one way to start explaining your world using showing rather than telling. Snowman wakes before dawn.
He lies unmoving, listening to the tide coming in, wave after wave sloshing over the various barricades, wish-wash, wish-wash, the rhythm of a heartbeat. He would so like to believe he is still asleep. Join Now Novel to swap critique with likeminded writers and get weekly pro crits when you upgrade your membership.
One of the reasons Catcher in the Rye has often made lists of books to read in your lifetime is because the voice of Holden Caulfield is so utterly believable. Exposition of character is built in the gradual gathering of details: What your characters love, hate, desire, fear, love to talk about, let slip, refuse to say.
You could say that in many of the greatest stories, character exposition never stops. We keep getting to know the character better. JB wore a perpetual expression of mild disbelief while at his job, both that he should be working at all and that no one had yet thought to recognize his special genius. He was not a good receptionist. Although the phones rang more or less constantly, he rarely picked them up; when any of them wanted to get through to him the cell phone reception in the building was inconsistent , they had to follow a special code of ringing twice, hanging up, and then ringing again.
One of the key purposes of exposition in a story is expectation-setting. See, for example, the tense tone and mood Philip Pullman creates in the opening of the first book in the His Dark Materials trilogy. It sets good tone for the poisoning incident that follows:. The sound rang clearly through the Hall. Stop fussing. The inciting incident in a story as we discussed here sets the action in motion. Your inciting incident is an excellent opportunity to not only get the action going but to reveal details about your world and in so doing, explain it to your reader.
The above example from the His Dark Materials trilogy, for example, is an effective inciting incident because it leaves us with burning questions about character motivation and identity. For example:. I know your name, and you knew mine, once upon a time: Eiji Miyake. Yes, that Eiji Miyake. I am in Tokyo to find my father. The opening of The Golden Compass , for example, creates an immediate sense of danger in describing a world where people in powerful positions plot and poison.
For instance, if your paper is about preventing school violence, a shocking statistic about the number of school-violence cases would be appropriate, since it suggests a need for prevention. A quote describing the economic cost of school violence would not be, however, because the paper is about prevention, not economics.
No matter how good the quote is, it would be misleading to your audience. Give necessary background information. Although you can assume your instructor knows the background of the issue or event you are writing about, show that you know it as well, and set the stage for a compelling essay, by providing necessary background information. If you are arguing that one army was better prepared than another during a certain war, you may want to explain why, where, when and between whom the battle was fought.
You might even give a definition of what you consider preparedness. Do not use this section as a place to add unnecessary length, but include information that makes your paper easier to understand.
End your introduction with a thesis statement. An academic thesis statement should include a topic, claim and supporting details in this order. The thesis explains to your reader what the paper is about and how it will be organized. Because an expository essay is generally the answer to some exam question or assignment prompt, the thesis should be an answer to that question, using some of the same structure and key words.
For instance, if the question is, "Do standardized tests accurately measure student progress? Why or why not? She is completing her M.
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