“I don’t have to explain how important this is, Proton,” said the President of Earth, “but I’m going to anyway for reasons of exposition.”
— Star Trek Voyager
What if I gave you a maxim you could use to identify good exposition?
A sentence that’d immediately tell you if your exposition is working or not… that’d be pretty sweet, right?
I will, but first lets start with how exposition goes wrong.
Bad exposition is the answer to a question not yet posed. Imagine if I’d just told you the maxim, instead of teasing it first, you wouldn’t feel invested or intrigued, you’d just be like “cool”.
But as you read through this article and try to figure it out, it’s satisfying to finally get the answer.
That’s one way to hide exposition.
Make it satisfying.
The ultimate example of satisfying exposition is a whodunit. The entire point of the show is to find out that one bit of exposition, that’s how rewarding it is. And when you find it out, especially if you guessed it, it’s satisfying as shit.
A great example of this is the Matrix.
After an insane prologue we’re left wondering what the hell happened as the world gets crazier and crazier for a full half hour. Then by the time we’re sat in a chair with Morpheous we’re on the edge of our seats as he info dumps at us. That is amazing writing.
Imagine if they’d begun with the infodump? Would that be as fun to enjoy, would you feel as invested in the world? Would hearing how it works be a hit of that sweet, sweet dopamine in itself? No.
Invisible exposition.
This is amazing when done well, the way to make it invisible is to inculcate it into the script.
Instead of us opening with
“Hey, so I heard you had an affair Jeff, how was it?”*
We could instead lead with…
Jeff sat down at the table with a heavy thud. Tired, he noticed a dark red smudge on his collar. Yesteday’s lipstick.
“What’s that?” Julie asked.
“Nothing,” Jeff lied, “Just some red wine.”
Bingo bango exposition tango.
The audience gets a little boost, they’re like oh shit my man’s having an affair, and I figured it all out by myself. I’m a motherfucking drama detective.
But what about people like M in James Bond?
Ah yes, the character in a spy thriller that exists purely to deliver exposition. It’s a convention in spy thrillers, so audiences kinda just give it a pass. An acknowledgement that, cause of the genre, knowing all this shit early will pay off big time later. That’s the power of genre.
Similarly in other genre’s where a lot of exposition is required, like Fantasy or Sci Fi, audiences will be a touch more forgiving of clunky exposition. Think of this like an overdraft, yeah you have a little more leeway than normal, but you never want to have to use it. Well woven exposition, especially in the genres that need lots of it, is a huge factor in the quality of your writing.
Of course, just because it’s a convention of the genre, doesn’t mean it wouldn’t be EVEN BETTER to have your exposition meet the two above rules. M neutrally telling bond the only vulnerability he his opponent has is his left eye, that’s fine. M telling him during a training montage of him failing to snipe the eye on a target from 100m, that’s entertaining in it’s own right.
This is why heist movies, like Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol, often have the exposition delivered whilst a hypothetical version of the heist is played out. The exposition is nigh invisible as a backdrop to fun heist stuff.
Another thing you’ll often see is the newbie to this world. This is basically just a device so it makes sense for characters to explain shit to them as an audience surrogate. This is most used in very different worlds, like Brave New World or Harry Potter. This makes the exposition a natural part of the conversation and their character development.
The easiest way to think of invisible exposition, is double duty. If something is exposition, but also serves another role: providing subtext, building tension, or giving the audience that sweet, sweet action. Then that’s some seriously good stuff.
Yeah that’s all good, but you promised me a maxim…
Your exposition is like your genitals, keep it hidden, unless people really want to see them.
If you scrolled down here for the maxim, it’s a three minute read: scroll up.
*I know you’re probably laughing but I’ve read dialogue exactly like this.
The Fellowship Of Ink 
My preferred method of exposition is by sneaking it into the story, just like how I hide my dog’s medicine in a lump of meat. I fail most times though, so it’s great to see the other techniques you’ve shared. Thanks for this post!
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I used to hide pills in bits of banana for my dog too haha
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