Everyone knows that there is a lot more to the world and characters than what is actually shown in the book. How do you get important information from the past into the story without bogging down the flow of the book? One of the most common ways is to have two characters discussing what has happened. The only problem with this is that if the two characters already know, why are they discussing it? This isn't natural. The trick is to have a character introduced that doesn't know. Then this character can be told. The other thing to keep in mind is not to throw it at the reader all at once. Exposition is important information but not always the most exciting.
Though I love the movie THE GREAT MUPPET CAPER, don't do what they did.
Lady Holiday: [Lady Holiday gives Miss Piggy the entire backstory for the movie]
Miss. Piggy: "Why are you telling me all this?"
Lady Holiday: "It's plot exposition. It has to go somewhere."
Thats a great example. Good information. How do you feel about flashbacks to do it as well?
ReplyDeleteI think that flashbacks are fine. One of my all time favorite books, THE WAY OF KINGS, has a lot of flashbacks in it.
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