Post History

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/20213
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

 **As you may know, Thomas** , there was a question quite similar to yours put by KeithS a little while ago: [Avoiding the "as you know" trope in exposition](https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/19416/13531).

There were several answers including mine which boiled down to the desperate need to _introduce more drama into the explanation or we're all gonna die!_ The drama could be in the form of character conflict ("Why the hell should I believe you about magic, Pete, after what you've just told me you did?"), literal conflict in which correct understanding of how magic works is necessary to fight then and there, or the need to make a difficult decision based on the main character's new understanding of magic.

I stand by all those points in general, but maybe you don't want any more drama or conflict right then. In that case I'd like to put in a word for the sheer pleasure of hearing the solution to an intellectual puzzle that has been built up throughout the story until that point. Detective stories are powered by this. If you take this tack, it's not Pete's explanation that has to change, but the earlier chapters. Have the main character wrack his or her brains earlier on for _why_ that curse rebounded so disastrously. Describe step by step his or her earlier failed attempts to find an explanation, or to track down this mysterious "Pete" who some said could explain the mystery.

Original score: 18