Post History

Exposition is a problem for movies, because movies, generally, do not have a narrator. The audience sits and watches events unfold. But if the story needs the viewer to be aware of events that would be tedious to watch unfold, they have to be told to the viewer somehow in the context of the events that they are watching unfold. Thus the concern in the movies with how to do exposition. 

Exposition is not a problem in novels because novels always have a narrator. That narrator is always able to provide information on events that have not been portrayed directly. The issues for exposition in a novel are:

1. Determining what needs to be said. Often the writer wants to include more exposition that is actually needed. If the reader does not need to know it to follow the story, leave it out. 

2. Determining when to say it. Exposition has no inherent tension in it, so it can't hold the reader's attention for long by itself. But exposition in the right place can create tension because of how it affects the things that the reader already cares about. Thus the big lump of exposition of the history of the ring at the Council of Elrond is effective because it makes us see the peril facing Frodo, Sam, and company in a whole new light. In that position it adds tension. Had it been placed in a prolog, it would not have done so. 

This does not mean that you can't place exposition in dialogue in prose. Of course you can. But there are additional things to consider with expositor dialogue. Would the speaker actually say these things in this way at this time? (In the case of the Council of Elrond, clearly yes.) Is there something else going on in the scene at the same time? Is every other character really just going to stand by and let one character talk for pages? Maybe in some cases, but generally that would indicate an insufficient level of tension among your players. Other characters cannot cease to be themselves or to act like themselves, just so one character can spout exposition.

But exposition is a novel is not a technical problem. There is always a narrator and they can always narrate exposition is needed. If you are having an issue with exposition, it is either because you are saying too much or you are saying it at the wrong time. 

Not that LOTR does not tell us what the ring even is until part 2 of 6. Can you imagine most aspiring authors today having that kind of patience and forbearance? No, they would want to tell us what the ring was by the bottom of page two. And it wouldn't work, because we would not care then.