Okay guys! I know that its late. I know I could have pushed it off till tomorrow and posted then. But I just couldn’t wait any longer. I had to get this post done and up because I was so excited about this post. I will still have the next one on time tomorrow. I’m just glad that my computer is almost all the way fixed. Shout out too my Dad for helping me try to fix it. Shout out to my Mom for taking it to a professional. And Shout out to that professional who knew what to do and how to save all my files! Here we go!
Secrets of Plot: The Exposition Part 3
So here we are at the last part of the exposition. The final and last element of the exposition is by far the hardest to remember, the easiest to include, the most important part, and my favorite. Your exposition should always introduce the story.
Every novel is a story and so it needs to be introduced at the beginning of the book. I know this sounds crazy but stick with me here. I’m a Tokyo Ghoul fan so I’m going to use that as an example. In the manga and the in the tv series we meet Keneki Ken. We learn that he’s in college, his best friend is Hide (bless his soul), and that he’s a book lover. We also learn that he’s single which is important later. Keneki falls in love with a girl at his favorite coffee shop who also loves the same books as he does. After talking to her a few times, he manages to convince her to go on a date with him. He’s super excited. Hide is excited for him. He goes on a date and it turns out that his girlfriend is actually a ghoul. A human eating monster and she intends to eat him. Sadly *cough cough* she gets killed and the doctor accidentally (or *cough* not accidentally *cough*) turns Keneki into a ghoul. #nospoilershere. Sounds like a real story. However, in the manga (I don’t know about the movie I didn’t watch it that closely) the story of his life in college and meeting the girl he likes takes up quite a bit of the beginning of the story. That wouldn’t really be that interesting of a story except for one small thing.
Ghouls are mentioned early on in the story.
At one point in the early part of the novel you see a TV program with a ghoul researcher who gives us a lot of the ghoul information that we know in the first half of the story. You learn that Hide is slightly interested in ghoul theory. Keneki and Hide briefly discuss ghoul theory in one of the chapters. Without these sections of the story, the foreshadowing of the future, the beginning part of the novel would be about a simple kid in college. And who would want to read a book titled Tokyo Ghoul about a kid in college and his love life.
The introduction of the ghoul details is the introduction of the story. This is the exposition.
I know that if you aren’t really familiar with a lot of stories then this concept is really hard to grasp. But think about it for a minute. Think of some of the best stories that you have ever read. Does the author introduce the story at the beginning of the book? Does the author foreshadow details about the world or important future events? This part of the story is crucial. If the story, the main plot, is not introduced early on then what’s going to keep your readers reading? Are they going to be bored?
When you’re writing a book, I know that sometimes it’s easy to forget that your reader does not know what is coming next. They don’t know what future, life changing event your character is heading towards. They see what you show them. They see a college kid named Keneki Ken who likes to read and who has a cool friend. Where’s the story?
It’s hard to remember that your character has a story that your reader doesn’t know about. Once you remember though, it’s one of the easiest things to remember to add to the book. But without it your novel would be so boring that no one would want to read it. But I love reading a book and trying to find signs of the story at the beginning of the novel. One of my favorite things is finding new places to hide little details about the story.
The story is the hardest to remember, the easiest to introduce, the most important part and my favorite thing to add to the exposition.
So next week I am going to start into the next part of the story. Conflict: The Problem. As with Exposition: The Introduction, this section will be split up into several different blog posts with different titles. Hopefully you are still willing to tune in next week. Don’t forget to scroll to the bottom of the page and subscribe, follow me on social media, share with your friends, and contact me! As always,
Get Up, Get Writing, and Get Published. See you next week!