: Re: Avoiding the "as you know" trope in exposition When writing fiction, especially in universes other than our own such as sci-fi/fantasy genres, the reader often has to be given a piece of information
Two additional techniques...
Character Reaction. A character might react in a way that reveals some of the information:
"Mother! What the heck are you doing here?"
Now we know that the person who just entered the room is the character's mother.
Disagreement. You can have characters argue about it. They might disagree about:
The facts
The meaning of the facts
The significance of the facts
What to do about the facts
"Really, Jeff? You invited your mother? On our honeymoon?"
Now we know the the person who just entered the room is Jeff's mother, and that Jeff and the speaker are newly married and on their honeymoon.
With both of these techniques, the idea is to give some character a reason to react, perhaps strongly. The reaction reveals information to readers and viewers.
There are likely other kinds of reactions that can help.
EDITED TO ADD techniques for everyday, mundane information in response to user568458’s comment.
(I realize my examples below are not screenplay examples. Adjust as necessary to make them observable.)
If the thing is truly everyday and mundane, consider what makes it so. It's precisely this: You don’t have to think about it. You don’t have to interact with it. You don’t have to even notice it. It’s just there. It just works.
These essential features of mundanity suggest some additional techniques.
Interaction. Give a character a story reason to interact with it. If the interaction is mundane, the audience will pick up on the mundanity of it.
Chaz downed the last of his coffee, stuffed the baby into the transporter, kissed his wife goodbye, and headed out the door.
Decision. Make the mundane thing a factor in some decision the character must make.
Chaz downed the last of his coffee and squinted at the baby transporter. He glanced at his watch. Not enough time to drive the baby to the learn-o-vat and still get to the Hair Emporium in time for his Pompadour appointment. So he stuffed the baby in the transporter, kissed his wife goodbye, and headed out the door.
Break it. An everyday thing is mundane only as long as it works. If you break it, the character will at least notice. If it’s important, the character will react to it, and perhaps interact with it.
Chaz downed the last of his coffee, stuffed the baby in the transporter, and kissed his wife goodbye. As he reached for the door, he noticed the baby’s shoe still in the transporter. That was odd.
Specialist. Introduce a character whose vocation is to make sure mundane things remain mundane for everyone else. Plumbing is mundane… unless you’re a plumber. And it's less mundane to the plumber because the plumber must interact with it, must deal with the specific details of this specific plumbing.
Omit it. Finally, an easy, always-available option for avoiding info-dumps: Omit the information. If nobody has to interact with it, if nobody has to deal with it, if nobody has an opinion about it, if it doesn't affect any characters' decisions, then it doesn’t matter to the story. If it doesn’t matter to the story, leave it out.
More posts by @Murray831
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