Definition
Exposition is any information in your narrative that provides context: character histories, world rules, relationships, past events, and setting details. Every story needs some exposition, but how you deliver it is one of the most important craft decisions you'll make. The term also refers to the opening phase of a traditional plot structure, where the situation and characters are established before the inciting incident kicks the story into motion.
Why It Matters
Exposition is where most beginning writers get into trouble. You know your story's world inside and out, and you want the reader to know it too - so you dump three pages of backstory before anything happens. The challenge is delivering information the reader needs, exactly when they need it, in a way that doesn't stop the story cold. Mastering exposition is mastering the art of invisible craft.
Types of Exposition
Famous Examples
The 'Long-Expected Party' chapter delivers enormous amounts of exposition about hobbits, the Shire, and the Ring's history while keeping the reader engaged through Bilbo's birthday chaos.
Exposition about the pre-pandemic world is delivered through memories, objects, and conversations, never through a narrator explaining what happened.
Herbert distributes complex political, ecological, and cultural exposition across the entire novel, trusting readers to piece together the world gradually.
Common Mistakes
Never stop the story to deliver a lecture. If you have a paragraph that starts with 'The history of the kingdom began when...' and goes on for a page, break it up and distribute it.
Characters should never tell each other things they both already know purely for the reader's benefit. If it feels unnatural, find another delivery method.
Readers don't need to understand everything upfront. They need enough to follow the current scene. Trust that curiosity will carry them forward.
There's a balance between too much and too little. If beta readers consistently say they're confused in the first few chapters, you've probably under-exposed.
Try It Yourself
Take a piece of complex information your reader needs to know - a character's traumatic past, a political situation, or a world's rules - and write it three ways: as a direct narrator explanation (3-4 sentences), as a dialogue between two characters, and as an environmental detail the character encounters. Compare the three. Which feels most alive? Which one would you actually want to read?
The Story Bible keeps all your world details and character backstories organized so you can pull out exactly the right piece of exposition when a scene calls for it.
Know your world inside out, reveal it inch by inch
Novelium's Story Bible stores everything about your world, characters, and history in one searchable place. When you need to weave in a detail about the magic system or a character's past, it's right there - so you can focus on how to reveal it, not on finding it.