D vs. E

Well everyone, welcome to NaNoWriMo week two.

In keeping with our Back to the Writing series, this week's topic is...

VS

In every post this week, I'm going to take two things relating to writers or writing and discuss as many angles as possible in the hopes that we'll be able to reach a conclusion on which thing is better — or at least on which thing is better for each of us.

Today?

Dialogue vs. Exposition

I've talked a little bit about this in the past, but I'd like to go a little more in-depth with it today. Straight to the point, let's look at which one is the better one to use in which situations.

1. Dialogue

There are two main things you need to know about dialogue.

#1: Dialogue almost always points to the characters, to their knowledge, and to their mindset and emotions.
#2: Dialogue can very easily become a crutch for writers, when we'd rather have our characters talk about it than simply explain it.

2. Exposition

Again, two main things you need to know.

#1: Exposition almost always points to setting, to what's going on around your characters rather than what's going on inside them.
#2: Exposition can quickly become a crutch for writers, when we'd rather explain it than allow our characters to tell us what they think about the situation.

See how quickly those two related to each other? 

That's because in reality, they're intertwined. It's incredibly difficult to have a story with no dialogue and all exposition. But it's also incredibly difficult to have a story with no exposition and all dialogue. I won't say it's impossible either way, but it's difficult and most of the time annoying for your readers. So unless it's what you feel most called to do, I don't recommend it.


Instead, you'll want to aim for something right down the middle.

See, here's what you really need to know about dialogue and exposition:


When you're writing, you're writing with the intent of someone reading it. That means you're writing to someone. You want them to be immersed in your story and to see it as well as you do, which means you'll want them to get to know both what you're characters are like on the inside and what they show on the outside, what's going on inside their heads and what's going on around them.

Get it? 

We need both dialogue and exposition, working in unity together, if we're ever going to achieve good storytelling.

While many writers sit and argue over which one is better, what we should be doing is learning to master both so that we know how to write our stories from every possible angle, so we don't get caught in the crutches of either exposition or dialogue.


That's the real truth. They're both a crutch. But when they're working together, they're a set of legs.


[love]

{Rani Divine}