Little Sally
Say, Officer Lockstock, is this where you tell the audience about the
water shortage?
Lockstock
What's that, Little Sally?
Little Sally
You know, the water shortage. The hard times. The drought. A shortage so
awful that private toilets eventually become unthinkable. A premise so
absurd that -
Lockstock
Whoa, there, Little Sally. Not all at once. They'll hear more about the
water shortage in the next scene.
Little Sally
Oh, I guess you don't want to overload them with too much exposition, huh.
Lockstock
Everything in its time, Little Sally. You're too young to understand it
now, but nothing can kill a show like too much exposition.
You couldn't be more right, Officer Lockstock, and the rule applies to books as well!
Ever start reading a chapter or passage and you find yourself swimming in a sea of details? The author makes the easy mistake of over-describing the scene and all you want to do is get to the next "good" part, the drama.
What most readers do next is skim the page, in irritation or some other sort of negative feeling. This is absolutely what you as an author do not want. This negative feeling will forever be associated with your book in their minds. Especially, when they go to write a review.
Worse, it could carry over to you as an author.
The reader might take one look at who the author is of some book they happened to stumble upon and see your name there and immediately that negative feeling creeps back in. They start to think maybe that's your writing style in all your books. Yikes!
I'd be willing to bet, more often than not, they'll breeze past your book eager for a more positive experience. And let's face it, that is typically why someone chooses to read in their spare time. They want to escape for a little while. But who can escape when they're stuck reading two pages about the same meadow, house or how Little Sally is feeling in that moment?
Already, by this point, you might start to wonder when I'm going to get to the advice part, right? Well, without further ado, I give you my 4 easy steps to avoiding too much exposition.
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1. Write your rough draft with all that exposition. Include every tiny detail until you're satisfied and sure there isn't any possible way someone could not picture what you're picturing.
2. Read the passage for yourself as if you are a reader NOT an author. If you have to, print the page(s) and read it the next day or after you've had a chance to turn off your writer's mindset. **
3. Read the passage again, but this time turn your writer's mindset back on. Think about what parts bothered you as a reader and highlight them. If you didn't print out the passage and you're reading on your computer/laptop, DO NOT delete just yet. At least not permanently! **
4. Read the passage a third time, omitting the highlighted sections (If you're on your computer, I would recommend using the dark gray color so it's easier to skip over). How did the passage read? Feel? Did you still get the concept of what you were trying to convey? Probably. And you got it in less words! Now, go ahead and delete those highlighted words. I know, scary, but it must be done!
**If you're in steps 2-3 and you can't find anything to highlight, ask someone else to read it for you. Ask them to highlight parts of the passage that they feel are redundant or is just too much explanation. Try not to give them a hurt or angry look when you get it back. :) Now, move on to step 4.**
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As writer's, every single time we write, we have to try to remember that our readers are intelligent beings. They can create the scene just as well as we can. They can get the gist of what kind of person your character is by the things they say, their little quirks or the decisions they make.
We can't be so controlling over our story, no matter how much we want to, because we're inviting readers in. We're asking them to go on this journey with us and so we have to allow them to use their imagination as well! It's part of the fun of reading. And by relinquishing some of this control, you will be giving your readers those positive feelings, so that when they see your name on a book they won't even have to read the summary on the back or in the description box to know that they're going to LOVE this book just like they loved the last one!
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I truly hope this post helped you in some way :)
Happy Writing My Peeps!
~Melissa
Happy Writing My Peeps!
~Melissa