Bringing Balance to the Force

You know what's really tempting to use as an easy way to get information across? Exposition.

You know what's really hard to do right? Exposition.

Exposition is the parts of writing where you're conveying information that the reader needs that isn't necessarily moving the story. A lot of world-building is exposition, especially in fantasy, where the world is entirely original.

'Vil'kes'man'a'tha is a quiet, unassuming hamlet set at the foot of the Ominous Mountains, home to 537 dwarves, who toil away day and night mining unobtanium for the evil King Bastardface the Comically Cruel, who ascended to the throne five years previous upon the death of his father, King Notsonice The Jerk...'

That kind of thing. Sucks to read, doesn't it? It's a huge barrier to why so many people don't like fantasy (inconceivable!); just paragraphs of description and detail *insert coughing fit that sounds like 'Lord of the Rings'*, but so much of the time, it's information that the reader needs for that most precious of storytelling elements: context. Who? What? Where? All important questions that need answering.

The trick is to do it little by little, doling out information as necessary through dialogue and actions. This is why it's so common to use a cypher character who knows as little as the reader does (Frodo) who has everything explained to them by someone who does (Gandalf), thereby telling the reader.

So what if you don't use a cypher character? From the Ashes of Victory starts in media res, from the POV of characters who already know what's going on (Millie), or someone who has to learn, but is divorced from any actual answers (November). So it was tricky to get the world they inhabit across. November establishes that there is super-powerful magic that exists by stopping a bullet, but it's Selene who has to explain Manifests to Millie (the reader). November is just confused and terrified by what she does.

Millie learning about Manifests is exposition. But I did it over two scenes, where we see everyone at ADAM's reaction to what November did, then the next morning when Millie finds out just what it was that happened over breakfast (with a hangover). In that case, Millie acted as a cypher character, because she was just as lost as you, the reader, but for the majority of the rest of the book, she is anything but. Her relationship to Elise was the same way: how do they know each other? Why can't Millie say how she feels? Is Elise even interested? What's so special about a kind, empathetic, caring, gentle, beautiful, warm-hearted French girl anyway?

But magic itself? Drips and drabs. Millie lights a candle, witchlights, Ivy's tea is weird, that Selene and Ivy are way older than they seem, there's little hints here and there. That too is exposition, just delivered very differently. And well, I hope.

Midnight Magic was different. I had to get a bunch of info out up front (magic types, why Vimika is poor if she can do magic, etc.), and I think I managed a nice balance between being engaging and getting across what I needed to. One of the problems is that the book is really short, and without context, Aurelai's situation makes no sense, necessitating a bunch of stuff being presented up front. Only then could we get to the kissy parts. But this is one of the tricky balances of fantasy romances. You're building the world and the characters' relationship at the same time, and you can't put either of those things off.

So, I'm writing Book IV of a series, how can there be any exposition left? Because a bunch of stuff happened between III and IV, and I have to decide what is important enough to tell you immediately, and what can wait to come out later. It's really tempting to just vomit the Cliff's Notes version of everything you missed, but then you would fall asleep and never get to the the super [REDACTED] ending!

This is one of the things I'm really grinding away at right now, so that's why it's top of mind at the moment, so I just thought I'd put together a little writing explainer and a hint at what to expect in the next book at the same time.

EDIT: I can't spell my own character's name right.