As You Know... (Why) You Shouldn't Use 'As You Know'

One of my pet peeves I come across in writing is something you may not have even noticed for how prevalent it is. Authors I respect and whose work I enjoy do it, so I'm likely in the minority. But today I want to rant talk about using the phrase "As you know" in dialogue.

Characters telling other characters things they already know (and prefacing it by telling them they already know!) bugs the crap out of me. It's so forced and unnatural. Look, I get it. It's a way to get information to the reader that they need for the plot to make sense. In movies it's more forgivable because we don't have access to the character's thoughts. But having a character say "As you know" is just straight-up the author talking.

Why does it bug me so much? Because it undermines the character saying it! I do not for a minute subscribe to the idea that dialogue should sound 'how people actually talk' (have you ever tried to transcribe a conversation you've had? It's awful to read), but telling someone something they already know and telling them they already know it makes the character sound like an idiot. It's too unnatural.

I understand why it's done, I've been tempted to on more than one occasion (after time jumps in the From the Ashes of Victory series, if you'd like to know when). It's a simple, direct way to deliver exposition through dialogue, which many believe is superior to doing it through prose. Fine. But at what cost? Maybe you don't think about it, but I do! One of the main characters in the Ashes books, Victoria, is a doctor of physics. She's brilliant, and to stuff those words in her mouth would make her sound... dumb. It would compromise her. I am not her, and she is not me, I won't make her a worse character by speaking through her that way.

And even if you're not worried about how it reflects on your characters, you can still be wasting an opportunity! You can sacrifice a little efficiency for insight.


Try this:

"As you know, Princess Haughtypants hasn't responded to any attempts to get her under control, and the Council is worried about the future of the kingdom."

Versus:

"The Council still has grave concerns over Princess Haughtypants' demeanor," Conspirator Man said.
"Still?" Protagonist replied. The Princess was a legendarily selfish brat, spoiled beyond a turnip left in the sun for two weeks, and half as smart. "Have none of their attempts to rein her in made any progress?"
"Unfortunately not."


There! See? That shows more character and still gets the same information across! Two for one! More words, but way more information.

I know it's not as easy as I'm making it out to be, and not every situation can be addressed like this cherry-picked one I made up specifically to help make my point. Sometimes you just need to get the info out and move the f*ck on. I get it. I've done it. I'm not saying you're bad if you do it. I just wanted to address something I notice and tie it in to where my priorities lie when writing dialogue. I'm a character-first writer, plot comes second (or later), so this kind of thing is important to me.

So just remember to keep your characters in mind when balancing your exposition dumps, and how it might reflect on them. As you (now) know, someone out there is watching for it!

P.S.

There's also the famous example of this from the first Mortal Kombat movie, where a character starts a conversation by saying "Remember when our parents died" to get that information to the audience. It's legendarily terrible dialogue, but is it really that much worse than "As you know"?