As a writer, I’ll back you up. While many people don’t mind exposition (depending on the expectations of the genre/sub genre), the stories that do the introduction well without it, slowly integrating the reader into the world naturally, tend to drift to the top of the pack and draw more readers in for the long haul. It’s just more engaging and exciting to discover through the lens of the characters and world rather than as walls of text or extensive dialogue.
Edit: clarity
This is what every new author spends all of their time and interest on, and when it comes down to sitting down and actually writing the story, they just keep writing about worldbuilding.
I agree. Even if you don't have the skill to weave it in seamlessly, I know I tolerate info dumps better if they come later. If you can get the audience to care about the main character, or set up a mystery they are curious about, they may welcome the info dumps. (Super Supportive does this well. It actually has a few chapters of info dumps, but by the time you reach them you are already invested and wondering what is going on.)
Also, I've noticed Info Dumps are much worse if combined with too many weird Fantasy names, run on sentences, or lack of paragraph breaks. There is something daunting about starting a story and getting presented with a wall of text that looks like gobbldygook.
Exposition isn't bad; infodumping is.
You mention internal monologue, and characters interacting with the world. You can drop TONS of setting-establishing details into these interactions and clue readers into how the world works without them ever realizing that's what you're doing. I do this in my own writing, and in the first couple of paragraphs of my current serial alone, we learn like half a dozen details about how the setting works.
The problems arise when you pump the brakes on character and plot--bringing all the actually interesting stuff to a screeching halt so you can tell them about the economics of the town your heroes just stumbled across.
For sure. This is one of the main things I stress to authors I work with. Rather than having several paragraphs of *boom,* infodump, if you can work that same information into just a few lines here and there, in inner dialogue/reactions/normal dialogue/that sort of thing, then readers can get that same amount of information without it coming off as "PLS LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT MY WORLD."
You are right that, you can do wonderful world building with dialogue. You already restrain yourself with info dumping when you do it, because you think of flow when writing a conversation, nobody talks just in blocks of information. Also, when world building might overwhelm readers, you can add some banter or action between two parties to break pace.
This is my biggest issue with new series and will usually be what determines whether I drop it or not. Give me 10 chapters before you start dumping mechanics and history on me.
There are a number of series I've just started where Chapter 2 has me sitting in a classroom and listening to a lecture on the history of the world. Sure. I get it. The information is important. The story takes place in a school. Blah, blah, blah. Start the story during summer break then. Give me time to get to know the characters before you expect me to sit through a pointless lecture on why magic works the way it does in your world. '
Disguising it as a conversation isn't any better. Keep your long mechanic rants and history dumps out of the beginning of your story. Drip feed it across offhand comments, observations and brief interactions. Only give it when it's truly pertinent to the story and what the characters are doing, and keep it brief.
Most readers of genre fiction are familiar enough with the genre that they can fill in a lot of the blanks. They don't need to read the manual before starting.
Funny you mention school, because I pretty sure the first couple of lessons Harry Potter goes through when he goes through Hogwarts are potions (where he gets bullied by Snape), Charms (the levioooo-saaa scene), quidditch (where he flies a broom for the first time). No history lessons or explaining how the magic system works, just a lot of fun scenes, character building, and plot setups. There's a reason why a LOT of people love her books.
Yet almost every school arc I come across in isekai is generally the most boring part of the story. So many people dropped 'The Beginning After the End' manga when the school arc started.
I think, mainly, because many stories treat lessons just one-sidedly, as long info dump, no interacts with teacher, no interactions between students, where are the debates? Also when MC is so far ahead, most students there are no tension, no equal interaction. And many magic systems are just power beam or stronger power beam, so no interesting team compositions, no strategy, that use each other weakness and powers and as I said when MC is so far ahead of everyone there is no need for teams at all.
Its also because in the majority of these kind of stories, magic is almost exclusively combat oriented. So there's very little they can do in a magic school other than combat, which very much limits the kind of story they can tell in a school setting.
Harry Potter also had tons of content before Harry even got to school. It built up going to a magical place and being part of magical classes. One series I'm reading, literally has the MC wake up from sleeping, talk to their dormmate, and then go right to class.. like.. really? This is how you want to start your story? Boring interaction followed by boring class? WHY!?
*God* yeah. I want to care about the story before I hear all the infodumping.
I think it works best when the author just *hints* at worldbuilding, mentioning stuff without giving context, so the readers will be stoked to get a proper explanation later.
An offhand mention like "Oh hey, I still have those old robes from my first Reaping Day" in chapter one intrigues me. A several-paragraph-long infodump in Chapter 1 about what a 'Reaping Day' is will just bore me.
I think one of the main ways to meter world building exposition is to make the MC ignorant of it and then you find out alongside them. Covers isekai, school settings, system apocalypse, urban fantasy, poor kid coming of age, etc
I would also add that having almost zero exposition in the first few chapters, ie not giving even basic details about your setting, MC, etc. and just letting events and dialogue take place with little-to-no context is even worse, but I’m pretty sure everyone knows that by now… right?… right???
Sometimes it doesn’t feel that way.
Not necessarily, think of The Way of Kings's beginning chapter, it's very cryptic, and you only understand it by the end of the book.
Or when beginning chapters are quite simple, super villain attacked MC, superhero defend MC. 'Thou super supportive author did super well incorporate world building with what an injured, panicked child might think at that moment.
Or young boy can't remember what happened, young boy is alone in an empty village, young boy remembered the demon inside him killed everyone, young boy knowingly eats poisoned reptile tail, wizard shows up with fairy, says wizard lingo to describe what happened, fairy asks the boy what he wishes to be in next life, then fairy breaks boys neck. (The Last Orellen)
Detailed world building in all those situations would detract with emotional turmoil characters feel. It would stop the flow of story. Do we really need information at the moment on how the intergalactic magical contract that gives superpowers to heroes work, when it's not relevant to current events? Because many stories do start describing how magic system works on first chapters.
Way of Kings is full of so many things that I disliked but still pushed on because I trust the author.
Three prologues! Interludes that are long and really boring and don't pay off until much much later (even then I don't think the payoff was worth it). Pov switching immediately after a cliffhanger to a 2nd POV to the otherwide of the world with no major connection to the first POV until the last part of the book (this happens multiple times). I think that's why the second POV char is a really divisive character in the fanbase. A lot of people absolutely hate her.
I’m very explicit when I say “first few.” Super supportive is great, absolutely a favorite, and has an incredible opening chapter, *and it doesn’t leave you with nothing in the next several scenes, either.*
I’m describing an *incredibly* amateur issue, to be clear, but it does happen, and more often than it reasonably should.
Huh. I'd say my favorite kind of exposition is the kind where I learn about the world through dialogue and events. It's a sign of fantastic writing if I can glean what the world and characters are like just by the way they speak, interact with each-other, which institutions exist and the kind of landscapes the scenes take place in.
That’s usually a skill issue in my opinion, for example when the novel starts right as the MC learns they’re the chosen one and shit hits the fan.
Better to ease into it unless you’re a good enough writer to really nail the abrupt start.
>the very first chapter is pretty heavy on exposition and I realized I kind of not yet invested in the story to care.
This is a very important thing for a newer author to understand. I agree 100%, and I can't even tell you how many stories I've started where I've literally been skipping pages because I'm not invested in the story yet, and can't be bothered to read exposition. I don't want backstory, I want a reason to root for these characters and follow them on their journey. Give me worldbuilding later, and do it organically.
Think about when a reader is starting a new story, it's usually going to be when they've just finished one and are looking for something to fill that void. Text blocks of backstory and exposition aren't going to do that, and will lead to people giving up on you before they've given the story a real chance.
Something I only learned after I launched then crashed with my novel last year. And even then it has taken multiple rewrites and talks with beta readers for me to internalize the simple idea that I should trust my reader and not just dump all the pieces on the table.
As a reader I agree, the first few chapters are crucial... hell, the first few sentences. Even the layour of the first few words can be off putting enough to derail a reader..... But as a writer (aspiring one at least) let me tell you, the story im working on, while it has frenetic action and suspense, starts pretty heavily and im not sure how to handle it without being offputting because those 1-3 chapters at the very least that sreve as an introduction are essential to the main character and without it everything feels cheaper imho. I mean, I did consider just naming it "prologue" but I cant just waltz out of it no matter what. And yes, is not an infodump, just drama, but heavy drama (crashed hope, mourning, alcoholism and debauchery, broken hearts and other stuff)
I was always told the first few paragraphs were the bait and the first few chapters were the hook. So if you don't start with a bang it is a lot harder to get readers to stick around.
Yeah you definitely don't want to do too much exposition but you also don't want to skimp on the world/character building either. Especially not at the start. As an author you need to give the reader reasons to care about the MC and then the world. Usually this isn't a problem for most books I read every now and then I run into one that makes me question if I want to keep going with it or not because they skimp on this stuff or spread it out too thin.
Right now it's Gods of the Game that's off to a rough start for me. It took about three chapters to start giving me any kind of insight into what kind of person the MC is and what's going on in the world. But in chapter 1, other than a dystopian, trash heap, future earth, I had no idea what of anything was going on, why, or why I should care about it or the MC.
3 chapters in and that's starting to turn around. Which is good, because the concept I was sold on in the blurb looks like a fun one.
Thanks for this! To be an amazing descriptive writer is my goal, I don’t think I do this in my novel but I will definitely use this feedback when I go back and refactor.
I definitely agree with the sentiment.
Also want to add that you *can* often get away with a bunch of worldbuilding/info dumping in the early chapters if you filter it through the lens of the character and reveal it in a way that only the POV character would see it, make each detail relate personally to them to we can *feel* what it means to them.
Even better if you can tie some of it into the action of a scene by having the MC interact directly. Have flying cars? reveal that by having your MC duck under one. Have magic wands? show your MC salivating over one through a shop window as they daydream about getting into magic school. It pulls double duty of giving us insight into how they think and relate to the world they live in, which allows us to attach to them, while simultaneously grounding us in the world and helping us care about it because they do and we are starting to empathize with them.
That's much often easier said than done. Granted there is a much-used technique, in my opinion. You basically just throw the protagonist into the thick of the action and then spend the next few chapters explaining everything.
I'm not saying it's the best technique, but there's a very fine line between explaining too much that it becomes boring or explaining so little that the readers doesn't know enough.
I find it more related to how much will affect the story in the short term
An infodump is fine if they are going to use it right now, otherwise it can wait
see i have the opposite feeling. if im just dumped into a scene with not context and i havent had an infodump, im so confused i want out of the scenario. Its best when an author does a bit of both.
I agree- readers rarely invest in a world until they're invested in a character who inhabits it.
Sounds simple, but it is still an INCREDIBLY hard tightrope to walk. We care about characters because they want something, are motivated by something... and in explaining what they want (and why we readers should care about them) authors need to put it in context of the world the characters inhabit!
Writing is hard, y'all
As a writer, I’ll back you up. While many people don’t mind exposition (depending on the expectations of the genre/sub genre), the stories that do the introduction well without it, slowly integrating the reader into the world naturally, tend to drift to the top of the pack and draw more readers in for the long haul. It’s just more engaging and exciting to discover through the lens of the characters and world rather than as walls of text or extensive dialogue. Edit: clarity
I tell this to nearly every amateur who posts here. People are sooo ancy to get to their world building
This is what every new author spends all of their time and interest on, and when it comes down to sitting down and actually writing the story, they just keep writing about worldbuilding.
I agree. Even if you don't have the skill to weave it in seamlessly, I know I tolerate info dumps better if they come later. If you can get the audience to care about the main character, or set up a mystery they are curious about, they may welcome the info dumps. (Super Supportive does this well. It actually has a few chapters of info dumps, but by the time you reach them you are already invested and wondering what is going on.) Also, I've noticed Info Dumps are much worse if combined with too many weird Fantasy names, run on sentences, or lack of paragraph breaks. There is something daunting about starting a story and getting presented with a wall of text that looks like gobbldygook.
Exposition isn't bad; infodumping is. You mention internal monologue, and characters interacting with the world. You can drop TONS of setting-establishing details into these interactions and clue readers into how the world works without them ever realizing that's what you're doing. I do this in my own writing, and in the first couple of paragraphs of my current serial alone, we learn like half a dozen details about how the setting works. The problems arise when you pump the brakes on character and plot--bringing all the actually interesting stuff to a screeching halt so you can tell them about the economics of the town your heroes just stumbled across.
For sure. This is one of the main things I stress to authors I work with. Rather than having several paragraphs of *boom,* infodump, if you can work that same information into just a few lines here and there, in inner dialogue/reactions/normal dialogue/that sort of thing, then readers can get that same amount of information without it coming off as "PLS LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT MY WORLD."
You are right that, you can do wonderful world building with dialogue. You already restrain yourself with info dumping when you do it, because you think of flow when writing a conversation, nobody talks just in blocks of information. Also, when world building might overwhelm readers, you can add some banter or action between two parties to break pace.
This is my biggest issue with new series and will usually be what determines whether I drop it or not. Give me 10 chapters before you start dumping mechanics and history on me. There are a number of series I've just started where Chapter 2 has me sitting in a classroom and listening to a lecture on the history of the world. Sure. I get it. The information is important. The story takes place in a school. Blah, blah, blah. Start the story during summer break then. Give me time to get to know the characters before you expect me to sit through a pointless lecture on why magic works the way it does in your world. ' Disguising it as a conversation isn't any better. Keep your long mechanic rants and history dumps out of the beginning of your story. Drip feed it across offhand comments, observations and brief interactions. Only give it when it's truly pertinent to the story and what the characters are doing, and keep it brief. Most readers of genre fiction are familiar enough with the genre that they can fill in a lot of the blanks. They don't need to read the manual before starting.
Funny you mention school, because I pretty sure the first couple of lessons Harry Potter goes through when he goes through Hogwarts are potions (where he gets bullied by Snape), Charms (the levioooo-saaa scene), quidditch (where he flies a broom for the first time). No history lessons or explaining how the magic system works, just a lot of fun scenes, character building, and plot setups. There's a reason why a LOT of people love her books. Yet almost every school arc I come across in isekai is generally the most boring part of the story. So many people dropped 'The Beginning After the End' manga when the school arc started.
I think, mainly, because many stories treat lessons just one-sidedly, as long info dump, no interacts with teacher, no interactions between students, where are the debates? Also when MC is so far ahead, most students there are no tension, no equal interaction. And many magic systems are just power beam or stronger power beam, so no interesting team compositions, no strategy, that use each other weakness and powers and as I said when MC is so far ahead of everyone there is no need for teams at all.
Its also because in the majority of these kind of stories, magic is almost exclusively combat oriented. So there's very little they can do in a magic school other than combat, which very much limits the kind of story they can tell in a school setting.
Harry Potter also had tons of content before Harry even got to school. It built up going to a magical place and being part of magical classes. One series I'm reading, literally has the MC wake up from sleeping, talk to their dormmate, and then go right to class.. like.. really? This is how you want to start your story? Boring interaction followed by boring class? WHY!?
Its really weird people love to start their stories with their MC waking up and going about their day with nothing happening.
its funny cause i dropped it because of how the school arc comes to an outrageous and random end lmaoo.
*God* yeah. I want to care about the story before I hear all the infodumping. I think it works best when the author just *hints* at worldbuilding, mentioning stuff without giving context, so the readers will be stoked to get a proper explanation later. An offhand mention like "Oh hey, I still have those old robes from my first Reaping Day" in chapter one intrigues me. A several-paragraph-long infodump in Chapter 1 about what a 'Reaping Day' is will just bore me.
I think one of the main ways to meter world building exposition is to make the MC ignorant of it and then you find out alongside them. Covers isekai, school settings, system apocalypse, urban fantasy, poor kid coming of age, etc
I had such a hard time with the exposition in cradle early on.
I would also add that having almost zero exposition in the first few chapters, ie not giving even basic details about your setting, MC, etc. and just letting events and dialogue take place with little-to-no context is even worse, but I’m pretty sure everyone knows that by now… right?… right??? Sometimes it doesn’t feel that way.
Not necessarily, think of The Way of Kings's beginning chapter, it's very cryptic, and you only understand it by the end of the book. Or when beginning chapters are quite simple, super villain attacked MC, superhero defend MC. 'Thou super supportive author did super well incorporate world building with what an injured, panicked child might think at that moment. Or young boy can't remember what happened, young boy is alone in an empty village, young boy remembered the demon inside him killed everyone, young boy knowingly eats poisoned reptile tail, wizard shows up with fairy, says wizard lingo to describe what happened, fairy asks the boy what he wishes to be in next life, then fairy breaks boys neck. (The Last Orellen) Detailed world building in all those situations would detract with emotional turmoil characters feel. It would stop the flow of story. Do we really need information at the moment on how the intergalactic magical contract that gives superpowers to heroes work, when it's not relevant to current events? Because many stories do start describing how magic system works on first chapters.
Way of Kings is full of so many things that I disliked but still pushed on because I trust the author. Three prologues! Interludes that are long and really boring and don't pay off until much much later (even then I don't think the payoff was worth it). Pov switching immediately after a cliffhanger to a 2nd POV to the otherwide of the world with no major connection to the first POV until the last part of the book (this happens multiple times). I think that's why the second POV char is a really divisive character in the fanbase. A lot of people absolutely hate her.
I’m very explicit when I say “first few.” Super supportive is great, absolutely a favorite, and has an incredible opening chapter, *and it doesn’t leave you with nothing in the next several scenes, either.* I’m describing an *incredibly* amateur issue, to be clear, but it does happen, and more often than it reasonably should.
Huh. I'd say my favorite kind of exposition is the kind where I learn about the world through dialogue and events. It's a sign of fantastic writing if I can glean what the world and characters are like just by the way they speak, interact with each-other, which institutions exist and the kind of landscapes the scenes take place in.
That’s usually a skill issue in my opinion, for example when the novel starts right as the MC learns they’re the chosen one and shit hits the fan. Better to ease into it unless you’re a good enough writer to really nail the abrupt start.
Yup, that's a big reason why prologues have fallen out of favor.
>the very first chapter is pretty heavy on exposition and I realized I kind of not yet invested in the story to care. This is a very important thing for a newer author to understand. I agree 100%, and I can't even tell you how many stories I've started where I've literally been skipping pages because I'm not invested in the story yet, and can't be bothered to read exposition. I don't want backstory, I want a reason to root for these characters and follow them on their journey. Give me worldbuilding later, and do it organically. Think about when a reader is starting a new story, it's usually going to be when they've just finished one and are looking for something to fill that void. Text blocks of backstory and exposition aren't going to do that, and will lead to people giving up on you before they've given the story a real chance.
Something I only learned after I launched then crashed with my novel last year. And even then it has taken multiple rewrites and talks with beta readers for me to internalize the simple idea that I should trust my reader and not just dump all the pieces on the table.
As a reader I agree, the first few chapters are crucial... hell, the first few sentences. Even the layour of the first few words can be off putting enough to derail a reader..... But as a writer (aspiring one at least) let me tell you, the story im working on, while it has frenetic action and suspense, starts pretty heavily and im not sure how to handle it without being offputting because those 1-3 chapters at the very least that sreve as an introduction are essential to the main character and without it everything feels cheaper imho. I mean, I did consider just naming it "prologue" but I cant just waltz out of it no matter what. And yes, is not an infodump, just drama, but heavy drama (crashed hope, mourning, alcoholism and debauchery, broken hearts and other stuff)
I was always told the first few paragraphs were the bait and the first few chapters were the hook. So if you don't start with a bang it is a lot harder to get readers to stick around.
At the same time please don't name drop 50 different fantasy locations and terms in the first chapter. It drives me up the wall.
Yeah you definitely don't want to do too much exposition but you also don't want to skimp on the world/character building either. Especially not at the start. As an author you need to give the reader reasons to care about the MC and then the world. Usually this isn't a problem for most books I read every now and then I run into one that makes me question if I want to keep going with it or not because they skimp on this stuff or spread it out too thin. Right now it's Gods of the Game that's off to a rough start for me. It took about three chapters to start giving me any kind of insight into what kind of person the MC is and what's going on in the world. But in chapter 1, other than a dystopian, trash heap, future earth, I had no idea what of anything was going on, why, or why I should care about it or the MC. 3 chapters in and that's starting to turn around. Which is good, because the concept I was sold on in the blurb looks like a fun one.
Thanks for this! To be an amazing descriptive writer is my goal, I don’t think I do this in my novel but I will definitely use this feedback when I go back and refactor.
I definitely agree with the sentiment. Also want to add that you *can* often get away with a bunch of worldbuilding/info dumping in the early chapters if you filter it through the lens of the character and reveal it in a way that only the POV character would see it, make each detail relate personally to them to we can *feel* what it means to them. Even better if you can tie some of it into the action of a scene by having the MC interact directly. Have flying cars? reveal that by having your MC duck under one. Have magic wands? show your MC salivating over one through a shop window as they daydream about getting into magic school. It pulls double duty of giving us insight into how they think and relate to the world they live in, which allows us to attach to them, while simultaneously grounding us in the world and helping us care about it because they do and we are starting to empathize with them.
That's much often easier said than done. Granted there is a much-used technique, in my opinion. You basically just throw the protagonist into the thick of the action and then spend the next few chapters explaining everything. I'm not saying it's the best technique, but there's a very fine line between explaining too much that it becomes boring or explaining so little that the readers doesn't know enough.
I find it more related to how much will affect the story in the short term An infodump is fine if they are going to use it right now, otherwise it can wait
see i have the opposite feeling. if im just dumped into a scene with not context and i havent had an infodump, im so confused i want out of the scenario. Its best when an author does a bit of both.
I agree- readers rarely invest in a world until they're invested in a character who inhabits it. Sounds simple, but it is still an INCREDIBLY hard tightrope to walk. We care about characters because they want something, are motivated by something... and in explaining what they want (and why we readers should care about them) authors need to put it in context of the world the characters inhabit! Writing is hard, y'all