Whats your thoughts on heavy exposition/prolouges?

[leusyth]

I noticed while reading the first chapters of some webcomics theres huge amounts of exposition explaining the world up to the point where the actual story begins. Do you like this type of exposition early on,or prefer it later?

Personally, i dont think it's the best idea to dump a bunch of information about the world on the reader when the reader doesn't have a reason yet to care about the world or its characters. I think its more satisfying to get attached to a character or world before knowing the full story of how they got there,because then i actually want to know. But i understand where people are coming from when they write that way, everyone wants their readers to know all about this world they've put so much work into,and i'm a little guilty of this myself. I wrote in a flashback of my main characters meeting before the story actually began, but i fleshed it out as an actual scene and not an unknown narrator telling the audience how they met. Still,i could have saved myself some work by starting the story where the good stuff starts.

I like to think of it this way: starting to read a webcomic is like diving into a pool. Youre going to annoy the reader if you make them wait before diving in so you can explain how you built the pool and how deep it is. Let them swim!

[feardeer]

I gotta admit, I judge these kind of intros pretty harshly. If a comic starts with a big infodump like that, I probably won't keep reading. I'll either move on to the next story, or skip (or heavily skim) the exposition if I feel like giving the comic a second chance. I can think of several instances where the rest of the comic has been great, and I think they'd have an even bigger following if they had a better intro.

Be more creative with your introductory pages. Give me a hook not a history lesson.

[Mari]

I hate it. A couple sentences is okay to preface something if you HAVE to do it, but anything with million boxes of text goes into the nope pile for me.

[fakey]

I agree that it's not very effective when the reader has zero reason to care. I think the best approach is to get the readers attached to the characters and then through the natural progression of the story we learn more about the world. It can be through the use of a "fish out of water" character who is asking questions because they aren't familiar with the world or it can be done naturally just by showing how the characters naturally behave in their environment.

I guess I'm speaking mainly from the perspective of writing comics. You could add a lot of interesting details into the backgrounds to explain things to the reader. I can't say for sure what would be best for a novel though. All I know is exposition dumps are best avoided.

[Jenny-Toons]

I can't really get into those types of prologues. The ones that give more details than allowing the readers to find out for themselves, especially with world building.

For me, I think a nice prologue is one that sums up past events or events happening help introduce the story. Maybe one or two pages (if not an introduction chapter that gives readers an idea of what to expect). That way, your're able to jump into the story and then maybe refer to those past events.

For example, one of my stories starts out with my character confessing to her crush. It's only two pages and then the cover pops up to start the story. And from there, we will see what happens. I think that's a good prologue because it gives an idea of what happening and the cover appearing before the next page says "time has processed and this is the result"

[ConradComics]

The way I look at it is that a heavy exposition filled prologue is a viable and valid literary method of introduction, but it's old, outdated and overused. It's for beginners, which is what some of us are on here.

There are more advanced tools to use; like say a prologue that follows the day in the life of an introductory character to show us the world, and we should move on to those techniques as we grow as writers. We can do better. We have the technology, so to speak.

So, I really just look at heavy exposition filled openings as coming from an inexperienced writer and go from there.

Now to clarify, I'm only this lenient with webcomics, webstories. If I see this from a mainstream published booky-book, then yeah; I'll probably drop it like a bad habit.

[xanedis]

Also, instead of a info dump, how about a little mystery? You could start the story with a letter from one person to another, and have that letter be about a central theme of the story. Or go on a limb and put a torn hand on the first page(just throwing ideas on the page here - don't take that literally, even if that's what I just did). Create questions instead of answers. That will keep the readers reading.

Be sure to give more and more answers as the story goes on, but also continue to ask even bigger questions. The prologue should ask the question that makes your reader invested in the story. Otherwise, the prologue might as well be irrelevant.

EDIT: Also, let it be remembered that "showing without telling" should be a central piece of any writer's mentality. The more you can show without telling it in words(in webcomics, this can be told through expressions, choices and actions), the better. This is what makes ANY story better. But IF you think you can pull that exposition-heavy beginning, then you should still go and do it, no matter what anyone says. However, listen to the critique afterwards, so you can do it even better... If that is your way of doing things.

I also wish to apologize if I sound conceited and condescending. It is not my intention, I've just had to learn some of these things by heart, is all. I wish you all a happy day!

[dawgofdawgness]

If you have to explain things directly to the reader, just write a novel...
Also, the show don't tell rule is a biggie.

[liquidlilium]

I think prologues (both for novels and comics) are good if they're:

a) really short (and don't risks boring the reader before they get to the chapter)
b) a funny/interesting/suspenseful etc. chapter in their own right
c) completely optional, more like a mini encyclopaedia the reader can go back to at any time (and you can't have it at the back of the book if you upload chapter by chapter)

If a story starts with an obligatory info-dump I will probably skip it.

I don't think prologues are in any way necessary for a good comic or novel. But they're not bad either if you do them right^^

[Kann]

I think the best way of telling readers about your world is to let them gradually learn about it. Like, small bit of information here and there instead of lots of it in the beginning. Some people might forget whatever they read in prologue few chapters later and you can't expect them to remember every exposition like that, especially if they're reading a lot of other series.

I probably missed out a lot of great series because info-dump in the beginning was too much for me.

[SoFt]

If you have to explain things directly to the reader, just write a novel...

I hope you're not suggesting that writing = explaining things directly to the reader . It allows for greater insight into the characters, certainly, should the writer choose an omniscient narrator. But there's certainly nuance to it. "Show, don't tell" is an important maxim in storytelling regardless of the medium.

'Cept maybe oral tradition, I s'pose.

[dawgofdawgness]

Lol I guess I was thinking of one of those "quirky" YA novelists that do weird things like
"if you're reading this.. put the book down. it's not a good book"

yuck

[Zugaikotsu]

I think is the best way of turning me away from a story forever. When you show bit by bit, with context and good characters, the reader will have a better grasp of the whole ambience better than a wall of text at once.

[SoFt]

Ooooohh. Yeah, I hate that crap x) . That's not so much exposition as it is breaking the fourth wall. It can work, but only if executed carefully. And the ones that tell you not to read the book/watch the movie/unfurl the sacred scrolls are just annoying.

To address the question of the topic, exposition is the difference between writing "Everyone respected Jon Johnson because he was the fanciest prancer in the land" and writing scenes wherein characters regard Johnson with awe and reverence until, inevitably, he is shown prancing like no one has ever pranced before.

As I write, I try not to engage in pure exposition unless the topic being explained is both important, but not able to be expressed "visually" for a while. Even then, I try to put it off. The goal is to avoid having the characters explain at length something that they should already know very well. The narrator shouldn't explain anything other than what's happening, what things look like, and, if omniscient, what the characters are feeling.

Regarding prologues, I think they're fine, but they should be brief; a prologue is by definition a story external to the one you're supposedly trying to tell. If it's long enough to stand on its own, you've just written a prequel before the first story is even out .

[KSlinger]

Not a fan. Feels bad but I just move on from work like that. It's not what I came there for, you know?

[storytimebiondi]

Somehow these intros just remind me of the juvenile writing-gasam that was the Eragon series. The film was super bad for that kind of a reason. Since then I find them to be a big turn-off.

[joannekwan]

My advice is if you have to include so much information, introduce it to the audience gradually. Take documentaries for example. A lot of them will start off with their subject matter just doing something in their day-to-day lives. You get to learn about their personality, it gives something for the audience to hold on to. Then once the subject is established can you go into their backstory and history.

[Chroma]

I think anything in writing can be entertaining if done well. And I believe that can be applied to exposition and especially prologues. I won't really talk about prologues, cause if we got done to it, there are a ton of really good prologues out there. But exposition is a bit trickier to make fun. However, this has been done, too. Exposition isn't inherently bad, just difficult to execute.

But I can prove that exposition at the start of a story can be done really well! And, for added challenge, I'm gonna do it by showing one that follows the "show don't tell" rule and one that breaks it (because sometimes you HAVE to tell, and not show Gasp! It's true)

Now one movie that gives an exposition dump without straight up telling you what's happening:

Ba-boom! I think everyone who saw this movie loved the opening segment of this film. But teeeeechnically it's a big ol' exposition dump. You flash through their lives, get a ton of info about them that applies later in the film and they do it all...silently. Very well done.

But sometimes, especially in the sci-fi genre, you just kind of...have to tell the audience everything:

And I'll be darned if this isn't one of my favorite info dumps in the world. It does not get much more info-dump-ier than this, but this is absolutely necessary. Otherwise, the opening segment of A New Hope just is a little...weird. Who are these dudes in weird hats? Why are they fighting these other dudes? Who's the guy in the black suit? Who's the girl? The info dump is necessary, but they make it fun with lively music and fun space backgrounds.

But uh...I guess you can't do that with comics, so....probably stick with Up for inspiration on good exposition.

[DiegoPalacios]

I believe the first seconds are vital. You want to blow their minds/ hype them/ touch their hearts/intrigue them/ give them a sense of wonder as soon as you begin. Before explaining (or while explaining), you must make them want more answers.

Of course it is easier said than done, but is completely worth it.

[Kura]

I... I actually really like reading comics with these.... ;_; I'm usually very interested in the world I'm going to be expected to invest in.

As long as they are limited to only maybe 1 or 2 pages, 3 tops, and also if it's NOT just ONLY a page of text, I would like images depicting an idea of what's being explained.

That being said, I really only find them necessary in explaining to me the world in a way that should be common knowledge to the characters in the story. Like "In this world 80% of people have super powers called ---" because unless a character is doing a narrative to the reader (which I'm not really that big of a fan of) it would be really stupid for characters to explain to other characters something that everyone should know by everyone from pretty much the day they were friggen born. It's just... fking dumb.

Also, I would much rather have an info dump than an 'info dump character' hoooooolllllyyy sshhhhhhhhittttttttt