Servants of the two leading families in the city, the Montagues and Capulets, feud in the streets.In Romeo and Juliet, the exposition is actually fairly long, even longer depending on where you put the inciting incident (Freytag puts it earlier than I would, but then, Freytag has a different way of thinking about story structure): Here are a few examples of exposition in literature: Example: The Exposition in Romeo and Juliet Think about how this works well in the story as you recall the exposition literary definition-how it establishes the Shire, the tone for the novel, and the quaint setting that will drastically change once Bilbo leaves home. Most exposition is just two or three scenes, and sometimes it’s just half a scene.įor example, in The Hobbit, there are just a couple of pages of exposition before Gandalf shows up and invites Bilbo on an adventure. Since stories are about change and values in conflict, the exposition, which contains no change, is necessarily quite short. How Long Is the Exposition in Most Stories?
In dramatic structure, the exposition occurs at the beginning of the story and is meant to set up the inciting incident, which is a moment where the action kicks off in the story. Rising Action/Progressive Complications.Where Exposition Fits in the Dramatic StructureĪt The Write Practice, we talk about the six elements that make up dramatic structure. Knowing the origins of the exposition literary definition can help you purposefully use exposition in scenes structuring your story. Synonyms for exposition, in storytelling, include introduction (used by Freytag) and sometimes hook. In the same way, in a story, the exposition can be the place where the theme and the main ideas are fist stated. An exposition is the first section of a fugue or sonata form during which the main melodic themes are introduced for first time. The music world gives us clues as to what is happening in an exposition, too. The combination is helpful to understanding to what is happening in the exposition of a story: the setting forth of a display, like how an author brings forward the pieces of a story, including the characters, the setting, and the key details of the plot before the story truly begins. The word exposition originates from two Latin words expōnere, meaning “to display,” and expositio meaning “a setting forth.” While we will focus on how exposition works in a narrative in this article, the term is also used in music, marketing (expo), and academic, expository essays, where it relates to a comprehensive argumentation for a theory or idea. It is relatively short, and no major changes occur. The exposition is a set of scenes in a story that are meant to introduce the audience to the characters, world, and tone of the story. Click here to get The Write Structure ($5.99).
#EXPOSITION MEANING IN A STORY HOW TO#
If you want to learn more about how to write a great story, by mastering storytelling musts like the exposition literary definition, you can get the book for a limited time low price. Note: this article contains an excerpt from my #1 best-selling book The Write Structure, which is about the hidden structures behind bestselling and award-winning stories. In this article, I’ll define exposition, talk about how it fits into the dramatic structure, give examples of expositions from popular novels, plays, and films, and then give a few tips on how to use the exposition best in your writing.
How do good stories start? In the middle of the action? With a slow buildup to the action? What would you say really is the literary definition of exposition, and how can knowing it help you write better stories?Įxposition is a literary term that deals with how to start a story.
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