Exposition, Description, and Dialogue: How to Find the Balance

[@jjstuartonwriting8150]

I know this video is from three years ago, but what about first person point of view. Does this ratio still apply if it's a story about a single character vs nature for example, and would internal monologue constitute as exposition or dialogue, as he/she isn't really speaking to other characters, but rather thinking with the voice in their head. Thank you in advance if you see this and could give me a quick reply. Loved your video.

[@pjzitaconquercancer5729]

Hi Caitlin, Thank you for an excellent explaination in how to balance dialogue, description and exposition in a story.

[@ignitedinkwriting8746]

You're so welcome!

[@geminiwriter8875]

Thank you so much for this. Very straight to the point, yet pushes what I know forward. I’m in writing college but my tutors don’t actually explain this but mark my pieces down on too much of one.

[@ignitedinkwriting8746]

Well I'm happy to fill that gap in your education. As an editor, it's my job not just to say what isn't working, but to help authors fix it and improve their skills for the next piece.

[@twilight_lupinesilva4691]

Is more white space really a good thing? I've been told that one-liners or paragraphs that are no more than three lines in length are bland or don't really do a whole lot, and that it's better to be more descriptive at times. Do you really need to give each character talking their own paragraph, or can you have two different people talking in the same one? I have a question about dialogue too. If you have two or three characters talking, how do you 1: make it clear who is talking, and 2: balance text with little mannerisms? On the second one, I know that these little actions can really show how someone is feeling or give an insight into their thoughts, but if 2 or 3 people are talking, I feel like it can be jarring for dialogue to be broken up with "she groaned as she tilted her head back" or "he yelled while throwing his arms up".

[@ignitedinkwriting8746]

Yes, white space is a good thing when it comes to dialogue. It gives your reader's eyes a break and makes the scene feel faster. Short paragraphs of description/narration are what the people who told you that were referring to, not dialogue. It is really confusing if you don't switch paragraphs every time a new person speaks. The industry standard is to start a new paragraph. To make it clear who is speaking, start a new paragraph when a new person speaks, create clear character voices, use speech tags, and use use action tags. I have a whole video on speech and action tags called "Why Speech Tags Should Be Avoided in Creative Writing" at kzbin.info/www/bejne/bnmzkqRpm9V5l9E

[@Captain-mz6mg]

I slightly disagree. Dialogue can definitely be used to quickly deliver information.

[@ignitedinkwriting8746]

I didn't say it couldn't. Just because exposition can be used to quickly deliver information doesn't mean it's the only way to deliver that info. However, if you're using dialogue to deliver information, make sure it's something your characters would actually talk about. Two experts in their field aren't going to explain or state the basics to one another, but they might share the basics with a student or child.

[@Captain-mz6mg]

@@ignitedinkwriting8746 makes sense. I was kind of just being dumb when I said that. It’s kind of implied that dialogue can explain things.

[@ignitedinkwriting8746]

It's not dumb. It's good to think critically. I didn't have time to go into all the things dialogue can be used for in this video, but I do have other videos on the subject.