EXPOSITION - Terrible Writing Advice

[@hunterkiller1440]

Let's dedicate the first half of the story to mind numbing information and end the second half of the story with mindless action that contradicts the information we've learned in the first half.

[@johnathonhaney8291]

So...Batman V Superman?

[@joesmutz9287]

The modern Disney school of writing

[@SirProud]

Genius

[@aokhoinguyenang3992]

Like Mahouka or any harem light novel

[@friendlyspacedragon7250]

Nothing better than a massive infodump followed by the story ignoring whatever info there was because the world needs to conform to show all the cool stuff MC does.

[@notoriouswhitemoth]

I'm not going to get a better opportunity to point this out: David Lynch's 1984 film adaptation of scifi classic *Dune* begins with an obtuse exposition dump. The book begins with Paul Atredies' mother contemplating the ethics of genetically and socially engineering her son to be a messianic figure.

[@CowToes]

Perfect.

[@FractalComputer]

The latter half of the 1984 Dune movie was just torture

[@AdrianArmbruster]

Apparently some theaters just handed out a pamphlet with the names of planets, a few concepts, and a pronunciation guide

[@hellacoorinna9995]

*cough* "David Webber Honorverse *cough*

[@wesleythomas7125]

Not many space adventure stories start in Sunday School and discuss why having a computer is a Mortal Sin. Gotta give ol' Herb that one...

[@peronafanman]

Man I feel so nostalgic thinking about the first time I watched a Terrible Writing Advice video. You see, it all started in the Summer of 2020....

[@louisduarte8763]

I was there, Gandalf. I was there 3,000 years ago.

[@vincentfegley6068]

It sure as hell felt like it

[@Row_of_E]

I know that this is a joke, but this was actually the time when I first found TWA myself (my first video was the Killing Characters)

[@GeekNewz]

Cough* (Deap elderly voice) Prolog: It all started in the summer of 2020 but the true beginning was a year before when to covid started, a few thousend people died, so the united goverments of the world decided to prevent the freedom of the people and made them prisoners in their own house. In the summer of 2020, this situation has not changed and many people were busy on the internet and such, so was our protagonist. One day at 1am, the protagonist was lying on the bed, they were bored and had no clue of what to, so they opened the 'You Tube'. A site that uses the internet to deliver videos and ads to the people. The protafonist whatched many videos until they reached an interesting channel, it was a channel ran by a cinical writer who animated simple and short video explaining how not to write. The channel's name is Terrible Writting Advice. Chapter 1: 20 years during the fourth invasion of the north, the protagonist was trapped in a dark room, remenicing the last time something like this has happened...

[@solsystem1342]

Ah yes. 1 DC (during covid). I remember that young, naive time where we thought the whole world would come together to stop the spread of a deadly pandemic... just as soon as we all agreed it actually existed...

[@James-ud3ns]

When I wrote my first book, at some point early on I felt I needed the characters to be taught how the aliens learned to travel through space. My early drafts just had the usual paragraph exposition, but I revised it and later on realized I just didn't care. So I made a character who also didn't really care explain it. I got to half ass the explanation and develop a side character. I can save the real explanation for a better time.

[@cam4636]

"Golly gee, how did the aliens learn to travel through space?" "Magic. Anyway--"

[@WhiteFangofWar]

'Your puny human brain would not comprehend it.'

[@gunslingergirl2579]

@@WhiteFangofWar I read that in Brain's voice.

[@taffyrukite]

"Bruh, now every single person of that species has to know how every single technology they have work? Is my first thought when i see humans asking them how rocket science work?" "... Specieist" -a very tired alien who has been asked how their space travel works one too many times

[@77professional]

Can we just appreciate how tight and interesting the exposition was at the start of Lord of the Rings: the Fellowship of the Ring movie? If you have it, just watch and be impressed by how much important information you get without it overstaying its welcome. I also appreciate how they go back and fill in gaps later when needed instead of the massive info dump courtesy of Gandalf in the book.

[@johnathonhaney8291]

Also, shifting the explanation of the Nazghul to Aragorn from Gandalf makes better thematic sense, as Aragorn shares the Ringwraiths' status as a "fallen king".

[@objectivelyacat3873]

In the book Gandalf was imparting information to Frodo that was vital to his quest, items that weren't common knowledge in the world and that Frodo was ignorant of. It made sense in the context.

[@goldenhorde6944]

My go to example of good exposition would be Inception, even when it's just infodumping everyone stays in character and the way it actually delivers information still builds on their archs, like in the cafe dream where it actually connects dreambuilding to Ariadne's experience with art and inspiration and Cobb seems to be genuinely fascinated with the power of the mind, or later when Ariadne summons a real-life bit of Paris and gets stabbed by Mal, it highlights her inexperience and idealism while also showing how terrified Cobb is of losing himself to the dream world again.

[@zappodude7591]

I don't mind the "info-dumps" in the books that much, since they're always told by a character in a context that makes sense. At the end of it they're just another story, told in the same way Tolkien tells any present events. It's actually a clever way to do non-linear storytelling, and at least for me it's a refreshing contrast against a lot of modern novels which feel like they're trying too hard to be movie scripts.

[@derpydood]

Helped that it felt more like a short story than an info dump. You got to see this stuff happen instead of just have a character talk about it. It was entertaining, and you got enough background information for the main story.

[@RocketPillow]

This video came out right in the nick of time. Just cut out a page of exposition dedicated to a character that dies in the first chapter, and then put it right back in after watching this video. As a writer, you think you put in a lot of stuff that needs putting out, but of course, the truth is that you're just being way too critical and doubtful about yourself. You can't make mistakes. Everything you put down on the page is obviously meant to stay for good! Thanks for the amazing writing advice.

[@Gabriel87100]

I've been writing, erasing and rewriting the same novel for years now out of fear of always committing the same mistakes in TWA.

[@orngjce223]

​@@Gabriel87100 At some point you just need to bite the damn bullet. Put the story away somewhere and don't touch it. Then write a second one. Then once you have written the second one, come back to the first one.

[@RocketPillow]

@@Gabriel87100 In all seriousness, I recommend simply finishing a draft. It feels good to finish, and it's a positive achievement in the long run. I've been in the same loop as you. When you're writing, erasing, rewriting, erasing, that's usually a sign your story won't ever be made unless you just forget about committing any mistakes, and simply write the story. There's a reason there's a first draft. It's not there to stay. You'll edit it after you've finished writing it, so instead of worrying about what to edit in the now, just get creative and write down everything in your head, no matter what happens to it later down the line in the next three or so drafts.

[@Summer-sx7xl]

@@Gabriel87100 Finish it then edit it. Don’t forget that you don’t need avoid everything that he says, so long as you are writing a fun and interesting story

[@TheDawnofVanlife]

@@Gabriel87100 Think of these videos more as tools for critical analysis then mine fields to avoid. Sometimes you need to write that information dump in the first draft for yourself. To understand your story. Then you go back and refine. Or get a trusted 2nd or 3rd party to help you find the bits that just aren’t necessary. We all grew up with tropes, we will all write a few. And something isn’t bad just because it’s a trope, it’s really a matter of wielding the right weapons for the right story.

[@tskmaster3837]

JP fails to bring up a good point about Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy's exposition- it's Counterexposition. It's not there to explain anything. It's there to break up the flow of the story so you don't notice the author just pulled a "and that was that. Moving on..." to the plot. "Turns out that mice creating the Earth as an experiment... ha, irony?... to solve the universe isn't as funny as you thought it'd be? Have a flashback within a Guidebook entry so you can get out of the plot and into another plot you can back out of so you can get into another plot so..."

[@xavierwagner3238]

Me hearing greeds monolog: OH no he's complex and eloquent! He's nothing like the TWA universe at all!

[@SomeGuy-gc8zs]

This is part of what makes isekai and hidden world/masquerade stories so popular, I imagine. Good exposition is easy when the protag is a fish out of water, because they will naturally inclined not only to ask questions or need things explained to them, but to have primarily *relevant* information given to them.

[@PengyDraws]

Isekai stories are popular because exposition doesn't need to exist, every world functions in the exact same way and thus you can get to the boobs and wish fulfillment instantly

[@wulle8509]

@@PengyDraws Also, most of the time exposition is still dumped on you, when ever there is a chance. The protaganist beeing unfamiliar with the setting is just an excuse to go on an info dump.

[@canaldecasta]

@@PengyDraws writers best tool: Bewbs

[@solus1247]

@@wulle8509 This is the kind of part I hate about most isekai. The protagonist is lost in an unfamiliar and alien world where everything is different. It's the perfect opportunity to have them explore it and gather exposition in their own way without having it dumped onto them. But the info is still just dumped onto them in the same way with no personality.

[@DanielSmith-mp4le]

@@solus1247 I agree completely, between that and most of them being nothing but a naked power fantasy with nothing else to them, I have kind of had a falling out with the genre.

[@planetbob6703]

(Opening Crawl) *Somehow* the evil emperor from the previous trilogy has returned without any foreshadowing or explanation

[@bluestar4408]

I unironically love the Sponsorship Wars! I am so excited for new episodes.

[@nicole7884]

Also I love how you wrote a mystery intrigue war political thriller comedy with your sponsorships

[@Asenueh]

In crime procedurals, the leader of the protagonists, you know the one, the one with no discernable expertise in forensics or criminology, serves as the stand-in for the audience to the technical aspects explained to them by the experts on the team; delivering the exposition AAAAAAND explaining the purpose of the "leader" trope.

[@ruggiebuggie3195]

I can understand 'not enough exposition' being a problem, but what's worse than that is TOO MUCH. I can trust a writer to try to give me exposition in small bits until they can be peaced together to something coherent later. That CAN sometimes be annoying, but not as eye-rolling as EVERYTHING being force fed to you all at once and NOTHING in the story making sense unless you have all the back story you weren't even there to see carved into your brain.

[@pendragon0905]

It was exactly the problem with the Star Wars Sequal Trilogy. The Original Trilogy struck a balance between worldbuilding and character-development, the Prequal Trilogy focused a little too much on worldbuilding (which I personally enjoyed, nevertheless), but the Sequal Trilogy DIDN'T have any kind of worldbuilding at all, let alone decent character-development.

[@ineednochannelyoutube2651]

Too much is a common complaint, but the process you're describing is actually better than nothing being explained at all, which is usually too little exposition.

[@dbsommers1]

If you explain too little it seems like you're just making things up and a helping of deus ex machina. They are both equally bad.

[@akl2k7]

@@pendragon0905 Yeah, this is all an excellent observation of what happened with Star Wars. All of the background information for the sequel trilogy had to be found by using secondary sources (novelization, visual dictionary, etc). The PT had a bit too much, but at least we knew something about the world and whatnot. When VII came out, people thought the Republic planet blown up was Coruscant (though I'm pretty sure the system name was dropped. The incredibly stupid way of them somehow seeing the destruction from across the galaxy didn't help, though. Almost as if new reports didn't exist in the Star Wars galaxy. Plus, acting as if the entire Republic was blown up, even though it was just its capital). It was almost as if they were afraid of saying anything.

[@goldenhorde6944]

My go to example of good exposition would be Inception, even when it's just infodumping everyone stays in character and the way it actually delivers information still builds on their archs, like in the cafe dream where it actually connects dreambuilding to Ariadne's experience with art and inspiration and Cobb seems to be genuinely fascinated with the power of the mind, or later when Ariadne summons a real-life bit of Paris and gets stabbed by Mal, it highlights her inexperience and idealism while also showing how terrified Cobb is of losing himself to the dream world again.

[@stevemc01]

China: “wtf is this? You’re stealing our s***.” Literature: “so?” *The Great Wall of Exposition*

[@misterzygarde6431]

I personally like the exposition dump provided in Undertale's intro

[@ascendedcat260]

Also how the intro ties into the climax and the arguably most emotional moment in the game. Plus I love the exposition dump in Asgore's home. You still have freedom of movement and can explore the house- a near-exact replica of the home you were taken into at the start of the game- while all the enemies you encountered thus far tell you the story (that undyne was going to tell before she says "SCREW IT", which is also a really great subversion of the sudden info-dump trope) to a really amazing song, giving it a sort of "how far you've come" feel to it while also giving the exposition. The genocide version also does this with a completely different tone and mood, and... -god i just love that game-

[@Paragon13]

I’ve been a self-proclaimed writer for over a year now (though I only recently got good at it so I’m still basically a novice). How I’m gonna handle exposition is as follows: Main character spent their formative years in a dystopian land. In other words, not knowing anything about the outside world. This means they will ask questions that the reader may also have (but I’m hopefully gonna keep it limited to relevant things, not like “oh when was Rodrick Ballscratcher the Third’s outdoor lavatory built?”). Second book sees a different protagonist exploring different lands, a perfect opportunity for world building with some lore thrown in every so often. It’s gonna be multiple books long, assuming I actually finish any. (Bloody procrastination). So no need to rush through exposition or condense everything into one or two books. Plenty of the lore will tie in to the main focus, depending on what focus there currently is (not every last bit, but on occasion. Maybe “plenty” is an exaggeration). To top it all off, I have a glossary of sorts for jotting down notes and ideas. If released publicly, it would be pretty much ideal for those that want *all* the information. (The damn file got corrupted but thankfully I remember most of the stuff in it). Edit: Nearly forgot to mention that I made a historical timeline, meaning there’s room for prequels and spin-offs. That opens the door to having the exposition being spread out. In other words, the main series has the compulsory exposition while the spin-offs provide extra historical exposition.

[@zappodude7591]

Robert A Heinlein's juvenile novels from the 60s were actually pretty smart about this. The main plots were pretty concise with minimal harping on tech and lore, but each chapter started with a short anecdote from the world's history usually related to and expounding on an important technology. They were almost entirely irrelevant, but did a lot for the setting's character and you could easily skip them if you wanted to.

[@sarahvunkannon7336]

I also like how Victor Milan did exposition in his Dinosaur Lords trilogy. Each chapter started with an entry from an in-universe encyclopedia of all known things, and which entry was chosen had to do with the content of the chapter. If a specific dinosaur was going to be appearing, there would usually be an entry describing that dinosaur. If the powers that be appeared, the entry would describe what and who these powerful beings are. If nothing particularly new was happening...time to break out the entries that hint at an overarching history that the readers will find very interesting, though the characters do not and it's not plot-relevant (spoilers! You learn about 2/3 of the way through the first book, from one of these entries, that the human race originally came from Earth but was transported to another planet in the distant past along with 5 selected creatures, which explains why those are the only normal animals to have appeared all story and why the character's ages are given in numbers that are unrealistic from our perspective. 19 being described as a young child, a young adult protagonist being 31 years old...turns out that's because the planet they're on has shorter years.) This is all information that's so well known to the characters that it would never come up in the story itself, so having the information be separate from the story makes perfect sense and may even be called required.

[@zappodude7591]

@@sarahvunkannon7336 Interesting

[@battlesheep2552]

"As you know" is such a weird convention. You're basically lampshading how the characters have no reason to be mentioning that fact except to inform the audience, as if that somehow makes it better.

[@unicorntomboy9736]

I think one way you could solve it is by having the protagonist explain whatever the "as you know" part is. That way it would demonstrate their keen knowledge and intelligence about X subject

[@noobmasterruben5167]

My favorite exposition dumps are definitely when anime geniuses explain their plan like in Death Note, Code Geass or something like The Matrix which does exposition in action

[@specs.weedle]

My favorite type of exposition is the kind where crappy fangame writers try to cram entire stories into cutscenes with textboxes designed for a sentence at most!

[@outcast4087]

If I ever manage to write my story, there won't be any exposition at the beginning - straight into action, as if it's a pretty normal thing in that world. However, because the premise is that the protagonist is a new recruit and has to be taught the ways of the organization, the exposition will be done in form of teaching by his mentor and maybe (when the time comes) through some research in the archives.

[@marocat4749]

You can make a fun character do the exposition, or a smartass bragging about how much they know about history. Or a bard and songs and poetry. In the background. Media? Journals? Hitchikers guide even has the guide do it. Or just talk and yeah have a knowitall or bard annoyingly brag how much they know about xy. Or a shady charactercif its a person new telling them to just them and doing telling their story. Or in dialogue between characters spread over the time. And a know it all still could be the cathalyst to get that. And flashbacks are fine i think, just it should have emotional elements related to characters too

[@unicorntomboy9736]

I was thinking of writing a novel based on Monster Hunter, and have the protagonist be a hardcore fan of the franchise from our world who gets transported to the Monster Hunter world and becomes a hunter.

[@andrewthegeek6522]

As a dungeon master i gave up on heavy lore alterations because it does in fact have to be exposited and no the players will not read a primer

[@theeflatlander]

One of my best friends loves Dragon Ball. I kinda get it. But yeah I hear you! Every fight they have to cut away to explain why this Kamakamaha is 3 levels more powerful than the last one. As an addendum. You gotta give respect to Final Fantasy X and X-2 for Maechen! I tried looking it up but was too lazy to push it, but I feel like he's easily got 2 hours of WORTHLESS exposition between the two games.

[@WhiteFangofWar]

Love Maechen. it's good that he's completely optional for repeat playthroughs but I find myself saying yes anyway just to listen to that soothing voice, and he's the only one who's been around long enough to have an idea of what really created Sin.

[@Cool_Kid95]

Man the beginning of this was a a massive call out! I had a big problem with giving too much unimportant information. I’m still working on getting rid of it all.

[@katiekatt8701]

Please do one about editing first drafts or graphic novel writing

[@mischiviousteefmonster3900]

My favorite example of "as you know bob" exposition came in DBS Broly when Brolys dad was explaining his transformation to Freza, except it was more of an, "I don't know Bob, but" then proceeded to explain exactly what the transformation was while also listing its strengths and drawbacks despite it being literally the first time he witnessed it

[@IzzetNilson]

I'm a constant culprit of the exposition dump in my writing and dnd homebrews, and this video actually helped me out. I feel inspired to actually make something again!

[@hojmatros5102]

You make good points. But my favourite thing as a reader is when there's a time jump in the beginning of a chapter to 5 years in the future, where the main character ponders the event 4 years and 12 months ago and *suprise flashback...*

[@axelwulf6220]

I'm doing a more "by the questions" approach Like if something was mentioned at least once to the Protagonist, it would be explained in a short 20 words or less exposition And if the Protagonist already knew about it, then he just "recalls" a similar incident as a fflashback, and only lasts maybe one to two and half paragraphs and he's more of an unreliable narrator than this is just filler Another bit I'm working on is a tried and tested unprompted but still short and to the point exposition: Character hasn't experienced this thing before? Other character(s) who have explain it, but keep it brief as to not flood the reader with a wall of text Then do a Third Person Limited on what it is they're looking at and draw their own conclusions

[@trinaq]

In my opinion, the laziest way to deliver exposition is by using the phrase "As You Know." It's clearly only done for the audience's benefit, and the character typically knows this information well, and doesn't need to be retold in a clumsy, forced way.

[@johnathonhaney8291]

Could work if it's done in a situation where the character DOESN'T know and it's assumed that they do. This was done pretty good in the original Injustice game when Aquaman was impersonating his alternate universe self.

[@legrandliseurtri7495]

I've never seen ''as you know'' being used to start exposition, but that indeed sounds very annoying.

[@unicorntomboy9736]

"As you know" is the cardinal sin of writing exposition.

[@junconglin]

Never seen it but somehow I feel it's really shit 90% of the times

[@SheepUndefined]

@@legrandliseurtri7495 I think the Avatar The Last Airbender movie did it every ten minutes, iirc. Other than that, I don't think I've seen it in anything competent.

[@Goldenleyend]

Thanks to Filmento all I hear during exposition is Sans talking

[@iRedEarth]

Has anyone seen the movie Cellular? They made a point to mention that cellphones could record video, because that was a new thing and it would be important to the plot later.

[@kratoscar2008]

Yeah. Good movie.

[@TotallyHuman]

Artful recap! Truly, I know I couldn't have gotten the editing so perfectly!

[@wonkywilla309]

“The pariah” by Anthony Ryan has such a good story with little exposition that instead of giving you everything makes you think about every detail dropped to our favorite wayward…whatever alwyn is supposed to be but I haven’t read his second book yet I’m rereading the first one to prepare for the second which came out July 28 and I love and get so deep into “the pariah” with so many… well I can’t actually say any of it without spoiling half the intrigue but safe to say it’s one of my favorite books

[@TheSkyCrystals]

“As you know Bob.” Wait, you mean Bob the Skull? Dresden is that you?

[@cillianennis9921]

i did a flash back (well four) when my caracters where buying time for the trap to be set so they could defeat the finaly monster.

[@Wince_Media]

Tired of exposition dumps completely messing up the flow of the story? Just remove all the exposition and put it in a big book of info dump completey separate from the source material! It's the best of both extremes!

[@Wince_Media]

@@reverie02 ok, ok, but that enables a story that newcomers would not understand due to complete lack of exposition, and they only way they can know is trhough this "big book of infodump" that is ALL exposition and nothing else, like a history textbook

[@Gabriel87100]

@@reverie02 Not necessarily, take Drakengard 3, for example. Takes place in an unfamiliar setting with barely any knowledge of the protagonist's past, she's just on a quest to kill her sisters, why? The game ends, and ESSENTIAL information about the protagonist's past that could make the ending even more emotional and memorable is locked away in a series of novels no one reads and are ridiculously hard to come by like so many Japanese works. And don't even get me started on Nier's timeline, which is fundamentally connected to Drakengard's, yet you can only know about through online fan-wikis rather than in the games. Same happens with Ace Combat, specially the PlayStation 2-era ones.

[@Yuti640]

A cool thing I did earlier today with exposition is to have the smart scientist character actually make an incorrect guess, not an illogical guess, an actually believable one about the situation that is still smart, but wrong, then I had a character come in that actually had experience in the situation, allowing them to naturally do the correct answer exposition, but during all of it, the characters have a natural back and fourth about the plan, slowly figuring it out for themselves as the truth arises

[@ActiveAdvocate1]

I don't know how I am with exposition in my book. I DO use foreshadowing, but once they get to where they're going, I'm not sure how I'm going to handle that yet. See, my four main characters get moved to this commune sort of place in a near-future Florida. The last book of the five I have planned is set in the year 2146, so near-ish.

[@UCUCUC27]

better than the flashback is the intermittent flashbacks better yet start the story at the end then flash back to the begining then jump back to the end then back the begining and work your way to the middle only to jump back to the end

[@Cam1417-TK]

Good video as usual, JP! :) I like the visual humour you include as well as the scrip.

[@constantinwilliams9388]

If you read the segment title at 4:04, it says “Anime is really bad about this”

[@ryanrouse5590]

I’ve been trying out the idea of introducing something that will soon become common, mention it just often enough that its presence becomes commonplace, and then describe it. In theory it’ll give readers time to theorize about why nobody bats an eye at these things and what their purpose could be. I’ll see if it works out, although I doubt it’s an original idea.

[@slevinchannel7589]

LEGIT QUESTION: Why stop here? Even if we ignore 'Hello Future Me' being famous for being another Version of JP, theres at least that 1 video that is the perfect Spiritual-Sibling to this one here: Hbomberguys Video about RWBY. It mentions many of the same Problems but explains them with different Jokes and other Humor and thats not even all to say. Natural Exposition is a whole Segment in said video. And you know who else criticized with Humor? Jay Exci and Krimson Rogue.

[@dangernoodledee111]

I've suddenly thought of a way to do mild infodumping without it being TOO random or overwhelming. My infodumping character will have autism (like me) and occasionally, when other characters ask, simply infodump everything they know about that specific topic (it's a zombie-apocalypse story, and said character likes studying the zombies). It might feel random and overwhelming, but that's slightly the point at times. The main character will actively tell the other character that they are getting a little carried away sometimes, so the infodumps will be in short bursts. Hopefully I can make these exposition dumps at least somewhat comedic. Some other things will also be through observation or possibly, if I write it in a novel format, be shown through the descriptions of environments, highlighting the ways things were constructed or organized to show the weaknesses of the zombies. Examples of this are tight hallways that are hard for the alien-zombie-things to fit through, acidic liquids being available at all times, and kinda broken radios being everywhere, which will then be turned on to play static whenever a zombie enters.

[@JoseInactive]

It's amazing that he made the sponsorship sections fun to watch

[@WorthlessWinner]

The legend of the galactic heroes novel and anime are good examples of this. The novel did the "old way" of infodumping everything at the front, while the anime seamlessly integrated it.

[@theultimatefreak666]

Hey, it's me but you already know, I'm gonna tell you things I could probably show. Hey, welcome to the world I live in. What? It's the exposition!

[@M3rtyville]

Bleach character: *Explains his power* Opponent: *counters* Bleach character: *surprise Pikachu face*

[@witchofredwoods8963]

As much as I appreciate the overall content, I have to point out that the term "infodumping" is used by neurodivergent people to describe a tendency to spew massive amounts of information about things they like at essentially anyone who'll listen (or, in ND-friendly Discord servers, in infodumping channels). What you have described would be better termed "exposition dumping" or "lore dumping" to avoid confusion with the term used by neurodivergent people. Side note: "smart guys" tend to be coded as autistic, and they often turn out to be generally useless to the protagonists except as exposition dumps. As an autistic person, I hate it. There is, of course, nothing wrong with having an autistic character infodump; it's part of their autism! But using them as an excuse to insert exposition and leaving the rest of their character either undeveloped, an antisocial jerk, or inconsistent is just … bad writing and in fact _harms_ the autistic community.

[@Hanmacx]

I like the exposition in Discworld novels Where you get info in a foot note of another foot note

[@CartoonTriper]

Don't forget horror game/"walking simulators" who lore ends in a wall of text you need to read to comprehend the story

[@MrocnyZbik]

Amazing video, as always. Question, and sorry for it. Would you cover a "Villain Protagonist" trope? I really need to know what to completly destroy and f%ck up. Thank you

[@hayleyhistorynerd2211]

Lololol the Lore Marsh and then the one adventure whose on his phone and not paying any attention. XD Great advice between the funny-lines as ever jp

[@Thessalin]

J R R Tolkien, an intellectual ghost: Write this down, WRITE THIS DOWN! And by writing let me explain how writing was first created before history. You see first the elves sneezed and saw an MTV logo, but the dwarves were like eww, so they didn't wanna show the dwarves anyway...

[@ValterFrey]

It would be cool if JP did a video on philosophy or promoting view points suggesting people ‘s philosophical diatribes be used as padding and be comparable to technobabble. Or be super preachy.

[@Mephilis78]

Idk. It really does seem better to have a chapter "concerning hobbits" then a chapter where two characters either act completely clueless about hobbits so they can talk, in length, about what a hobbit is, or they decide to needlessly explain to each other what hobbits are, despite both characters needing no explanation.

[@ConsueloHigdon]

Big thank you to the opening text crawl for giving me Cool Ant Facts!

[@FuraFaolox]

i love the way the Final Fantasy games deal with exposition the first three games don't have very built worlds, so it isn't hard to figure out what is going on. i haven't played FFIV, so i can't say anything for that. FFV's exposition is perfect. Bartz exposites the world from the perspective of a commoner and adventurer. Faris exposites the world from the perspective of a criminal. Lenna exposites the world from the perspective of a noble. Galuf exposites the world as someone with amnesia. you get different perspectives, as well as Galuf's amnesia giving tidbits with explanations. FFVI also has the same things FFV has. the difference is in Terra, who gives exposition of the espers. FFVII's exposition is just straight up thrown at you. it is so obvious. no explanations are needed. FFVIII's exposition is revealed through a more militaristic style. "you go to this place, where this thing is" sort of thing. FFIX has a slow burn. the world is uncovered as you meet new characters and go to new places. FFX's exposition is through isekai. Tidus knows nothing about Spira, so the other characters have to inform him. never played FFXI. FFXII has an entire subseries of games for exposition, so that is a whole other can of worms. FFXIII seems like it has bad exposition because it just throws words like "fal'Cie" and "Pulse" and all that in the beginning. you begin to realize what those are over time, though. FFXIV is from the perspective of a foreign adventurer, learning of a new world. you learn as your character does. FFXV is similar, as Noctis and his friends have never been outside Insomnia. they are learning just as you are.

[@SkullpunkArt]

Honestly Im not a fan of exposition, but I like the way Star Wars did it, because it’s sort of a feature but you don’t have to watch it to know what happens in the movie, plus it has banger music instead of mind numbing narration.

[@paigesommer9988]

To be completely honest as a Writer these videos are actually surprisingly useful

[@Plutoburns]

That cashier example feels like it may have happened

[@sebbiesuperior]

The most recent thing that comes to me is Encanto. I love the movie, but the first song Mirabel sings, especially the later part, I'm just thinking "Wouldn't these kids already know what the whole family does?" It's nice to know what the family can do as a viewer, but making it seem like the kids wouldn't know just leaves a weird feeling. Oh well.

[@goldengoodra2941]

4:04 It drives me nuts how much anime is worshipped for doing this shit.

[@ang3699]

damn has it already been 72 episodes 💀

[@pedroivog.s.6870]

Exposicion is as if the GM had to explain all mechanics of the monster when a new one appears

[@SingingSealRiana]

hihihi, a story of mine starts with the mentor lecturing the mc about a thing he should know, but does not get and it is exposition, about a main mechanic of the worldbuilding that is kind of a plottwist, cause the maincharacter massivly missunderstands the given information as pure spiritual ramblings.

[@Okii650]

Me writing the opposite of what he says to try to become better at writing: Write that down! *WRITE THAT DOWN!*

[@icecreamhero2375]

Cough Cough SpongeBob Sponge on the Run Cough Cough. Those flashbacks to Kamp Koral we're so shoehorned in.

[@BoReads]

Yes! A new video.

[@PengyDraws]

Hallelujah! He returns!

[@TeamGXOne]

Tetsuya Nomura needed to have watched this before making Advent Children. He could have benefitted REALLY well.

[@pondscum9363]

Whatever you do don't put an "S" in front of "exposition"

[@poopitypoopoppopoop]

But I *like* long explanations of how powers work with charts and graphs in the middle of a fight

[@girla9480]

I'm a big fan of Tolkien's method. Spend about a decade writing down all the exposition, then take it and lock it in a drawer. Have your protagonist be a simple everyman who doesn't know anything of the world outside their small simple town, so they need to have bits and pieces of exposition given to them. Not enough to fully exposite everything, of course, just the right amount that they can take in at a time. This keeps the world mysterious and magical, since you don't reveal everything, but coherent, since you wrote it all down beforehand. 50 years after your smash hit, have your son release all the exposition for the lore nerds to read.

[@chimp4225]

Lore nerd here. Yes please

[@flamingpi2245]

@@chimp4225 More please

[@williamdrum9899]

LOTR succeeded because it was a good story first. Lore needs a good story to back it up or it's worthless.

[@wormius7350]

When Tolkien was writing the Lord of the Rings, his goal was to just write the longest book he possibly could.

[@SNWWRNNG]

@@wormius7350 The opposite, actually. It was a Hobbit sequel that grew over time, for a long time Tolkien thought Rivendell was going to be the halfway point and he only added new chapters because he felt it was necessary. Some characters, like Faramir, were a surprise to Tolkien as well.

[@vendicius154]

"This is Katana. She's got my back. She can cut all of you in half with one sword stroke, just like mowing the lawn. I would advise not getting killed by her. Her sword traps the souls of its victims."

[@johnathonhaney8291]

Yeeeah and that wasn't even the WORST example of exposition in the original Suicide Squad film.

[@brianna6377]

Honestly, that scene would've been so much better if one of the villains picked a fight with her after hearing the first half and we were shown the second half. But unfortunately, climbing dude needed to be collar-sploded (or whatever that woman did to him).

[@emblemblade9245]

So I didn’t even know what this was from and figured that last part was some guy or girl just playing up her abilities for a funny edge factor like “don’t mess with this guy, he can kill you with a flick of his finger (not really)” I think I like that interpretation better

[@canaldecasta]

👏 Im an idea!

[@fiendish9474]

@@brianna6377 his power is that he can climb anything. I still haven't recovered from hearing that

[@FatherTime89]

I'd love to see you do Terrible Writing Advice: Unreliable Narrator

[@wariodude128]

But then how can we trust what he says? Wait a minute, we hardly trust anything he says normally anyway. Could be difficult to do...

[@jennyevef]

I'm pretty sure EVERY TWA episode already has that covered

[@writerducky2589]

@@jennyevef My thoughts exactly 😂

[@indrickboreale7381]

Warhammer 40k moment

[@BladedEdge]

The ultimate TWA video. A capstone of his career. We shall never see it.

[@rigistroni]

"I'm excused for bad writing, my genre says so!" Ah, romance writers

[@PichuElric]

Lmao 😭

[@APootisBirb]

"What !? You don't know Generic Rich Straight White Man !? Generic Rich Straight White Man is simply the most successful business man in the city ! You see, in 1973-"

[@PichuElric]

@@APootisBirb Daniel Steele is frothing at the mouth rn

[@spicingdeed8931]

*cough* cyberpunk *cough*

[@rigistroni]

@@spicingdeed8931 I'm not SUPER well versed in the genre, but there is some damn good cyberpunk out there if you look. I highly recommend Battle Angel Alita it's a great cyberpunk story

[@silverscorpio24]

I wonder if Hollywood writers watch JP's videos and don't realize that it's satire

[@DolFan316]

Nah, if they actually did he'd have been permabanned from YT a long time ago. So let's make sure they never do, okay?

[@nitrocharge2404]

Nothing can beat the subtlety of Star Wars' title crawl info dump

[@Barwasser]

Star Wars RoS: "The dead speak!" Me: "oh shit. They still haven't found a decent writer..."

[@ineednochannelyoutube2651]

“Somehow, Palpatine has returned!” Me: ??????

[@Barwasser]

@@ineednochannelyoutube2651 You could see Oscar Isaac dying inside. You deserved better, Oscar. We all did.

[@kiptheott5932]

@@Barwasser I honestly liked that line. Yeah it's kinda cheesy but I feel like that's the point of the Star Wars text crawls, it's to make you feel like you're jumping into a pulpy adventure serial.

[@dakat5131]

@@Barwasser I liked Oscar in MoonKnight

[@jans.g6033]

Remember, it's okay to exposition dump when you're writing your first draft. That's when you yourself are learning the pace for your story and just putting down as much necessary information out of your head as possible.

[@catharsisgaze4894]

Yeah, anything goes in the first draft, just gotta remember to clean up the messes... XD

[@toastedbabybuns1000]

I needed to see this, ty! My first draft had some rough info dumps in the middle and end of the book explaining my character's identity. I realize now how completely boring that would be to read, and have decided to sprinkle in clues and flashbacks throughout the book instead :D

[@atk05003]

The critical point is "first draft", which implies there are other, improved, drafts. At least some of those drafts should include improvements based on feedback from an editor.

[@dinoblacklane1640]

Got it, write a first draft and just release that

[@bengal4047]

@@dinoblacklane1640 Erin Hunter, is that you?

[@strangeaelurus]

TWA's videos are rare to see, but once they pop up in your notifications you know they're going to be good

[@mariustan9275]

Heck yeah

[@zinkheroofyoutube8004]

There a surprise to be sure, but a welcome one

[@kaisermaximal8123]

Call me crazy, but I think Yu-Gi-Oh did a fairly good job at exposition After all, how else would I know what pot of greed did if no one explained it every 3 episodes?

[@cheeselord3655]

What's Pot of Greed? I've never heard of that card

[@adamnagar7386]

What does it do?

[@VainerCactus0]

@@adamnagar7386 I wish I knew mate.

[@Genericusername-tx4yh]

@@VainerCactus0 It gets you automatically banned from a tournament if you use it in your deck

[@renard6012]

Somebody refresh my memory, what does it do?

[@trinaq]

In some series of novels, namely "The Babysitters' Club", the same information about each of the titular girls is dumped at the beginning of each book, which can be a lot to take in all at once.

[@Dudebox64]

Animorphs I think did expositions really well. Every book is someone's first, so there's gotta be an info dump at the beginning every single time, but it's always done so shrewdly and with so much character that it doesn't get tiring even 50+ books in.

[@lahlybird895]

I think that's because the series isn't really meant to be chronological like it's not fold in a set the books are just kind of everywhere and there's a thousand of them so it's there so that no matter what book you start with you get all the same background information plus for people like my sister who can't pay attention for their life getting all the same information at the beginning of every single book make sure she might actually remember some of it I personally think it's kind of cool a little annoying but also you know it's a system you can count on you can count on the book to explain everything you've missed since the last one almost you can trust them and it's really cool

[@cthulhufhtagn2483]

Not to mention really irritating for fans of the series - yes, I _know_ who this character is, just let me get to the book.

[@intergalactic92]

@@Dudebox64 the clever part is that they do it differently each time. It’s not just the same wall of text, each character puts their own spin on it.

[@KatonRyu]

@@Dudebox64 The best part about it is when it finally gets subverted in the final two books. I still get chills whenever I re-read them just because of how significant it is.

[@verence8266]

"The chief engineer could explain exactly why that's bad" -- reminds me of the Mass Effect quote: Gunnery Chief: This, recruits, is a 20-kilo ferrous slug. Feel the weight! Every five seconds, the main gun of an Everest-class dreadnought accelerates one to 1.3 percent of light speed. It impacts with the force of a 38-kiloton bomb. That is three times the yield of the city buster dropped on Hiroshima back on Earth. That means Sir Isaac Newton is the deadliest son-of-a-bitch in space. Now! Serviceman Burnside! What is Newton's First Law? Serviceman Burnside: Sir! An object in motion stays in motion, sir! Gunnery Chief: No credit for partial answers, maggot! Serviceman Burnside: Sir! Unless acted upon by an outside force, sir! Gunnery Chief: Damn straight! I dare to assume you ignorant jackasses know that space is empty. Once you fire this hunk of metal, it keeps going till it hits something. That can be a ship, or the planet behind that ship. It might go off into deep space and hit somebody else in ten thousand years. If you pull the trigger on this, you are ruining someone's day, somewhere and sometime. That is why you check your damn targets! That is why you wait for the computer to give you a damn firing solution! That is why, Serviceman Chung, we do not "eyeball it!" This is a weapon of mass destruction! You are not a cowboy shooting from the hip!

[@sarahvunkannon7336]

I love this. This is great exposition.

[@valletas]

Imagine being killed by a bullet from 10.000 years ago

[@davisdf3064]

@@valletas With an impact energy of a nuclear bomb, i wouldn't even have time to be mad, i would just be impressed

[@akale2620]

Me2 the 1st time you go to the citadel.

[@Sorain1]

Videogames as a medium have a lot of room for exposition as atmosphere. It's one of the advantages of the format that even other visual mediums (movies, TV, comics) don't get as much mileage out of. (Since a world you can suspend your disbelief in the artificial nature of is a major goal in video games.)

[@Pumpkin_Pyrite]

"The easy ways of handling exposition are either info dumping, or not bothering to explain anything at all." Somehow, the RWBY prologue managed to do both.

[@Pumpkin_Pyrite]

@@reverie02 In the prologue the writers info dump telling you about the resources in the world instead of the fact that's it's on the brink of war (something you don't find out until season 3.) The writers actually do a lot of the things that are in this video like info dump on the characters (and the audience) in a classroom setting. It's messy.

[@Pumpkin_Pyrite]

@@reverie02 Yep.

[@Pumpkin_Pyrite]

@@reverie02 probably not. There's no payoff to anything that's set up. Which is a shame because the trailers for the show were so dang good.

[@ineednochannelyoutube2651]

There were some genuinely really good episodes in season 3, but the show has this habit of being good in short stints making people hope that it might get better, and season 3 is no exception. There’s a video by Hbomberguy on the show’s disappointing run, it’s really good and quite funny.

[@KarmaSpaz12]

Thanks for reminding me to watch "So this is basically RWBY" again.

[@renard6012]

It's best to do an anti-infodump: Not telling, and also not showing. Avoid all information altogether and let the reader figure it out. Then claim all the people's theories and the multiple contradictory interpretations as your plan all along.

[@JoshTigerheart]

So like, FNAF, Elden Ring, and all these other games that basically treat their lore as a community-wide ARG?

[@eatatjoes6751]

@@JoshTigerheart So, like Miraculous Ladybug does?

[@azurai3934]

Ah, the JJ Abrams approach.

[@jakerockznoodles]

@@azurai3934 The mystery box that has nothing in it, you mean?

[@cornesalvo9366]

This is a hot take, but mind, not all hot takes are good takes. This sort of storytelling is what Dark Souls does: it's slightly lazy and more fitting of a game which can be explored manually rather than a story that goes on unstoppingly without anyone explaining to the reader on what on earth the context behind whatever's happening is supposed to be.

[@Ouvii]

"The TWA expanded universe sucks" "No, just wait until the Greed arc, that's when the story actually kicks off and it gets _really_ good"

[@ineednochannelyoutube2651]

It was already pretty funny, but greed made it even better somehow.

[@bloodysimile4893]

The PRIDE arc is the best. then it when down hill from there.

[@M3rtyville]

"Gintama gets better after 300 episodes" "Boruto gets better when we reach the flash forward" "Dragon Ball Super will get better when its back" "If you don't like it, why are you watching it?" "If you didn't watch it, you can't judge it." Smurt People :]

[@vullord666]

@@M3rtyville Okay that Gintama one is just flat out wrong. Its fantastic from episode one. It just gets better. Boruto on the other hand doesn’t… or maybe I’m being bias because it should have never existed.

[@theuberedredspy8791]

@@M3rtyville Anime fans are for some reason unable to grasp the idea that there are flaws in their favorite shows. Excessive fanservice? Important to the plot! Unneeded exposition? Absolutely necessary! Pointless and boring filler? It's fun to watch!

[@ShadowDogProduction]

"This is Katana. She's got my back. I would advise not getting killed by her. Her sword traps the souls of its victims."

[@bloodysimile4893]

"Somehow, Palpatine survived."

[@SheepUndefined]

I love how this was on everyone else's minds during this whole thing.

[@meridaskywalker7816]

@@bloodysimile4893 *returned

[@javonyounger5107]

One way I've seen it done is for a character to point out something abnormal about a fantastical element of their story. Like in a world with floating cities, the MC comes across such a city and notes that it's only floating about a thousand feet off the ground, much lower than a city of that size should be. Or, in a world with warp drives, a character complaining that it's taken a week to get halfway to the solar system over when most ships would've been there and back by now. It's basically a tactic of increasing information density without slowing down the story. Conveying how the world normally works, conveying how their current situation differs from normal, and the character's perspective.

[@emblemblade9245]

Brilliant, I love it. If I were more witty I would point out something abnormal about your comment compared to other comments to exposit its significance but instead just take this gold star ⭐️

[@Toxic_G1]

The only problem with this would be in Harry Potter, where every character seems to not know how their own world works and constantly ask eachother how certain things work

[@FuraFaolox]

@@Toxic_G1 well that's because JK Rowling is just not a good writer

[@777Looper]

"Ask yourself, 'what is my reader most excited to see next?' and then make it absolutely clear that your exposition section will make no progress whatsoever toward that part of the story. This will help the reader focus on your exposition without the distraction of narrative immersion, and let them appreciate the far more important fact that you spent tens of hours crafting a new and exciting elemental magic system!"

[@solus1247]

4:22 Ah yes, explaining your powers and abilities to the ENEMY whom you are fighting to the DEATH. A classic antagonist move that will in no way backfire. Is the character in question explaining their abilities in a way that is misleading and vague to confuse their enemies? No. Is the character at least explaining their powers in a way that characterizes them. Also no. Edit: Also, when the protagonist inevitably figures out the weaknesses of the antagonist's abilities and crafts a convoluted plan to exploit it. Be sure to have them ALSO explain it in the most booooooooooooooring and overly wordy way possible. It's not like you're in the middle of a LIFE and DEATH battle.

[@canaldecasta]

@@Green-3c34y65vrbu Jojo Part 1: Phantom Blood

[@rjante2236]

"My attacks will poison you, but you can overcome the poison by doing this thing!" "Alright, I'm gonna do that then." "HOW DID YOU OVERPOWER MY POISON??"

[@lordanubis1458]

**Genthru has entered the chat**

[@rjante2236]

@@lordanubis1458 The worst part is that he specifically made that touching rule for no real reason

[@boiyado6717]

The best use of this trope is in Jujutsu Kaisen, where due to how the power system works literally just telling your abilities to your opponent makes them stronger.

[@acehardware2823]

Ah yes. My monthly dose of sarcasm is back!

[@ineednochannelyoutube2651]

It appears to have changed to every 2 months. Hope he's doing something productive, like working on his second book, in his spare time.Good luck JP!

[@Sorrowdusk]

He really needs a British accent.

[@charleslathrop9743]

You know what the Sponsorship section needs? An exposition dump to bring the audience up to speed on the TWA universe so far.

[@Superkid33]

I literally binge watched through the sponsorship wars episodes to get up to date xD

[@you-got-reported-fam3445]

"nothing gets my blood pumping in the middle of a fight scene like a long-winded explanation of everyone's powers complete with charts and graphs" as an HxH fan, yes.

[@mysteryman8787]

Tserriednich…

[@whosaidthat84]

Fun fact: bungee gum possesses both the properties of rubber and gum.

[@tompatterson1548]

Are there actual graphs?

[@you-got-reported-fam3445]

@@tompatterson1548 yeah, one of the characters ability involves opening a parallel future concurrently with the present, and the author needed to draw some graphs so the audience has a better chance of understanding it

[@tompatterson1548]

@@you-got-reported-fam3445 loool

[@deadlockraven1849]

I feel like JP's character would be capable of singing the exposition song very well.

[@ericpraline]

Erm… could you tell me more? (I‘ve never heard of this song)

[@malicekerendu3574]

@@ericpraline kzbin.info/www/bejne/a5fJfXyAp754gJo This is the song about exposition dumping

[@ericpraline]

@@malicekerendu3574 thanks

[@quitequeerquesadilla]

Hey, that's me, but you already know...

[@nathanwise1608]

Sorry, but several international treaties prohibit him from singing.

[@youtubeuniversity3638]

Another Tip: If there's a Thing you just really are excited to explain in some way, you can *add* a plot reason to do so.

[@Gabriel87100]

But would that include flashbacks and nightmares of a tragic life period in a character who can't seem to move on from her past? The line is really thin for newbies. At what point it stops being the discovery process of a character's personality and experiences, and becomes an unnecessary flashback holding the plot back?

[@renard6012]

@@Gabriel87100 If the tragic life period is so interesting, then it's best to write a chapter about it instead of making it a flashback.

[@cam4636]

@@Gabriel87100 Similar to what Ren said, if it's important enough to show onscreen, find a way to show it--if the entire scene isn't important, give us the important parts. For example, if the backstory that's relevant is "the character has trauma from the war" you could have someone push them for war stories only to have them change the subject, or give them scars/a prosthetic limb and just mention it's from the war & they don't want to talk about it, or say "She woke from another nightmare. She'd been back on the battlefield again--but that was a long time ago" and move on with the story. If it's something like one character's relationship to another, you could have a different character mention "how's your mom?" and the other struggle to say she's dead, or have two characters who're working together secretly make eye contact as they pass by but not say anything, or something like that. Readers aren't stupid, if the outline of the information is there they'll trust you. One of the best traumatic backstories I've read basically had the reader see all these people that had escaped from this institution and see that they all acted very traumatized--being obsessed with their own strange beliefs, going from calm to violently angry over little things, etc--and when the other characters tried talking about it, they just said they'd rather die than go back. We, the readers, don't really need a clear picture--anything we imagine is harsh enough, and if the author _did_ try to spell it out it'd risk sounding like an overreaction or else sounding too ~edgy~.

[@wren_.]

i’ve seen a couple fantasy writers handle explaining their world building to the audience by putting in important information between each chapter. it’s usually about a page or two of in-universe documents that tie in nicely with a previous chapter or explain certain parts of the fantasy world’s history. I think it’s really creative and clever, especially if the documents are presented as diary entries or pages from a fake history textbook.

[@boobah5643]

@@wren_. One of the advantages of in-world documents is that they can be unreliable narrators... and that can be played with. The Commissar Ciaphas Cain books play with this, with little blurbs from in-universe documents at the beginning of every chapter... but the authors are usually characters you meet in the larger text, and consequently you sometimes can compare 'reality' with what they wrote, and sometimes you can learn something new about the character because of how what they wrote down. Mind, the Cain books have 'unreliable narrator' as one of their central hooks. So it's not surprising when the author plays with it.

[@ChaosRayZero]

5:06 Imagine a conversation your characters are having in the back seat of a car, in a modern setting, that goes like- "The traffic light just turned red. *_As you know,_* that means you're supposed to stop until it turns green." "Isn't it great that Thomas Edison invented the light bulb that gets used so much in our daily lives?" To make it less clunky, try picturing the guy in the back seat sarcastically yelling at the driver, "Hey! You're supposed to STOP when the light's red!" **Insert narration describing how the light changes from red to green** "...There, NOW you can go! Jeez!" The Thomas Edison bit can come up later, if at all. *It doesn't need to be mentioned if it's not relevant to the story.*

[@LendriMujina]

And then they get into an argument about whether or not Edison stole the light bulb from Tesla.