What is Exposition? By Denice Whitmore

What is exposition? Exposition in a novel is the part of the writing that tells the story. Or, in other words, the important details that drive your story and inform the reader. Here are a few definitions that pertain to writing from www.dictionary.com.

the act of expounding, setting forth, or explaining:

the exposition of a point of view.

writing or speech primarily intended to convey information or to explain; a detailed statement or explanation; explanatory treatise:

The students prepared expositions on familiar essay topics.

 Some things that are included in exposition are, point of view (POV), setting, back story (but only limited), dialogue, description, emotion, thoughts, and many more things.

 Everything you write in your novel should further the plot in some way, build character, give a sense of setting and build tension all from a fixed POV. Good exposition will do these things. Great exposition will do all of them at the same time with as few words as possible. 

How many times have you picked up a book and had to slog through fifteen to twenty pages of back story before anything happens. Back story should only be shared as it becomes relevant. But be careful not to give an info dump. There has to be an active way to introduce back story. Dialogue is a great place to add back story but it must be done carefully. Is the main character confessing something that he did—his deepest darkest secret? Is she uncovering a hidden truth that will change her life for better or worse and shock the reader? You want to tease the reader and let them uncover things from the past that are relevant to the present without dumping a load of irrelevant information on them.

Many people make the mistake of writing talking heads. The ‘he said,’ ‘she said,’ type of dialogue where the characters robotically stand still having a conversation is boring. This is where exposition in narration can really work for you. Your POV character may have thoughts that don’t jive with his words. People move around and interact with each other and their setting. Physical and emotional reactions build character in between dialogue pulling the reader further into the story. Instead of dialogue tags, try writing only with action tags that show emotion, build character, or interact with the setting. It will pull the reader into your world more than ‘he said,’ ‘she said,’.

The most important thing to me as an editor is to make sure the novel has the proper amount of tension. Because what keeps readers turning pages? Tension. When tension builds in a steady arc throughout each chapter, the reader becomes more invested in the characters. What will happen next? How will they get out of that situations? Are they ever going to have that first kiss? Lead your readers on a bit. Make them bite their nails. Keep them awake at night wondering, until they get out of bed to read one more chapter because they have to know what happens next. Tension is an author’s best friend.

 All in all, it can be hard to strike the right balance of the elements that go into your story. Balance is the key. Once you find that proper balance in your exposition, it shows in your writing and readers can’t put your book down.

Here is an excerpt from Knowing Amelia by Jen Atkinson that shows great exposition.

            Sitting up, I felt like a queen, eating my meal in bed. All I needed now were my—oh, no! My books were all downstairs. I couldn’t sit in bed doing nothing all day, and I didn’t have a servant—like a queen should, to order the promptness of my novels. If I kept quiet, maybe she wouldn’t notice me. Maybe I could sneak downstairs and be back to the safety of my room without one grouchy glance from Grandma.

            The creaking of the bedroom door screamed through Dad’s old room. “Shh!” I glared at it. I tiptoed down the wooden staircase without much noise. Creeping over to the living room, I saw my things lying on Amelia’s old square coffee table.

            And then I heard it.

            The horrible blubber came from Amelia’s dining room. Jerking my head upright, I held my breath. What is it? Who is it?

            Again, I heard a weak moan, this time followed by a cry. “Oh, Seth.”

            My racing heart pumped blood through my veins. My eyes widened as the cries grew louder. Each sob, just out of my view, as if it were right next to me. I took one step. Just turn around. Another step. Just walk away. One more—closer. Just get out! But—I had to see.

            Knuckles white, I clutched my book to my chest, my heart thumping against the hard cover of Romeo and Juliet.

            Peeking around the wall separating the two rooms, my eyes focused on the figure before me. Amelia—down on her knees in the dining area. She had moved the table and pulled up one of the wooden floorboards, leaning it against the wall, revealing a hole in the floor. A small wooden box sat beside her, its contents a mystery.

            Sucking in a quiet breath, I let it go—she couldn’t see me. Thank goodness her back faced me. Amelia didn’t know I was there. Her body rocked back and forth with her sobs. “Seth,” she said through another sob. “My Seth.”

            Grandma sat there crying. Her husband of more than fifty years had died and finally—finally she had decided to cry. Even grumpy people should cry when their husbands die.

            Only my grandfather’s name wasn’t Seth.

 Keep writing!

Self Publishing: Four Types of Publishing Part Two by Jo A. Wilkins

The definition of a self-publisher is one who accepts payment from an author for the cost of designing, printing, and distributing his or her book. Frequently, the author invents and registers a publishing "imprint."

Self-published books remain the property of the author and are usually held in the author's possession; all proceeds belong to the author, NONE go back to the people who help you produce it.

Positive points for Self Publishing

• You have complete control over content.
• You tell the self-publishing outlet how you want them to format the book and what you want on the cover.
• You set the pricing.
• You do the research on how much other books like yours sell for and determine how much you need to sell the end product for to recoup what you laid out to produce the book
• You control production
• It is you who decides when the book is ready for publication and each step is completed
• You decide how, when and where to market
• Marketing is the demon in the side of all authors, even those who commercially publish, but in self-publishing it falls solely on the shoulders of the author.

Negative points for Self Publishing

• You bear ALL costs for production
• In this option every expense of production falls on the author. You must keep tract of the costs that will affect your bottom-line if you want to make a profit off the sale of your books
• You are responsible for editing or hiring an editor
• This is a step that most self-publishing authors skip, but it is one that NO author should omit. Having an editor who knows the publishing world will make an enormous difference in the sale of your book
• You must store and distribute your books
• If you choose self-publishing then make sure you use a print-on-demand printer or have enough room to store the books you have printed in bulk (it is less expensive in bulk).
• You are responsible for ALL marketing
• Again, this is the setup that if skipped, will kill the sales of your book. Just listing it for on-line sales will not sell your book.
• Lesser amount of prestige
• If you are publishing your own book it carries less weight than if picked up by a stranger that feels it will sell
• Difficult to tell the difference between a vanity press and a true self-publishing company.
• Readers are not sophisticated enough to tell the difference between true self-publishing and the work behind it and the books that come out of a vanity press.

If you as an author take the road of self-publishing then be prepared for unexpected expenses and a little less prestige to the book you produce. But, remember there are many authors who, down through the ages of publishing history, have utilized self-publishing  Some of the authors and their titles are:

Betty Zane                                          Zane Gray

Elements of Style                                 William Strunk/E.B. White

Huckleberry Finn                                Mark Twain

Leaves of Grass                                    Walt Whitman

Tarzan (1931-1948 Series)                Edgar Rice Burroughs

Legally Blond                                      Amanda Brown

The Four Types of Publishing Part One by Jo Wilkins

What does it mean to get “Published”? Dictionary.com defines it as follows:

Publish: to issue (printed or otherwise reproduced textual or graphic material, computer software, etc.) for sale or distribution to the public.

During my seminars and when I receive queries from writers, I am inundated with questions on how much traditional publishing should cost. The misconception that ‘all publishing has a fee due to the publisher’ is ludicrous. Over the next few months, I would like to break some of the misconceptions on the types of publishing available for the prepared author.

I will present information on the four (4) types of Publishing. These types are defined as:

1.      Traditional Publishing

2.      Subsidized Publishing

3.      Self-Publishing

4.      Vanity Presses

There are a few steps every author needs to prepare before submitting their work for whichever type of publishing you choose. It is imperative to follow these steps before any publisher is allowed to review the manuscript:

1.      Put the manuscript through a grammar and spell check

                       Every word processing program has some version of spell and 

                       grammar check. These simple errors will prevent a publisher from

                       reading more than the first page of your submission.

2.      Make sure your story hits the proper audience

                       Your main character's age should be in the middle of the target

                       audience.

                       Young Adult books should have a main character between late teens                        and 25 years old.

3.      Have a professional editor edit the manuscript.

                       Do some research on who is appropriate for the type of story you are

                       writing. Always get references and have them do sample pages. This is

                       the most important step. Unedited manuscripts printed into books are

                       becoming the ruination of the publishing world.

4.      Carefully read the submissions guidelines for the publisher you choose

                       This is the first test by the publisher and determines whether they put

                       you under contract. If you can’t follow simple directions, they may

                       think you will be difficult to work with and pass over your wonderful

                       manuscript.

A commercial or traditional publisher is one who distributes books under its own imprint. It puts the manuscripts from authors under contract and handles the cost of producing those manuscripts: Cover and interior design, formatting, printing, marketing in conjunction with the author, distribution, etc. The author is not expected to pay any of these costs. The cost of marketing generally falls to the author. The copyright on these books is leased by the publisher and remains in the publisher's possession until the contract expires. The author receives a percentage of sales in the form of royalties outlined in the contract. Using a commercial/traditional publisher has the following advantages:

* Advances and royalties.

                 Some imprints have the resources to give advances, but not usually for 

                 first-time authors.

*  No cost to author.

                 This is very important to remember - Commercial/traditional publishers will 

                 never charge you any type of fee.

*  Prestige.

                 Reputation of the imprint is important, so do your research. Some small

                 houses may not be well known, but may have a great reputation with their

                 authors and their peers.

*  National Marketing.

                 For reviews and distribution.

*  Everything for producing your book is done by the imprint.

                 Remember, you should not be charged for any of this.

Realizing that it takes from $3,000 to $5,000 to properly bring a book to the reading public, there are some things you should be aware of that may keep you from using the commercial/traditional route.

*  It can be very difficult to get published─100,000+ manuscripts are submitted each year.

                  Publishers, in most cases, are part of an old-boy network and it is very

                  difficult to enter their network without connections.

*  You are still responsible for a large part of the marketing for your book.

                  Some imprints have you write another book on how or what you are willing

                  to do to help market your book.

*  Very small number of manuscripts selected each year.

                  Get to know agents and publishers at conferences and workshops so you can
                  help your submission stay out of the slush pile.

*  Publisher has a greater degree of control over your work.

                  You will not have any say in cover art, blurbs for the book cover, etc., unless

                  the publisher agrees to let you have some say in the book production.

*  Limited amount of money earned for each book sold.

                  Most contracts give royalties of 10% to 12% (depending on the resources of the                   imprint)

In 2010, the Sunday Times of London sent 20 British publishers and agents previously published prize-winning books as manuscripts. These manuscripts were represented as new authors seeking publishers. Two examples were the opening chapters of, In a Free State, by V.S. Naipaul, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature, and Holiday, by Stanley Middleton. The object of this effort was to see if the agents or publishing houses could distinguish true talent.

Both of these were Booker prize winners from the 1970s and were lauded as British novel writing at its best. None of the publishers or agents recognized the manuscripts. Some rejected both Booker prize-winning novels. Of the 21 replies received, all but one were rejections.

Responding to the Naipaul manuscript, in which only the author's name and the names of the characters had been changed, a submissions department reader for PDF, a major London literary agency, wrote: "Having considered your material, we do not feel, we are sorry to say, not sufficiently enthusiastic or confident about it."

The Blake Friedmann agency also sent apologies: "In order to take on a new author, several of us here would need to be extremely enthusiastic about both the content and writing style. I'm sorry to say we don't feel that strongly about your work."

A few publishers and agents, when they realized they had been stung, blamed the sheer volume of manuscripts they received and lack of time to read every page. "With other forms of entertainment today there are very few people around who would understand what a good paragraph is," added Naipaul.

Nicholas Clee, former editor of The Boookseller magazine, said publishers are no longer eager to take risks on untried authors because they face fierce competition as supermarkets force down prices. "Publishers tend to go for newcomers who have something sensational to offer, or authors with established names. They're putting big promotional efforts behind just a few titles," he said.

My advice as an author and a publisher, knowing how hard it is to get past the first hurdles of submissions and now seeing some of the badly done submissions we receive here at Ink & Quill and NewLink,, is never send out your first draft. Make sure that you have it reviewed by someone who knows what the industry is looking for. Make it spot on perfect in grammar, spelling and content. In other words, learn the craft you plan to pursue before you submit it to the industry. 

Traps and Tips for Character Development Part 2 by Richard Draude

Continuing my post from last time here are five tips to help develop characters to draw your audience into your novel.

Character Development Tips

The Devil Is In The Details. Some writers have a tendency to throw too much at the reader all at once—to give a full physical description, tell the life story, and reveal the innermost thoughts of a character as soon as he or she is introduced. But that’s not necessarily the best approach. Think about a character you’re introducing as someone the reader is meeting for the first time. When you are introduced to a person for first time, you do take in that person’s physical appearance, but only on a fairly perfunctory level. Think about the people you met today, you don’t remember very much about them except that she had dark hair, and he wasn’t very tall. You don’t remember every detail about what they’re wearing, because you didn’t notice. If one of the people you met was wearing a Princess Leia costume, or was dressed as Captain Kirk you would remember a lot about that person, and it would certainly be worth including in a story. So we don’t notice everything at once when we meet a new person. We do, however, notice a few details that can give us some idea of that person’s personality and life situation. Is the character well dressed? Does he or she bite their nails? It makes it easier to stay consistent too, because you have a fully developed idea of the character’s personality right from the start. The slow reveal is the best. You don’t tell the reader your character has a phobia, instead that fear comes out when he or she comes face-to-face with what they fear.

Observe Human Behavior. Another way to develop characters is to observe human behavior. You can base characters on real people you don’t know. Sit at a mall, I like the food court, and take notes. People-watching is best done where multitudes congregate. You can observe them when they’re at their best and worst. Pay close attention to how they talk, their mannerisms, hand gestures, what they wear, their attitudes and body language. You can pull all that into your stories. Combining gestures and habits from one or more people is another good way to build your characters.

Everybody Has A History: Our experiences determine who we are today. Life shapes us and molds us. Even if you don’t reveal your characters’ pasts to your readers, you should know about them, at least for your primary characters. You should have complete biographies for your main characters in mind (better yet written down) so you understand what drives them. Why is this important? Because if you don’t understand a character, your readers won’t either. An example of an effective character history, is Captain Quint’s back story in the movie Jaws. In one scene, Quint, Chief Brody, and Matt Hooper, are in the cabin of Quint’s fishing boat, and they start comparing old scars. Quint has a tattoo that was removed, and Brody asks him about it. In response, Quint tells the other characters a horrific story about many of his friends on the USS Indianapolis (true WWII story by the way) being eaten by sharks, and all of a sudden it’s easy to understand Quint and his hatred for sharks. Can you imagine Jaws without Quint’s back story?

Don’t Neglect Secondary Characters. Sidekicks can be some of the most likeable and interesting characters in the story. Often, they are the readers’ favorites. One example of this is Pippin Took, from Lord of the Rings. Pippin acts before he thinks about the consequences of what he’s about to do. That leads him into great peril, yet at the same time his brashness propels his character into a driving force of the story. Well developed secondary characters can, and will, enrich your book. They’re like the supporting instruments in a symphony. Secondary characters can be a gold mine of wit and charm, and every one serves a purpose. Some add color or assist in world building, and some act as foils for the main characters. Foils are characters who can’t stand your hero or heroine. They do nothing but gripe about them behind their backs. They can be great fun. Make sure you know a lot about your secondary characters even if you don’t end up revealing all of it to the reader.

Detail Your Villain: Pay close attention to your villain, without whom the story would not exist. Often, I hear authors tell me that the villain is their favorite character, the one they love to write about. Bad guys can be very tough to do well, and it can be even tougher to get readers to empathize with them. Whenever you write a villain, keep in mind that he or she needs to be just as well developed as your main characters. Instead of being flawed, however—because obviously all villains are flawed—the villain should be imperfectly bad. In other words, the villains should have redeeming characteristics where our heroes have flaws. In The Lord of the Rings, Tolkin’s use of Gollum is a great example. While we can empathize with Gollum, even feel sorry for him, sometimes, we have hope for him, and wish he could be redeemed. And then we loathe him, and despise him, and because he’s so annoying, we wish somebody would just cut his throat. Gollum is a character who is definitely ruled by evil most of the time, but he also a victim, an unwitting pawn of the ring’s power, so we can empathize with him. He is a great antagonist. These can be among the most difficult of all characters to create but also some of the most satisfying.

So there you have it, five traps and five tips. Whether you write good characters or poor ones will determine whether your readers stay with you to the end of the hero’s journey or abandon him or her after your first book. If the characters fail, the story fails. Hopefully this post will help you avoid that, but if it does happen, pick yourself up, write the next book, and develop more complex and complete characters. Remember, always look ahead, but learn from the past.