Exposition is a literary device that establishes crucial background information and fills in the gaps in your narrative. These details can include a backstory and a setting description. And though exposition is required for nearly every story, it’s easy not to execute; it's easy to make the blunder of leaving an information dump for your readers. But in this article, we discuss the techniques for efficiently writing exposition in your narrative with classic examples you can learn from.

1. Through Dialogue

Dialogue is one of the most seamless ways to present exposition. Instead of telling readers the crucial details and backstories, you can simply show them through a conversation. But you should try not to squeeze too much exposition into the conversation, else the conversation becomes forced, unnatural, and tiring. You find a good example of this technique in Lord of the Flies by William Golding:

"This is an island. At least, I think it's an island. That's a reef out in the sea. Perhaps there aren't any grownups anywhere."

The fat boy looked startled.

"There was that pilot. But he wasn't in the passenger cabin, he was up in front."

The fair boy was peering at the reef through screwed-up eyes.

"All them other kids," the fat boy went on. "Some of them must have got out. They must have, mustn't they?"

Here, Golding lets readers know of the crash and setting briefly through dialogue rather than have them witness the entire event. And the exchange is organic, a bunch of lost kids trying to understand what has just happened to them.

2. Through Narration

Narration is often the most straightforward way to write exposition. Here, you use narrative deviations to convey background and setting details. You should use this technique sparingly and delicately, sticking to only crucial information and inserting them at the right point that doesn't interrupt the action or lose tension. How you use this technique also depends on your story point of view. And you can find a perfect example of this technique in A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin:

Catelyn had been anointed with the seven oils and named in the rainbow of light that filled the sept of Riverrun. She was of the Faith, like her father and grandfather and his father before him. Her gods had names, and their faces were as familiar as the faces of her parents. Worship was a septon with a censer, the smell of incense, a seven-sided crystal alive with light, voices raised in song. The Tullys kept a godswood, as all the great houses did, but it was only a place to walk or read or lie in the sun. Worship was for the sept.

Here, Martin uses a brief narration to portray Catelyn Stark's backstory and religious piety. He naturally gives insights into her life and develops the story world, narrating the religious norms and rituals of the North.

3. Through Internal Monologue

Another way to provide good exposition in a narrative is through a character’s internal monologue. Here, you offer readers a direct peek into a character's muses and emotions. This technique conveys key story details and advances character development simultaneously. An example of this technique is in Tokyo Ueno Station by Miri Yu:

On nights when it rained, I couldn’t stop myself from listening to the sound, which kept me from sleeping. Insomnia, then eternal sleep — held apart from one by death and the other by life, brought closer to one by life and the other by death, and the rain, the rain, the rain, the rain, the rain.

It rained on the day that my only son died.

Here, Kazu, the narrator, reflects on the sound of rain, which reminds him of his son's death. The internal monologue comes naturally and seamlessly connects a current event with the past.

4. Through Letters and the Media.

Also, you can use newspapers, memos, letters, notes, emails and other forms of media to present exposition. This technique is creative and very effective and doesn't interrupt the flow of action in your narration. You find a perfect example in Howards End by E. M. Forster:

Howards End, Sunday.

 “Dearest, dearest Meg, — I do not know what you will say: Paul and I are in love — the younger son who only came here Wednesday.”

Here, readers and Meg learn about the news of Helen's sudden infatuation at the same time. The exposition isn't reported but occurs in real-time and keeps the flow of the narration.