Dear Writer, Allow Yourself To Write Exposition!

You don’t always have to show. Sometimes telling is the clearest way to lead your reader into the heart of your story. Paint the context, lay the groundwork, and trust your words to carry weight.

Dear young creative,

It has been a while since I updated this newsletter. This is because I have been busy learning and improving, so I can share more unsolicited 'writing wisdom’ from a budding author who has no business giving you writing advice. But over here, we learn together, so here is another one.

I had an epiphany a few nights ago.

That might be a dramatic way to put it, but let’s stick to the drama. It makes life fun.

I recently realised that most of the time, two out of ten, when I hit a block in my prose, it's because I have a heap of backstory or an explanation I don’t know how to handle. Sometimes, this block can last for days as I try to determine exactly what to do. While I understand and agree that there are many creative ways to weave backstories into a prose piece, at times, it proves not to be the best approach.

Sometimes, the best thing you can do is rely on exposition¹. Yes, just explain your way out of the block.

This line of thinking, to be honest, started with a particular workshop I had a few weeks ago in my MA.

Our tutor, Naomi Wood, shared similar, if not the exact, thoughts. In retrospection, I cannot recall her exact words, but I believe it was along the lines of,

'As writers, we have been told always to show and not tell, that we are sometimes afraid to tell, when that is all there is to do. You need to have the confidence that you have done enough work for your readers to stay, now take a breather and just tell them what they need to know.’

Again, these might not be her exact words, and my inferences might not be what she expected us to take away from her words. Whichever the case is, this is where my head is at.

Truly, exposition is not the enemy. We have to allow ourselves to use exposition.

You don’t always have to show. Sometimes telling is the clearest way to lead your reader into the heart of your story. Paint the context, lay the groundwork, and trust your words to carry weight.

Now, I get that this is a tricky terrain as there is the temptation of the sinful act of infodump and, perhaps, too much exposition.

Just know this.

The key is using exposition purposefully and subtly, rather than dumping information on the reader.

It still has to read like prose. You still have to sneak in some ‘shows’/descriptions. You can still paint out some vivid details.

Exposition is not the enemy of good writing; it’s a tool, like rhythm in poetry or silence in music. Use it with purpose, and watch your narrative breathe.

The way I see it, as far as these backstories, information, past lives, or whatever your expositions are not major plot points and are details readers need to know to get to the main story, I think just getting them out of the way is the best thing to do.

But what do you think?

Another of these horsemen of prose ‘crimes’ will be summaries, also a conversation we had in the class, which works, in some ways, similarly to exposition.

I will share my thoughts on it in another newsletter.

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Thinking about expositions, I recently wrote a whole chapter of my substack series with about 60% exposition. I had the confidence to do this because it had to be done.

Not sure how it worked. I will let you be the judge of that.

Here is an excerpt:

A year later, Eleanor graduated. Ekong still had one more year of pharmacy school to go. And then came his graduation. It was every bit as exciting as Ekong had anticipated. The hard work had paid off. Walking up the stage to collect his certificate, his eyes scanned the crowd until they landed on Eleanor, standing, cheering, her face lit with pride. When the ceremony ended and caps filled the air, Ekong walked up to Eleanor, adjusted his gown, and got down on one knee. She said yes.

The wedding was a simple ceremony. Eleanor wanted that. Just a gathering for a few of their close relatives and friends. Ekong’s mother couldn’t join from Nigeria, but they set up a Zoom meeting for her to watch everything. The officiating minister kept everything concise. The vows moved both Ekong and Eleanor and their audience to tears. Everything said felt genuine and sincere. Love won. Everyone in the audience agreed.

When it came time for the bouquet toss, Eleanor’s best friend, the bridesmaid, caught the flowers in a very performative jump and ear-piercing screams, which left everyone reeling with laughter.

The reception was stripped of extravagance. A simple event centre with minimal decorations. A long table set in front for the bride, groom, groomsman and bridesmaid, and round tables with chairs set for the guests. The food was homemade—jollof rice, grilled chicken, roast beef, small chops, and warm puff-puffs served in paper cones. There were also raspberry cheesecake and chocolate, and vanilla ice cream for dessert. No caterers in suits, just aunties and uncles mirthful as they passed plates and refilled drinks. The playlist was a shared Spotify list, curated by friends who knew exactly what songs made Eleanor dance and which ones made Ekong smile. There was no MC, no spotlight choreography, no dramatic cake reveal. Just toasts—raw, humorous, and tender—from people who knew their journey. Eleanor’s older brother, James, spoke of childhood games, Eleanor's peculiar choice of boyfriends and late-night sneak-ins; Ekong’s best friend, Carlyle, told the story of when he first heard Ekong talk about Eleanor.

‘Like she was the eighth wonder, an answered prayer,’ Carlyle said.

And then, they danced. Not a rehearsed couple’s dance, but the kind of dance born from real joy and shyness.

It doesn’t get expository than this.

Also, I believe it gave it this kind of fast pace, which is needed, so the reader is not overwhelmed with somewhat unnecessary backstory.

Thoughts on this?

That said, it feels good to be able to talk to you all about writing again.

My unsolicited two cents on writing always feels like an intimacy with you guys.

Thank you for reading!

As usual, let’s talk in the comments!

1. Now, I am careful of my use of this term, in case I missed the literature class it was taught in.