| "As You Know, Bob." - When Exposition | | | | hands. We have several vitamin |
| Masquerades as Dialogueby: TK Kenyon | | | | deficiencies, and you've been picking |
| Author of RABID, coming in 2007 from | | | | your nose this whole time. Stop it, or |
| Kunati Books | | | | I'm going to kill you!" |
| If your dialogue sounds too stilted, you | | | | Or: |
| may have exposition passing itself off | | | | Dramatized exposition, and one line of |
| as dialogue. Dialogue's one and only | | | | dialogue: Ted pounded the coconut open |
| purpose is to elucidate the tension | | | | with a rock. It wasn't quite ripe yet, |
| between characters. It is not, ever, to | | | | but he was so tired of fish, and his |
| convey information. A bad example of | | | | fingernails stung in the salt water |
| what I mean: | | | | where they cracked and peeled. |
| Exposition masquerading as dialogue: "As | | | | Bob sat on the beach a few yards away. |
| you know, Bob, we've been stuck on this | | | | He was picking his nose again. Again. |
| desert island for twenty years, eating | | | | "Stop it!" Ted screamed and picked up |
| only the coconuts that grow on the one | | | | the rock he had used to smash the green |
| tree and fish which we catch with our | | | | coconut into meaty fragments. |