Publicity: Literary definition and examples of utilizing publicity in your tales
How do good stories start? In the middle of the action? With a slow build up of the action? What would you really say is the literary definition of exposure, and how can knowing about it help you write better stories?
Exposure is a literary term that deals with the beginning of a story.
In this article, I'll define exposure, talk about how it fits into the dramatic structure, give examples of exposures from popular novels, plays, and films, and then share some tips on how best to use exposure in your writing.
Let's begin.
Note: This article is an excerpt from my new book The Write Structure, which explores the hidden structures behind bestselling and award-winning stories. If you want to learn more about how to write a great story by mastering storytelling like the exhibition's literary definition, you can get the book for a limited time price. For the writing structure, click here ($ 2.99).
Exposition Literary Definition
The exhibition consists of a series of scenes in a story designed to familiarize the audience with the characters, the world, and the tone of the story. It is relatively short and there are no significant changes.
While in this article we will focus on how exposure works in a narrative, the term is also used in music, marketing (expo), and academic expository writing, where it refers to a broad reasoning for a theory or idea.
Origin of the term exposure
The word exposition comes from two Latin words expōnere, which means "to show", and expositio, which means "to expose".
The combination is helpful in understanding what happens when a story is portrayed: the portrayal of an advertisement, such as how a writer presents the parts of a story, including the characters, the setting, and the parts of the plot The story really begins.
The music world gives us clues about what also happens in an exhibition. An exhibition is the first section of a fugue or sonata form in which the most important melodic themes are presented for the first time. Likewise, in a story, the exhibition can be the place where the topic and main ideas are indicated with the fist.
Synonyms for exposure in storytelling are introduction (used by Freytag) and sometimes hook.
Knowing the origins of the literary definition of exposure can help you target exposure in scenes that structure your story.
Where the exhibition fits into the dramatic structure
In writing, we talk about the six elements that make up a dramatic structure. You are:
In a dramatic structure, the presentation takes place at the beginning of the story and is intended to trigger the stimulating incident, which is a moment in which the action in the story begins.
How long is the exhibition in most of the stories?
Since stories are about changes and values in conflict, the representation that contains no change is necessarily quite short.
Most exhibitions are only two or three scenes, and sometimes it's only half a scene.
For example, in The Hobbit there is only a few pages of exposure before Gandalf shows up and takes Bilbo on an adventure.
Think about how this works well in the story, remembering the exhibition's literary definition – how it sets the Shire, the tone for the novel, and the picturesque setting that will change drastically when Bilbo takes the house leaves.
Exhibition examples
Here are some examples of the presentation in the literature:
Example: the exhibition in Romeo and Juliet
In Romeo and Juliet, the exhibition is actually quite long, even longer depending on where you placed the stimulating incident (Freytag says it earlier than I do, but then Freytag has a different way of thinking about the structure of the story):
- Servants of the city's two leading families, Montagues and Capulets, quarrel in the streets.
- Romeo, a young Montague son, is depressed after being rejected by a woman and his friends try to cheer him up.
- Juliet, the daughter of the Capulets, scolds her parents who bring her together with a man.
- Romeo's friends convince him to attend a party at the Capulets.
At this party, Romeo meets Juliet and falls in love at first sight, which causes the exciting incident. Then the main action of the piece begins.
But only in the fifth scene does this provocative incident occur, which makes it one of the longer examples of exposures.
Note: Gustav Freytag argues that the invitation to the Capulets party is actually the provocative incident that would make the exhibition a little shorter with just three scenes. I get this from a certain perspective as it is the party that irrevocably brings the two families together, but I think this event is dwarfed by the instant attraction between the two lovers.
Exhibition length: four scenes
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If you're writing a novel, script, or other narrative, how do you write a great exhibition? Studying the exhibition in these story examples is a good start!
Example: exposure to gravity
In contrast, the film Gravity, about an astronaut trying to survive a catastrophe in space, has a fairly brief portrayal.
The story begins with Dr. Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock) and astronaut Matt Kowalksi (George Clooney) on a spacewalk with the Hubble Space Telescope.
Your spacewalk, however, will be interrupted when a missile attack causes a chain reaction of space debris that threatens to destroy much of the spacecraft on the planet.
This missile attack and the chain reaction of space debris occurs right at the end of the first scene, meaning the exposure is less than a scene.
Exhibition length: less than one scene
6 tips for a great exhibition
If you're writing a novel, script, or other narrative, how do you write a great exhibition? Here are some tips for thinking about the literary definition of the exhibition and how it works for storytelling:
1. Start with the core value of your story
As we mentioned in our discussion of storylines, every story has a core value scale on which it moves. When starting a story, your very first scene should address the core value of your story.
There are traditionally six value scales:
- Life versus death
- Life against a fate worse than death
- Love versus hate
- Performance vs. failure
- Maturity versus naivete
- Good versus evil
Stories rise and fall on the scale of these values. A love story can start in the middle of the love / hate scale, rise during the meet-sweet meeting, fall during a breakup, and end high on the love scale.
In your exhibition, part of a writer's job is to determine the extent to which your story is moving. Your story may play with several of these values, but whatever your core value is needs to be presented from the very first scene.
Are you telling a life versus death adventure story? Then start with your first moment between life and death.
Are you telling a performance story about a team fighting to win a major tournament? Then start with a scene that deals with achievement and failure.
Are you telling a story about good and bad? Show the audience a moment when the good is confronted with the bad right at the beginning.
Your exhibition is not just about presenting your attitudes and background information on your main characters. It's also about introducing the values into your story.
Then, when you start with these values and consider them as your story continues, you will find that the story comes together.
2. Include Conflict – Just because there is no substantial change doesn't mean there is no conflict or choice
Stories can feel slow and boring during the exhibition, even if they are from great authors. But they can really drag when inexperienced writers make the mistake of believing that the exhibition is just about introducing characters, providing backstories, and developing their world.
Please, dear writer, don't do that.
The portrayal is still part of the story, and each story relies on conflict and decisions to create plot movements.
Otherwise, your reader will read five pages of your story and then put it down, bored.
Your exhibition must still be a good story.
How do you actually do that How do you make sure that your exhibition contains conflicts and choices so that it can develop the plot?
Here's how it works: Just as a story contains the six elements of a dramatic structure, it must also be included in every scene. It is these six elements in every scene that keep your story moving.
This means that every scene, including a scene in the exhibition, must have an exhibition, a stimulating incident, an increasing action, a crisis, a climax and a dissolution.
For example, let's look at the opening scene in Romeo and Juliet, in which the servants of the Montagues and Capulets arguing in the streets.
We could sketch the scene like this:
- Exhibition: Two Capulet servants talk about their hatred of the Montagues.
- Incitement to incident: Two Montague servants come on stage and a verbal feud begins.
- Increasing complication: Benvolio, a Montague, tries to end the fight, but Tybalt, a Capulet, insults him.
- Crisis: Benvolio has to choose whether to fight and break the peace or be labeled a coward.
- High point: Tybalt and Benvolio fight until their fight is broken off by armed citizens.
- Denouement: The prince declares that anyone who breaks the peace will be executed.
Do you see how this, although this is only one scene in the exhibition, contains all the elements of a dramatic structure?
Every scene in your exhibition should also have this dramatic structure, otherwise you run the risk of feeling like boring info dumping.
3. Introduce most of your characters
The first impression is important. How you introduce your characters will be remembered by the reader throughout the story. Be sure to introduce them with exactly the impression you want the reader to take away.
You can introduce them through narration, description, or internal monologue (a character's thoughts), but the best way to introduce a character first is through dialogue and action.
Also, make sure you introduce all or at least most of the major characters in your story to the exhibit.
While you can introduce characters during the first act of your story (it's usually not a good idea to introduce them later), it's your job to introduce most of your cast.
This is a lesson I learned the hard way in my memoir work Crowdsourcing Paris, when I introduced a key character at the end of Act II.
When a beta reader gave me feedback that I needed to introduce the character earlier, I made a massive facepalm. I should have known better! So I moved the introduction of the character up, which made the story flow a lot better.
4. Set the point of view (POV)
Establish your point of view in the exhibition and then do not change it.
The point of view is the perspective from which you are telling the story. It will determine how your readers will get information, which is critical to how they experience the plot.
The main options are Third Person Limited, Third Person Omniscient, and First Person.
Just as understanding the literary definition of the exhibition is vital to storytelling, understanding the definition and application of viewpoints is also vital. For more information on how to do this, see our guide to ultimate considerations.
5. Save the cat
A tried and tested method of introducing a central character in the best possible light is to have them “save the cat,” a script term popularized by Blake Snyder in his book of the same name. The term refers to a character who acts selflessly, or at least admirably, to prove that he is worth taking root and pleasing the reader at the beginning of the story.
The term comes from Roxeanne, the 1987 film starring Steve Martin and Darryl Hannah. At the beginning of the film, Martin, who has an oddly long nose, literally saves a cat from a tree, making sure that you love him despite his strange appearance.
The admirable deed doesn't have to be saving a cat, of course.
Here are some examples of this device in popular stories:
- Aladdin. After stealing a loaf of bread and escaping the police, Aladdin offers two hungry-looking children his share to prove he is a thief with character.
- Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. When being an orphan and being bullied by the uncle, aunt, and cousin he lives with to bond with Harry isn't enough, he also befriends and then saves a snake from humiliating captivity. ("Save the snake" is a less straightforward guideline, but it works!)
- Pride and bias. Elizabeth Bennet is first identified as rootable by her father when he compares her to her sisters and says, "Lizzy has something quicker than her sisters." Then later we cheer her when she is insulted by Mr. Darcy and instead of getting angry, she laughs at it.
- The Hobbit. Bilbo Baggins, like many of us, both longs for adventure (because of his parentage, as Tolkien explains) and feels very uncomfortable with it. This inner turmoil makes him the perfect "everyone" hero who is thrown in the midst of a very turbulent situation with dwarves and dragons. He's like us and we always want to put down roots for ourselves.
While it doesn't require any selfless or admirable act, it is important to bond with your characters early on, and this technique is one of the best and most efficient ways to do it.
6. Build quickly on the initiating incident
As we have shown in our example, the exhibition shouldn't be long: as short as half a scene and as long as four.
The point here is to get to the point: the inciting incident.
The stimulating incident is when the story starts moving and a story that doesn't move isn't a good story.
So don't dawdle.
Do what you need to do to set up the triggering incident, and then move on.
6. Some books don't start showing
Just because great writers understand the literary definition of exhibition and how to use it in stories doesn't mean all stories have an exhibition.
In some stories, especially action, thriller or horror stories, it is appropriate to start with a short scene of heightened tension.
There are several ways to deal with this:
In Medias Res
In medias res, which means “in the middle” in Latin, is a literary technique to start a story right in the middle of the action. This starts the story with an increased level of tension at the expense of clarity for the benefit of the reader.
Audiences, unfamiliar with the characters involved in the plot, can easily feel aloof or even confused.
However, in certain stories and genres it is worth it to start an action right away.
A good example of a story that begins in medias res is almost every film in the Mission Impossible series.
Flash forward
Similarly, a story that begins with a look back (as opposed to a look back) begins not in the portrayal but in the climax – not a full climax, but a condensed glimpse of the climax. Then, in the midst of the crisis of that scene, withdraw from the scene and look back to the beginning of the story, the exposure.
A good example of this technique is Chuck Palahniuk's Fight Club (both the novel and film versions).
There are downsides to starting with a moment deep in the storyline, be it in medias res or a flash forward. You can miss the opportunity to build a connection between your audience and your characters. You also run the risk of confusing and disorienting them.
The writers who do it best are pulling the audience out of the plot as quickly as they attracted them and soon starting normal performance.
What always applies to successful stories is that at some point you have to get through the exhibition, even if it's not in the first scene.
Good stories start with clear choices
If you want to write a great story, don't start with a climax too quickly. You also don't want to start too slowly with no decisions or conflicts.
No, you want to start with a strong portrayal and use crisis decisions to introduce characters in a way that your reader can root them without revealing too much information and not creating a lot of movement.
Instead, you want to lay the foundation for all of the story that will happen in the future, starting with your inciting incident.
Understanding the literary definition of exposure and studying examples of stories (like the ones covered in this post) that include exposure with purpose will allow you to apply exposure (well) in your own story.
So go ahead and have fun!
WORK OUT
How well do you understand the literary definition of the exhibition after reading this post? Let's use the exhibit with the following creative writing exercise:
Use the following story structure as a creative prompt to write your own exhibition.
- Issue: ___________ (fill in the blank.)
- Incitement to the incident: A master thief shares the plan for the biggest heist of his career with his team.
- Increasing Action: The team plans the raid.
- Crisis: Best Bad Choice. Do you risk losing the heist for the team, or do you decide to save the team and give up the profit from the heist?
- Highlight: The master thief gives up the profit and saves his team.
- Solution: It was part of the thief's plan to miss the robbery or show up and he / she shares the profits with his / her team.
Start by sketching the missing representation in a single sentence. Then set your timer for fifteen minutes and write your exposure asap.
When your time is up, post your practice (and exhibit set) in the comments for feedback. And when you post, be sure to leave feedback on some of the pieces by other authors.
Have fun writing!
Joe Bunting
