Indirect exposition, sometimes called , is a technique of
worldbuilding in which the reader is gradually exposed to background information about the world in which a story is set. The idea is to
clue the readers in to the world the author is building without them being aware of it. This can be done in a number of ways: through
dialogues,
flashbacks, characters' thoughts, or the narrator telling a
backstory. Indirect exposition has always occurred in storytelling incidentally, but is first clearly identified in the modern literary world, in the writing of
Rudyard Kipling. In his stories set in
India like
The Jungle Book, Kipling was faced with the problem of Western readers not knowing the culture and environment of that land, so he gradually developed the technique of explaining through example. But this was relatively subtle, compared to Kipling's
science fiction stories, where he used the technique much more obviously and necessarily, to explain an entirely fantastic world unknown to any reader, in his
Aerial Board of Control universe, starting with the novella "
With the Night Mail" (1905). Kipling's writing influenced other science fiction writers, most notably the "Dean of Science Fiction",
Robert Heinlein, who became known for his advanced rhetorical and storytelling techniques, including indirect exposition. The word
incluing is attributed to fantasy and science fiction author
Jo Walton. She defined it as "the process of scattering information seamlessly through the text, as opposed to stopping the story to impart the information." "Information dump" (or info-dump) is the term given for overt exposition, which writers want to avoid. In an
idiot lecture, characters tell each other information that needs to be explained for the purpose of the audience, but of which the characters in-universe would already be aware. Writers are advised to avoid writing dialogues beginning with "As you well know, Professor, a prime number is..." == See also ==