Friday, November 26, 2010

Exposition Bombs Away!

I was just relaxing to some trashy TV and wondered whether was a literary term for when writers make characters say things they would never actually say solely for the benefit of the audience. Doesn't this drive you nuts?

One entry on TVTropes calls it an ExpositionBomb.

Some short stories are almost entirely dialogue and probably more prone to this sort of thing, but naturally you see it in TV and movies more often than novels. I love it when a story is told effectively without the characters having to say stupid things to hold my hand through the plot.

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