We're back! This week in Reading with Daniel, the novel-reading club for writers, we are talking about the early middle chapters of our current novel, A Gentleman in Moscow, by Amor Towles -- focusing on how the novel delivers "just in time" exposition.

A Gentleman in Moscow: just-in-time exposition

Join the discussion below!

Synposis:

(Alert that suicidal thoughts play a role in these chapters)

The Count tells some men in the hotel bar of how he came to live in Paris: he shot and injured a fellow aristocrat who manipulated and insulted his sister. He resolves to end his life given the limited options available to him. But a chance encounter on the roof changes his mind, and he decides instead -- we discover in the following chapters -- to get a job that he can devote himself to. By 1930, he has been working expertly as the head waiter at the hotel restaurant, using his skills of people watching, his good taste, and his sense of decorum to do a fine job. His on off relationship with the actress Anna continues (her career suffers under the crueler and more orthodox Stalinist regime) -- and then a mysterious government figure seeks him out for tutoring.

Craft Lesson : the doorway to exposition

Many writers worry about using too much exposition. I love the way that Towles introduces lots and lots of backstory, historical context, and commentary, but does it in a way that seems "just at the right moment."

I wish this particular newsletter were longer but honestly I can only describe what I think he is doing! I would love to hear your take.

Notice how Towles will introduce a change to the Count's world and then comment something like,

"But why would Anna...?"

"For..."

"Indeed..."

These intros then lead into a passage of exposition. Rather than feeling like the exposition is coming in for no reason, we feel eager to find out what is going on because:

1. We see something has changed

2. We know it's important to the Count

Those two elements are like the doorway to successful exposition. We feel grateful rather than bored.

Why does a famous actress choose to return to the Count? We first see them together again and then the narrator tells the story of her change in circumstance.

Maybe I am pushing this lesson too far, but I also got the sense that sometimes the passages of exposition themselves resembled this "just in time quality."

See the account of Anna's fall from grace in "An Afternoon Assignation." The mood of the regime changes, and her films become unpopular with the Party... but what is the concrete and specific turning point? Stalin himself watches and becomes unhappy.

Try this out in your own work! Create a new situation for your protagonist and show on the page that:

Something has changed
This matters to the protagonist

Then give us the story (the exposition), whether that is another character telling the protagonist the juicy details or another source.

What do you think about this idea?

Yours,

Daniel

To An Alliance: on exposition

This course is only available for enrolled students only.

Weekly newsletters

Audio Lessons

Newsletters for The Age of Innocence

Audio Lessons

Newsletters

Video lessons

Audio Lessons

Newsletters

Audio Lessons

Newsletters

Audio Lessons

Newsletters

Discussion

Newsletters

Zoom Recordings

Newsletters

Zoom Recordings

Newsletters

Introductions and Resources

Newsletters

Zoom recordings and audio files

Newsletters