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Exposition in a serial graphic novel

NOTACOP

Dreamer
I am currently writing a graphic novel series in a typical fantasy setting. It's lighthearted in tone and doesn't take itself seriously. (I would go so far as to categorize it is adventure/comedy, the party bard is a rapper with a microphone for example.) My main issue I'm having so far actually has to do with the medium itself. Because it is a graphic novel almost all exposition has to come from dialogue and I'm finding it increasingly hard to do without info dumping by way of obtrusive narration or always having one party member need an explanation for something otherwise obvious. I was wondering if anyone had any experience with this sort of thing or really had any suggestions at all.
 

Mr. Steve

Scribe
While I have no personal experience with the graphic novel medium, the first thing that comes to mind is framing it as one of your characters writing his or her memoirs, or recounting their adventure many years afterword. Maybe do some cutaways from the story to your character in their advanced age either telling their story or pondering as they commit their story to paper?
 

NOTACOP

Dreamer
Oh that's a good idea. I have several campsite scenes that I could incorporate world building/exposition in characters telling stories to each other.
 

Queshire

Auror
What do you mean by exposition by dialogue? Just a picture of the person doing the talking and a speech bubble?
 

Julian S Bartz

Minstrel
Quite often Graphic novels or Comics have an info dump at the beginning. Eg a one pager about the world, sometimes written as though part of a history book.

It is seen as acceptable as with graphic novels it is known that it is hard to provide exposition. That being said a lot of comics just forget about the exposition all together. Letting the reader assume a lot of it or make it up themselves.

It is a different medium to a traditional novel.
 

Penpilot

Staff
Article Team
You can use exposition in graphic novels, just not boat loads.

Here's a link to a page from Watchmen. There are boxes where it shows the interior thoughts of a character.
http://www.bleedingcool.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/r1-600x622.jpg

I've been collecting comics since I was nine, I've seen comics where there's an omniscient narrator that drops in from time to time to deliver exposition, but I generally think that isn't needed, but it's been done.

As for dialogue. Movies without voices overs only have dialogue and visuals, just like graphic novels. The trick here is to frame your scene in such a way that the info you want to get out comes up naturally. IMHO, this is the case with regular novels too. The differences is graphic novels have visuals to work with. It's a-picture-is-worth-a-thousand-words advantage, compared to novels where, the story can dip into a character's head and hear their thoughts for long stretches.

Eg. You want to talk about swords? How about the characters visit a sword shop. Want to talk about a character's past? Have them run into an old friend.
 
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NOTACOP

Dreamer
You bring up a good point. I was thinking inside the box too much. I was trying to figure out how to portray information about the culture, lore, customs etc. using mostly my main characters . However there's really no limit to the amount of minor characters I can have in such roles as shop keepers, travelers or just some crazy nutter on the street.
 

KC Trae Becker

Troubadour
Thanks!

These subtle hints at exposition could be useful in a novel setting, too.

Let's face it, the readers are usually less enamored with the world we've created than we authors are, and the air of mystery from the subtle hints about our world and culture can add to the intrigue of the story.
 

NOTACOP

Dreamer
So as long as this thread has evolved into general expository techniques does any one have any cool or unique ideas to share?
 

Mr. Steve

Scribe
If we're just sharing ideas, in my current work in progress every few chapters I do a page of exposition of the history of my world in the context of excerpts from in-universe scholarly treatises, diplomatic missives, and even a military officer training text.
 
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