#EXPOSITION

[the-outlands]

Lions in the Crater steal a lot of their food from hyenas, or try to. A large group of spotted hyenas had killed and nearly finished a wildebeest when the lioness came along and tried to take over. The hyenas were made bold by their numbers, and without ever touching her they intimidated the lioness enough that she left. The struggle lasted about 20 minutes. I like the tension between the hyenas and the lioness.

Spotted Hyena | David Bygott

[bizarreauhavre]

Victor Clemente - (There's something in the water).

[prokopetz]

Expository writing is basically the drawing hands of prose fiction; it's clangingly obvious when it's done poorly, but it's even more awkward when you try to avoid doing it at all, and those who are best at it usually got to be that way because they have some kind of fetish.

[nemfrog]

Palace of Electricity sculpture. L'Exposition Universelle de 1900 : détails de sculpture. 1900.

Internet Archive

[packpack-killkill]

This is one of my favorite photos from Botswana. There was a black jackal den located in an open sandy area by camp. Our first group enjoyed watching the adults and 8 babies playing on a couple occasions. By the time we returned several days later with the second group, the den was empty and the jackals had moved on. The reason for this was that there was a mating pair of lions for several days in the area that came way too close to the jackal den along with several other pride lionesses and youngsters that showed up right before our first group left. I was bummed that the second group might not see the baby jackals. We looked for them to no avail. Then one day, my photography group spotted 3 adult jackals in an area so we decided we’d watch them for a while and see if they led us to their new den and sure enough, they did! The babies were all there and came out of this dead log once the parents arrived. After most of them were out and about, one of the adults went back in presumably to check to make sure everyone was out and I told our guide to stop and for my group to get ready for this shot. It was so perfect, a beautiful jackal emerging from a beautiful dead log and in almost perfect light. Patience and persistence certainly paid off this time around.

Southern Black-backed Jackal | Jennifer Hadley

[tigerleopardlion]

Now that’s the look that says, “I’m not sharing.” This handsome yet ominous looking cat is a large male puma known as The Dark (fitting right?). We were thrilled to have a little alone time with him as he came down to feed on a guanaco that was killed by a female puma. Although he is collared, it was through mistaken identity. Pumas in this particular area are not supposed to be collared but with his far ranging walkabouts, and middle of the night confusion, he was collared by mistake. Although plans are in the works to remove his collar, his movements have given researchers a lot of great information about his range and behavior. Although The Dark’s age is not entirely known, he is thought to be around 12 or more.

South American Cougar | Jennifer Hadley

[la-de-los-ojos-abiertos]

Juntos o Separados, Gerardo Feldstein

[opbackgrounds]

A lot of this info we already knew from Enies Lobby, but Oda takes advantage of the fact that Luffy himself wasn't present from the initial exposition to repeat the information, while also deepening the reader's understanding of how these currents work

[brunosussi]

Cyanotype - La Cadière d'Azur - Bruno Sussi 2023 ©

[tangledinink]

Here's the piece of Swanatello lore I can't make fit: why did the lake call him Othello? Why that name?

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swanatello.

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[pangeen]

" Fire & Ice " // © john kucko

[bizarreauhavre]

Philippe Rousseau, 1816-1887 - The rat who withdrew from the world

[prokopetz]

Writing an eighty hour action-RPG-with-life-sim-elements where what's actually going on is only explained on the bad ending route. Every action that's required to set a good ending flag also causes a critical bit of expository dialogue to never happen. You did the good ending first? Fuck you.

[physalian]

Introductory character descriptions

Friendly reminder about introductory character descriptions, especially those at the beginning of the book: To avoid it sounding entirely like an exposition dump, give a reason to why the narrator is noticing what either they or another character is wearing.

For example, worked on this first draft last night: 

Iris hauls up her pack and smooths her clammy hands down her skirt. At the time, the pleated corduroy seemed both durable and multipurpose. Her boots, too, knee-high but thick-soled, and her leggings—warm, flexible, already scraped up at the knees. Clothes she could have hanging in her closet without her mother getting suspicious of why they were so different from the rest of her wardrobe. Clothes that are not sprinting-through-the-Sakartan-wilderness attire.

First draft, so, you know. But! Character isn’t just describing what she’s wearing, she’s describing it in relation to how impractical it now is for her environment. It’s motivated exposition.

Shortly thereafter, Iris meets a new person, and describes them as follows:

Did she stumble into an unassuming temple, whole house left in sacrifice and worship of some celestial she can’t begin to name? They don’t look Sakartan, not just in coloring, but in stature, too. Lithe, frightfully thin with gaunt cheeks, a discoloring across their nose like tiny yellow lesions, and Iris has never known a Sakartan with curls. They’re not even dressed like one, wearing something that kind of looks like a high-collared robe, except it’s split up both sides to a wide belt. Leggings, like hers, adorned with leafy lace, and more of it on the edges of the belled sleeves. The black and gold fabric only serve to make them look even more ethereal. Iris flies through her catalog of fashion across the realms, trying to find a home for this displaced god in vain…

I might still trim it down later but it’s 8am on a workday and this is an example post. It’s still a lot of description to throw at the reader, at least in my opinion, but all of it is anchored to the narrator trying to figure out who and what they are and if they’re a threat, not just taking an aside to describe their features unprompted.

—

So whether you’re describing the narrator or someone the narrator is observing, giving the narrator a reason to give this description at this time and some reaction to it pulls double duty: You’re giving exposition, but still telling the story as you tell it. She’s not just describing clothing, she’s describing why it matters right this second and how both serve to hinder the conflicts of the scene.

It's not just clothing, it's impractical clothing, or it's far too bougie for this side of town, or far too fancy for an average school day, or it's all stained and ripped, which reflects the wearer as either destitute or on the run, perhaps. It's motivated.

[raw-wild]

Peregrine Food Exchange between the male and female who is receiving it.

Peregrine Falcon | DeeDee Gollwitzer

[tigerleopardlion]

With profound respect, we mourn the passing of Arrowhead, the 11-year-old tigress whose arrow-shaped forehead blaze made her the most recognisable face of Rajasthan’s Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve. Born in 2014 to Krishna (T-19) and granddaughter of the legendary Machhli (T-16), Arrowhead inherited a dynasty of resilience, grace and fearless hunting prowess. Even in her twilight months, while silently battling an aggressive bone cancer, she astonished visitors one last time—ambushing and overpowering a full-grown marsh crocodile at Padam Talab on 16 June 2025, a scene that instantly went viral and echoed her grandmother’s famed exploits. Forest officials confirmed that Arrowhead succumbed to her illness on 19 June 2025, just hours after one of her daughters was shifted for safekeeping—an end befitting a matriarch who always placed her lineage first. Arrowhead’s legacy lives on through her cubs and through the countless photographers, guides and travellers she inspired to champion tiger conservation. The lakes and bamboo thickets of Zones 2 & 3—once her dominion—will feel quieter now, but every rustle in the grass will remind us of a sovereign who reigned with dignity until her final breath.

Bengal Tiger | Jayanth Sharma