An Exposition on Story Expositions

A gap exists between books and short stories.

I am currently working on getting my first book, A Knight of Ur, published. I'm also drafting the sequel, The Dark Between Worlds. At the same time, I'm developing my writing skills by putting out short stories on my writing website. However, I have a sprawling list of narrative ideas that are neither within the canon of the Knight of Ur universe nor are short enough for a short story.

Rather than investing right away into drafting another book-length story, I've decided to start fleshing out some of those stories in a shorter form I'm calling an exposition.

How does an exposition work? First, I sketch out the various details of the story. Second, I draft a short narrative sequence, aiming for 4 pages of content, but let the words expand as needed. Third, I write the narrative and edit it. The end goal is to introduce the plot and universe in a compelling short form that does not have a definite conclusion. It's the literary version of a teaser trailer.

I hope my exposition writing will be a useful exercise in fleshing out my story ideas, generating interest in my work, and providing a solid foundation for eventual book-length narratives.

The first of these should be dropping in the next day or so. Look out for The Burden of Favor.

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