Posted by Kale on January 08, 2008 at 18:21:14:
In Reply to: in fiction what is the difference between narrative and exposition posted by LP on December 21, 2007 at 14:03:36:
: I've asked several people. They say the terms narrative and exposition are just different words for the same thing. Is that true?
I bet you've seen a discussion about this elsewhere on the internet. I've seen them too. They all say something like this: exposition is used to provide the reader with information that does not advance the story; narrative is used to advance the story. What? I say that's bull----. Fiction is way too complicated for such a simple answer. Besides, that definition just doesn't work when you are actually writing fiction. You choose "a narrator," a point of view, a style of story-telling and then you tell the story. The story telling is a narrative. Who cares which part of it is providing backstory or something like that; it all "advances the story" or it shouldn't be in there.
Therefore, I say, they are both the same thing. If it's not dialigue or a character's thoughts, then it's the narrator providing the reader with information. Right?
I like these kinds of questions and I'd like to hear what others think.