How can I strike a good balance between dialogue, summary, and exposition (used sparingly, I know), and how do you know when is the right time to use each of these in a scene?—Lyn South
Here’s your balance: 90% scenes, which contain dialog, action, and description; 10% exposition, which is summary and which must accomplish so many things simultaneously in order to make it worthwhile that you can safely eliminate this 10% and no one will ever mind. That would make your story 100% scenes, which would be wonderful.
Another way of saying this is, “Show, Don’t Tell.”
Is it possible to write a brilliant novel entirely in scenes, just one breath-taking nugget of dialog, action, or description after another, page after page, chapter after chapter, from hook all the way through development to climax?
Heck, YES. It certainly is. Many of the canonical writers did it and did it well. Follow in their footsteps.
Is it possible to write a brilliant novel containing at least some exposition (say, 10%)?
Yes. But exposition is much harder to do brilliantly than scenes. All you need to write brilliant scenes are five senses and the ability to accurately record what you get from them, then trim off the bulk of it, which is boring. I am absolutely serious, people. This is how it’s done. Even a line or two of exposition, on the other hand, must not only illuminate something hidden in your story (never, ever, ever explain it), but also do it either with the same details you need for scenes or else in stunning profundity, WHILE ALSO moving your plot forward in the same way that scenes do. And you never use it unless it’s absolutely necessary. You can see why it’s safer to just stick with dialog, action, and description.
Is it possible to write a brilliant novel entirely in exposition?
NO.
(I’m kidding, of course. Gabriel Garcia Marquez could do it. But nobody else.)