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Learn · Narrative Problems
Dialogue craft
Characters pass lore or backstory back and forth that both individuals already intimately know.
Characters tell each other facts they already know simply so the reader can catch up on backstory or lore.
Spread facts across conflict scenes, revealing only what speakers need at that exact moment
Use disagreement to reveal the world, such as characters holding two conflicting versions of history
Move static historical facts to narration or embedded narrative props
Before"As you know, Marcus, since our father died in the Great Cleansing ten years ago and left us with nothing but this magic medallion, we have had to work twice as hard to pay our family debts to the guild."
After"The guild collector is downstairs," Marcus said, tossing an empty leather pouch onto the table. "He brought a ledger from the winter before the fire. He's still counting our father's signatures."
Commonly known as the "As you know, Bob" trap, this issue involves weaponizing dialogue to deliver blocks of world-building or backstory. It occurs when an author defers their world-building entirely to spoken scenes because they are afraid that narrative summaries will slow down the pace.
However, forcing two characters who share an intimate history to unnaturally explain that history to one another stalls the narrative engine completely. The text reads like a tutorial transcript rather than an organic interaction, signaling to the reader that the characters are speaking to the audience instead of to each other.