Implicit vs. Explicit Exposition

"Dear Voyna, I don't know what brought me here, but I read parts of your text. As someone who dabbled into writing fantasy for a few years now … I just decided to write the following little review. Honestly, reading your text was quite hard. Not because of grammar, but because of the terminology you used. Within the first paragraph the reader (me in this case) gets introduced to so many new terms/ names that it is hard to stay focused. Drawing in the attention of a potential reader should be the core aim of any writer regardless of the genre. Too many unknown terms without any explanation did not induce a sense of mystery, but bored me. I felt compelled to just shelve your text immediately. I felt like I missed a lot of background knowledge. (Diablo games like...?) Yes, exposition is hard. But to my knowledge, there are 2 main ways to do it. The explicit way, how you did it I think, where you could also title the chapter "exposititon", and the implicit way, that I would like to advertise. Implicit - How?: Start with your story from the first line. It's fine to throw the reader into an unfamiliar environment, if you "explore" (implicit exposition) together with him/her. Feed them bits and pieces of exposition as your story progresses. In my opinion implicit exposition feels more "natural" and draws the reader in. Famous example - Explicit exposition: The beginning of "The Lord of the Rings"-Tolkien (The prophecy/ The first lines about the shire are quite explicit exposition and a quite well known example.) Famous example - Implicit exposition: "A song of Ice and Fire" (Game of Thrones) - George R. R. Martin => RR. Martin refrains from a lot of exposition in one, big chunk and one only gets to know the world of Westeros by reading the books and following the story. Still it doesn't feel, like you don't know enough (as a reader) to follow the story. Maybe that was a bit convoluted, but I hope you still get my main point. Your text has too many unknown tems/ words/ names and in turn lacks the elements that draw in the attention of the reader (eg. a fast paced story - the "fast" is something I struggle with for example) That's nothing unfixable per se though. Everyone starts like that. Just work on it and you will develop a feeling for "how much new terms are too much" over time. (And get others to read it ... even if it can be a frightening thing at first! :) With kind regards, SinnerNoSaint"