(Incidentally, aside: this discussion of exposition is making me want to Opine about Tales of the Abyss in the Media Analysis thread.)
I've actually seen the "as you know" exposition done well! It went roughly like this: a: "how does [thing] work/what is [thing]" b: "well as you know, [other thing], and then [explanation of how [thing] relates to [other thing]]"
That does work, though it's more of a "You know how...?" situation rather than "As you know", because I guess you can never be 100% sure that they do know.
For added spice there's the ace-up-the-sleeve option. Where you follow along as the plan unfolds, and it all goes according to that plan except it's not enough. It's failing, or one crucial element was a long shot that fucking missed. And that's when the real plan unfolds from under the flaming wreckage. Those civilian engineers we were trying to move who got tragically captured? Yeah those were never civilians. They've never engineered a damn thing in their lives, on account of how busy they've been mastering eighth level blood sorcery. Yeah, remember those blood sorcerers we might have said we misplaced? Surprise! Oh, also did you notice how our plan of attack moved one of our mages into each position necessary to create a giant blood sigil? No? Well brace yourself because they should be about finished with the ritual. Let's just say none of that blood was spilled in vain. Hope you're not squeamish! Hey, it's pretty much the same plan. Might be near identical. But in this version we win.
Grok. This is one author that I can think of, and it's only occasional, but it's an author I love, so it's killing me. I get what they're going for and I get what they mean. But one, I am aware of the particular fictional origins of this word, so every time I trip across it my brain literally narrates 'grok means, in martian, to drink deeply--'. And as a made up word to sound like fake martian, it doesn't scan like an english word. Or even particularly like a loanword. Ending in 'ok' without a double o is pretty rare in english, and it's weird to read, even apart from the alien-language-symbolic-meaning distraction. Like, I never read the book Frindle, because the concept of inventing a 100% redundant new word and shoving it into the dictionary just for the hell of it was irritating to me on a spiritual level. But 'frindle' follows spelling conventions that I'm used to, I can roll past the word without tripping. That is not the case with grok. The silly drinking water deeply = understanding something in depth is something that had use in its own place, but is not especially useful in a casual sentence about 'oh, I get it.' (also this canon already has a character named Krok. Who..... captains a crew containing Grimlock. GROK=GRIMLOCK/KROK, those are the rules, that is the official ship name now) .......krimlock
Like, I grew up in a household where grok was in common everyday usage. But even then it was always with a sense that this was jargon and purposefully a bit silly.
i never... thought to question the origin of the word grok. always seemed like just another word to me >.>
authors notes combining warnings with script-style conversation between the main characters and the author the first few paragraphs are approximately one sentence each, featuring only the spoken words the remaining paragraphs are about twelve sentences each, with spoken words from both characters mixed in with physical descriptions any one or two of these, okay. yeah. stylistic differences. the whole combination = closing tab, never mind
Also, grok as I learned it could not be used in a casual sentence about oh, I get it. :/ Like, I know someone who had a job programming firmware but never quite grokked programming or computers, by her own admission. As I've always understood the usage, grokking doesn't necessarily imply mastery (by the time you're a master you hopefully grokked it a long time ago), but it implies a deeper level of comfort and understanding. Someone who has grokked the material has internalized the concepts and structure in such a way that they can use them to generate novel things.
I hate all the noises that go into grok. They're acceptable noises that I can tolerate when they're off minding their own business, but not in combination :P Back when I was doing the ridiculous writing perseverating that I mentioned in the fandom gripes thread, I read about how this word was used in the original book, I've never actually read it myself. But it was a SFF book about how made up language could enhance a story in the right setting, but this that and the other thing, use with care, etc. Then as a weird kid starting college, I was... weird. I don't know. I float in a weird headspace sometimes in social settings. But this very-much-not-a-geek girl who became one of my best college friends, we were strangers living in the same dorm, and I don't remember the context, but I turned to her and said 'grok means, in martian, to drink deeply'. Which I know were my exact words, because she and my other friend never let me forget, all the way up to my senior toast XD So I've never been able to parse it as anything but a joke word (one I can deal with in casual conversation), I get weirdly particular about the martian culture-specific 'drinking deeply' connotations (from this book I never read) and comparing it to how those nice undertones tend not to show up in a lot of people's usage, it's made of noises that make me sulk, and it reads like a clashing color in a pile of English text. For fic-specific context (it's the one I just linked in the tf thread, actually), it's one of the most dignified, serious, humorless characters quietly thinking to himself and realizing oh, this is why the person I care about is unhappy. Except in the story it's this nice, tense emotional spot, and it reads something like 'Cyclonus could grok it' I just...... can't. I love the story too much to leave it, but every time I reread that bit it kills me. (eta: goddammit, I told myself to be sure not to type mercedes lackey.... and immediately typed mercedes lackey) (Anne McCaffrey's linyaari, on the other hand.... god, just take me now. it's the prettiest noises in the world all piled together for your convenience. It might throw me out of a story, but I'd be too blissed out over the phonetics to care)
I was the fool.... the fool........ who introduced it into my own life. My parents tended to nerd in other directions until I reminded them of the book, and my friends hadn't heard it at all. I am hoist by my own nerd petard u_u
I like the word and find it useful, but the only way I can see it working in fic is if it was in dialogue, spoken by a character who would actually use it--so, for instance, if I were reading a SU fic and, like, Connie used it, I could buy that! But I couldn't buy, say, Amethyst using it, and I feel like it'd come across as Weird in the narration?
