As You Know, Bob

Read Numbers 19-21

Numbers 20:14 "And Moses sent messengers from Kadesh unto the king of Edom, Thus saith thy brother Israel, Thou knowest all the travail that hath befallen us:"

The “As you know, Bob” conversation is where one character tells the other character something they both know in order to share information with the reader. This conversation tends to be so dull that the reader stops reading and not only doesn’t get the information Bob and his pal were trying to convey, she doesn’t bother to read the rest of the story.

There are other ways to convey information the reader needs to know for the story to make sense. One is narration.  Another is summary.

And if you want your characters to pass on the information, there are more interesting ways to do it. They could argue about it, for instance. Or they could find telling ways to avoid talking about it so both the characters and the reader know what they are talking about without actually giving information up.