One of the great things you can do with exposition via dialogue is Holmes&Watson.
Holmes&Watson techniques go back to Plato and occur between two characters (which means it can occur between a character and themselves (Adam Baldwin talking to the mirror while shaving in The Hunt for Red October is an example)), a human and a non-human, two non-humans, … Many times this technique is used in classroom settings when the professor/teacher/lecturer explains to students/participants.
What’s required aside from two characters is that one character be a subject-matter expert or SME, meaning they have extremely deep knowledge of a given field (and often several). The other character has normal/average understanding of things, and some of that understanding is usually flawed.
Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson are probably the best known examples of this technique. Holmes explains to Watson how he came up with – to him – obvious conclusions to mystifying situations. This technique – as indicated above – is ancient. Look through any type of murder mystery be it in print, digital, online, a TV show, a movie, and you’ll find one person explaining to the other. It appears in many other genres, too. Whenever the author wants to make sure the reader understands something. The basis for this is using a character to let the reader know how they should react to something happening in the story.
What most people fail to realize is the best Watsons are reader/audience substitutes. They take the place of the reader so the author can explain what’s going on in the story and thus keep the reader up to speed with the plot, et cetera.
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