DIALOGUE–THE PROCESS
As part of the immediate scene, dialogue should be interesting and engaging, never boring. It is a conversation. Before creating it, first imagine the scene. Where is it taking place, who are there, talking or listening, and what they should be saying to propel the plot. Whatever is said by any character or characters, should accomplish one or all of the following:
- Create tension.
- Arouse the reader’s curiosity.
- Cause a turn of events in the plot.
- Affect the relationship between participants for better or worse.
- Heighten the conflict in the novel. Conflict being the hurdle(s) that prevent a character from attaining his/her goal. (See definitions of conflict in main menu.) The hurdles may be external forces (e.g. the antagonist(s), or a natural disaster) or internal forces (e.g. the protagonist’s mind, or a personal weakness).
(Examples to demonstrate how the above is accomplished by expert modern novelists are covered in another section).
Dialogue should be interesting, which means that it should expose something not told in the previous scenes or chapters. In this sense, dialogue builds suspense, and can even keep it going. For instance, the concluding lines spoken in a section of dialogue could leave an unanswered question. Most writers agree that dialogue takes more thought than narration or action. They determine who will be in a scene and what he/she is going to say and with what intention, before writing the spoken words.
WHO IS TALKING?
Who is talking determines how it will be expressed. Is the character male or female, adult, teenager or child. In general, women speak more with emotion than men. Characters come in many forms: a nagging mother-in-law, a man after a woman with good or bad intentions, an obedient or a rogue secret agent, a serial killer without conscience, a determined cop or a detective, a flirting waitress, the president of United States. This will determine the diction, and the demeanor; what is said that propels the plot and how it is said.This distinction which characterizes the speaker is a speech marker. It tells something about the character. Many markers are employed by the writer, including the vocabulary. Contraction, normally permitted in dialogue m ( “I’m ….” instead of “I am…”, “You’re crazy.” instead of “You are crazy”) may not be used by characters other than royalty, or those highly educated.
Where is this person from? The spoken words, the way they are uttered (e.g. with or without inflection), the peculiarities of the language (e.g. use of certain words typical of that place to make the person sound real).
What is this person’s background? Is he/she a flunky, a high school graduate, top ivy league professional, a person of high status or royalty. The last three will speak more formally than the former.
INTRESTING VS BORING
The best way to learn how to write effective dialogue is to listen to people talking, real people. Make sure your characters don’t talk like them. Most real people talk about mundane things like the weather, the local election results, the high unemployment, stock market up or down, and the like. Dialogue shouldn’t be about subjects irrelevant to the scene and the plot. The dialogue can be about the stock market direction if the novel is about the Wall Street, and how it can be manipulated.
Example:
As boring scenes turn off the audiences/spectators in dramas or movies, so does the boring dialogue in novels. Here is an example of a turn off:
“How have you been?” he asked. …
“Oh, just fine,” Jack replied. “And you? …….
“Okay.”
The problem with this dialogue is that it’s neither fresh nor original and suffers from direct echo. Dialogue should be indirect and preferably oblique. Example:
“How have you been?” he asked. …….
“As if you really care,” Jack replied. ….Or ……
“None of your business,” Jack replied. …. or ….
“I’d rather not say,” jack replied.
The first two replies are confrontational, the third arouses curiosity about Jack’s health. The reader wants to read further to find out what might be wrong with jack. Suspense.