Building Minimalist Dialogue

(Photo Credit: Pinterest)

“How could you propose to me with my wedding ring in a pizza box?” Charlotte screamed at Charles.

“I just thought it was reminiscent of our first date when we had take out with pepperoni.”

“That is not my point!” she snarled at him.

OR

“How could you?”

“The pepperoni was clean!”

“Not my point,” she snarled.

Okay. Every writer handles dialogue differently but there are advantages to using fewer words. The pace is faster, you can save your word count for something else, and it can evoke questions in the reader's mind. But how to get there?

Reduce dialogue tags. Dialogue tags are rarely needed when there are only two speakers – especially when they have different voices.

Reduce action tags. Action tags get boring quickly – especially when they do not add to the plot. And they distract from the main action (the dialogue).

Reduce description. Description typically slows the pace of the passage and lowers the feeling of tension (these can be good reasons to use more description, too). Further, by slowing the action, the passage becomes less dramatic.

Word choice. Go with words that the average reader knows. This means typically avoiding long words and foreign words. If the reader has to pick up a dictionary, it means she must first put down your book. Also, use of strong dialect can slow the reader down and lessen interest and/or involvement.

Multitask. Dialogue is my favorite way of stating the theme of a work. It is also a great way to show character and mood.

The "Yes" Cliche

YES (Photo credit: @Doug88888)

I was writing today and made this mistake. It brought my dialogue to a screeching halt. I had fallen victim to a clichéd "yes". I was brainstorming alternatives when I realized that no one had ever warned me about the dangers of a clichéd "yes". Here are some reasons to look out for it and some ways to improve on the simple statement. First, three common problems with a simple "yes":

1. If the person simply agrees with a single word answer, there's no conflict, no new information, and no development. With no obstacle, there is nowhere to go. With no new information, there is nothing to react against. With no development, it is a passive response.
2. It is vague. Yes what? Yes, I heard you? Yes, I agree? It just isn't worth fighting you about? Is the speaker just being agreeable? Is the speaker just pretending to listen?
3. It lacks creativity, the first response that comes to mind -- a seemingly easy way out that backfires when it drags down the momentum of the conversation for the reasons stated above.

Built into these reasons hold possibilities for solutions and exceptions. There are times and places for it -- times when a simple "yes" works. (Notice that your options are somewhat limited by your current point-of-view.)

1. Add information to the "yes" that complicates, characterizes, or develops.
2. Use a simple "yes" as an attempt to withhold information or as some other form of passive resistance.
3. Give the "yes" an ulterior motive such as an attempt to defuse a situation, a manipulative ploy, or a lie that hides true intentions.
4. Brainstorm other responses that raise the intensity of the conversation, send it in a new direction, or achieve any (or several) of the above possibilities.

These warnings and possibilities are not unique to the word "yes". Any line that causes your sizzling dialogue to fizzle out deserves the same scrutiny. Sometimes the word or line should not be cut. In that case, look beyond the most obvious, most common, use of the word or words. Get past the cliché. Say "yes" to originality and your dialogue will probably get back on track.

Braiding a Dialogue Scene

There is more to dialogue than talking heads. Dialogue scenes have four threads that may or may not be enclosed in quotation marks. Talk is what makes a dialogue scene, of course. Characters communicating and clashing through words. That is the first thread. The second thread is description. Description is difficult to handle through talking but grounds the reader and helps with mood. A limitation of talk is that it can only touch the surface. While this is what we must settle for in real life, the written word is a different medium. The third thread is character thoughts. The fourth thread is action. Every scene moves the plot forward and while talking allows decisions to be made, a conversation is not a concrete action. Action is usually needed to proved a sense of forward story movement. These threads braid together to create a complete scene.

• Talk: Talk is what the characters actually say. Talk is usually short and fast – rarely more than three sentences at a time. This usually speeds up the pace. When the pace begins to drag, consider using more talk (but only talk with purpose).
• Description: To avoid “talking heads”, the reader needs to know the setting. This can be partially conveyed in dialogue but some will simply need to be written. Description usually slows the scene down so look for places that the pace is too fast or a description of setting is necessary. A quick reminder: description does not need to be static. Active description will slow the pace less than passive descriptions.
• Thought: Thought adds depth and logic by telling (not showing) the view-point character's unspoken reactions. After all, the logical flow of a scene is stimulus-reaction-action. Thought is a way to show reaction. Talking is always an action. It may express a reaction, but it is exactly that – an expression. Thought can also add depth to the conversation by sharing with the reader what the character cannot – or will not – say aloud. Thought can emphasize emotion and reveal motives, lies, rationalizations, or inner conflict.
• Action: Decisions can be made through talking but talking alone does not change the world. Physical action is needed to carry out any resolution or impulse. Physical motion gives readers a feeling of forward motion in the story. Even small actions during dialogue can accelerate the pace of the scene. And action makes dialogue more realistic since conversations seldom last long without some kind of physical movment.

Suspense in Dialogue

There are many ways to introduce suspense into dialogue. Suspense is the element of uncertainty. What is going on? What will happen next? Because dialogue is “people telling other people things”, you may wonder how the sharing of information can lead to uncertainty.

• Revelations: The realization that things are not as they seemed a minute ago. This can evoke feelings of wonder, surprise, or unease. Questions arise in the reader's mind about what the revelation means for the character's future.
• Threat: The belief that the character has somehow come under attack. The threat may be to physical well-being, but the threat could also be mental or emotional. The threat usually connects to the scene goal and complicates the goal somehow. The reader should be left uncertain how the character will respond to the threat.
• Thoughts: Often this happens when a viewpoint character thinks something that cannot be said aloud. Thoughts reveal information to the reader that non-viewpoint characters are (usually) not privy to. The reader should be led to wonder if/how/when the “secret” will come out. If the thought is one of inner conflict, the reader will be uncertain how the character will cope. Plans for future action can also be suspenseful, especially if the POV character is unsure whether the plan will succeed.
• Theme: Have a character state the theme and let other characters react. Because the theme is the central topic of your WIP, your characters will have strong – and different opinions about it (even something like “love conquers all” can be controversial for your characters). Voicing the theme can create momentary suspense because the reader knows there are characters who strongly disagree and the reader wonders how such a character will react.

How to Write Dialogue (video)

http://www.videojug.com/film/how-to-write-dialogue

A video about writing good dialogue, especially for introducing and maintaining conflict.

Dramatic Dialogue: Steps to Great Conversation Dialogue

http://www.creativejuicesbooks.com/dramatic-dialogue.html

found by shutethesquare on Tumblr

She says about the link...

Dialogue in a story is different from real-life talk. If we were to record a normal conversation we’d find it filled with idle chatter, incomplete thoughts and broken sentences. Most real-life conversations would be too tedious to read.
Written dialogue has to capture and hold the attention of readers. If your characters ramble on, the way people do in real life, you’ll lose your audience. So cut out the flab: words that don’t serve any useful purpose, sentences and paragraphs that cause the story to drag.