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Tuesday, April 26, 2005
"Dialogue is important," she said.
In preparation for Monday, May 2, 2005:
HOMEWORK: Listen to how people talk!!
Bring some dialogue you've written for us to read aloud and consider...
Some Dialogue Conventions to Consider:
Each new speaker requires a new paragraph, properly indented and set off by quotation marks.
``Use double quotations,'' the novelist ordered, ``and remember to place commas and periods inside those quotation marks.''
``If a speaker goes on for more than one paragraph,'' the count responded in his heavy Transylvanian accent, ``do not close off the quotation marks at the end of the first paragraph.
``Simply place quotation marks at the beginning of the next paragraph, and carry on to the end of the quotation.''
Use ``he said'' expressions only when you must, to avoid confusion about who's speaking. You can signal increasing tension by moving from ``he said'' to ``he snapped,'' to ``he snarled,'' to ``he bellowed furiously.'' But the dialogue itself should convey that changing mood, and make such comments needless.
Action as well as speech is a part of dialogue. We expect to know when the speakers pause, where they're looking, what they're doing with their hands, how they respond to one another. The characters' speech becomes just one aspect of their interactions; sometimes their words are all we need, but sometimes we definitely need more. This is especially true when you're trying to convey a conflict between what your characters say and what they feel: their nonverbal messages are going to be far more reliable than their spoken words.
Speak your dialogue out loud; if it doesn't sound natural, or contains unexpected rhymes and rhythms, revise it.
Rely on rhythm and vocabulary, not phonetic spelling, to convey accent or dialect.
If you are giving us your characters' exact unspoken thoughts, use italics. If you are paraphrasing those thoughts, use regular Roman type):
Now what does she want? he asked himself. Isn't she ever satisfied? Marshall wondered what she wanted now. She was never satisfied. If you plan to give us a long passage of inner monologue, however, consider the discomfort of having to read line after line of italic print. If you wish to emphasize a word in a line of italics, use Roman: Isn't she ever satisfied?
Some Dialogue Hazards to Avoid:
Too much faithfulness to speech: ``Um, uh, y'know, geez, well, like, well.''
Unusual spellings: ``Yeah,'' not ``Yeh'' or ``Yea'' or ``Ya.''
Too much use of ``he said,'' ``she said.''
Too much variation: ``he averred,'' ``she riposted''
Dialect exaggeration: ``Lawsy, Miz Scahlut, us's wuhkin' jes' as fas' as us kin.''
Excessive direct address: ``Tell me, Marshall, your opinion of Vanessa.'' ``I hate her, Roger.''
``Why is that, Marshall?'' ``She bullies everyone, Roger.''
...MORE...
and still more:
Writing Successful Dialogue
Writing Dazzling Dialogue
HOMEWORK: Listen to how people talk!!
Bring some dialogue you've written for us to read aloud and consider...
Some Dialogue Conventions to Consider:
Each new speaker requires a new paragraph, properly indented and set off by quotation marks.
``Use double quotations,'' the novelist ordered, ``and remember to place commas and periods inside those quotation marks.''
``If a speaker goes on for more than one paragraph,'' the count responded in his heavy Transylvanian accent, ``do not close off the quotation marks at the end of the first paragraph.
``Simply place quotation marks at the beginning of the next paragraph, and carry on to the end of the quotation.''
Use ``he said'' expressions only when you must, to avoid confusion about who's speaking. You can signal increasing tension by moving from ``he said'' to ``he snapped,'' to ``he snarled,'' to ``he bellowed furiously.'' But the dialogue itself should convey that changing mood, and make such comments needless.
Action as well as speech is a part of dialogue. We expect to know when the speakers pause, where they're looking, what they're doing with their hands, how they respond to one another. The characters' speech becomes just one aspect of their interactions; sometimes their words are all we need, but sometimes we definitely need more. This is especially true when you're trying to convey a conflict between what your characters say and what they feel: their nonverbal messages are going to be far more reliable than their spoken words.
Speak your dialogue out loud; if it doesn't sound natural, or contains unexpected rhymes and rhythms, revise it.
Rely on rhythm and vocabulary, not phonetic spelling, to convey accent or dialect.
If you are giving us your characters' exact unspoken thoughts, use italics. If you are paraphrasing those thoughts, use regular Roman type):
Now what does she want? he asked himself. Isn't she ever satisfied? Marshall wondered what she wanted now. She was never satisfied. If you plan to give us a long passage of inner monologue, however, consider the discomfort of having to read line after line of italic print. If you wish to emphasize a word in a line of italics, use Roman: Isn't she ever satisfied?
Some Dialogue Hazards to Avoid:
Too much faithfulness to speech: ``Um, uh, y'know, geez, well, like, well.''
Unusual spellings: ``Yeah,'' not ``Yeh'' or ``Yea'' or ``Ya.''
Too much use of ``he said,'' ``she said.''
Too much variation: ``he averred,'' ``she riposted''
Dialect exaggeration: ``Lawsy, Miz Scahlut, us's wuhkin' jes' as fas' as us kin.''
Excessive direct address: ``Tell me, Marshall, your opinion of Vanessa.'' ``I hate her, Roger.''
``Why is that, Marshall?'' ``She bullies everyone, Roger.''
...MORE...
and still more:
Writing Successful Dialogue
Writing Dazzling Dialogue
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