Wednesday, September 30, 2009

More on dialogue

People react to things. And they react to most things with dialogue. I like to let my characters conversations work around their reactions. Something happens-conversation. And you know what the fun thing is about dialogue? It leads me to different places. New places. Places I never dreamed the story was going. Who was it that said dramatic dialogue has two audiences? I think it was Aristotle. The character being spoken to and the reader. And the writer is talking to both. Pretty good stuff if you ask me.

Writers need to listen to the world around them. Writers need to listen to their characters. I've read books where I knew the author never heard his characters speak. He typed what he thought they would say. We know that talking to your characters is a good thing to do. Don't we become our characters when they talk? I was Anna in my MG story. At times I was Claire too. They told me things. They showed me things I never expected them to.

An exercise I learned some time ago. I forget where. Strip one of your existing dialogues, so much that you take out the original scene. Ask someone to create a list of four or five details from your world. He might choose a detail from several different settings. He might use senses. Have him write this on an index card. Tape it to your computer. Rewrite the original dialogue and use these details.You might have to reshape some other things like the setting, etc.. But work in the original dialogue as much as possible. The part where you stripped it down. Allow the dialogue to react to the new details. Change context and speaker. When you finish a paragraph, if you don't see a scene, start over. Do this four times. Read them and look at what has happened. This exercise can take your story in directions you never knew it could go. And it can also lead to a new story. One that you never even thought you would write.

You'll be surprised at what you find. :)

14 comments:

  1. Haha, with you email out, I guess we're going to have blog comments for communication!! :) Corwin is taking me out this weekend (it was a surprise!) so I won't be in town from Friday evening to Sunday. Is next Saturday OK? Besides, I haven't gotten your work yet :)

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  2. The conversations between my characters are never planned out in great detail? Shhhh, don't tell Lady Glamis!! : ) Kidding! I just let the conversations happen. I've also been known to leave a typo in place because every now and then, real people, use the wrong word. And, every now and then, real people make fun of the person using the wrong word. So, I sometimes leave it in, alter the conversation a bit to allow for a bit of snarkiness between characters, and then move forward.

    For me, dialogue is the best part of writing. I love heated conversates between characters. Love 'Em! I love to reread the dialogue later and feel the tension, the conflict, the underlying emotions propelling the characters forward, ever forward, as they conversate! Sorry, that's my new word of the day. It's not 'let's have a conversation', but rahter, 'let's conversate!'

    Great post, keep 'em coming . . . especially since your email is still down!

    S

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  3. I guess it (my chapters)didn't go through because of the dang email being out. *she screams and kicks* I'll put it up on the group site. As soon as I can. :) Have a fun time and tell Corwin he's wonderful.

    Scott, I love dialogue too. I love showing angst(don't you love that word) between my characters through dialogue. Ain't it grand. And will my email ev-ah be fixed or is this the end of my SANITY? I gotta have it back. *she weeps*

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  4. I always thought that Aristotle guy was pretty smart. Thanks for all the advice. I like the piece about having your characters put sensory details in their speech. That'll be helpful to remember.

    I was just over at Ashley Ladd's blog and she was talking about dialogue too. She had good advice too, saying guys don't usually say their sentences as long as girls do.

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  5. Linda, I'd never thought about that. But I'll remember the advice. As a matter of fact I'm going into my MG story today to check on my guy sentences. Thanks. Yeah Aristotle did have all his marbles. :)

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  6. Interesting! I always write my dialogue for a scene first. Then I sprinkle action tags, POV, and descriptions later on.

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  7. That's a great exercise. I'm trying to work a dialogue scene right now. I think I'll try that exercise. Thanks for sharing.

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  8. Robyn, I love that line about teh two audiences. That's what I've been focusing on lately, and it's so much fun to think about.

    In a class, I once did an exercise where students were paired up. Then, we were each told to write a set of dialog lines based on a situation, such as a break up, with each student writing for a different character. We didn't know what our partner was writing. Then, we read them together, as an interaction, and the conversations still made sense even though we had worked individually. That shows how disjointed real dialog can be and how much fun you can have with it.

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  9. I agree with Davin. I found the comment about dialogue having two audiences illuminating to say the least! I think the mistake I make with my dialogue is that I focus on what the reader will hear rather than what the other character must hear. Hmmm. Something for me to watch out for in the new novel I'm just beginning! Thanks for the tip, Robyn!

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  10. I tend to go into my character's world and just live their experience, I guess maybe I should be looking at from the reader's perspective too. Hmmmm. Interesting exercise! Thanks for sharing!

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  11. Jennifer, Great comment. I like the way you do things. :)

    Susan, The exercise is really great.Try it.

    Davin, Isn't it fun? I've done something like you talk about. We wrote a story, 15 or so people. Adding characters and writing a part sending it in and then the next person would add theirs. It was fun and the story made sense. I had a lot of fun doing this. :)

    Ann, Illuminating YES! Isn't it fun to think about? :)

    Eileen, It is a lot of fun to do. The reader's view is so important. :)

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  12. Robyn, your post definitely made me think about dialogue in my stories. I love dialogue--it's my favorite part about writing. You're right, it does teach you about your characters. But you also have to make sure you're writing as your character, like you said, and not simply putting what you think your character would say--or worse, what you would say. That's an interesting exercise, too! Thanks!

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  13. Interesting exercise. I love it! It's amazing how many places different people can take what is essentially the same thing. Thanks for the idea!

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  14. Robyn! Robyn! Go check out the SCBWI-C page!!! I would call you, but I'm afraid it's too late at night. They just released information that there's a conference (one day) in CHARLOTTE on revisions! It's only $50--and there are only 30 spots! I just signed up! If you want to go, we could ride together!! Go sign up!!! :)

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