Probably the best framework to think about and analyse dialogue ever. Seriously, absolute gold; confirmed and crystalised my approach succinctly. Oh, and I enjoy your (spoken) voice.
I'll often write out a scene with just the action, then ask myself, "What would my characters be saying during this?" This lets me gradually pare down the narrative, relating the events instead by implication through the dialogue. But with other scenes, I first write down just the (rough) dialogue, like it's a screenplay in which the actors are going to ad lib most dialogue. Then I fill in the narrative needed to link the dialogue and advance the action. Then I get rid of dialogue tags where I can do so smoothly, by adding a phrase or two. Lastly, I tweak the dialogue to its final form. One last hint: Often you can switch the speaker just by making a new paragraph, especially if you indent one character more than the other. This is best for snappy back-and-forth with short sentences. Example: John scratched his head. "Something puzzles me, Sam." "Yeah?" "Yeah. Why did he do it?" "The robbery? Or the murder?" "Both. He didn't need the money." "Agreed. He was loaded." "Exactly! So then why the murder? He didn't know the victim." "People kill for fun, John." "Twisted people, Sam. It's rare. There's a more obvious answer." "He knew the victim." "Bingo! But....how?" Sam nodded. "We find that out, and we've got motive." You can even do this with 3 or 4 speakers, especially if, as OP suggests, several have distinctive ways of speaking.
Huh I never thought about this with the dialogue being the only non-abstracted window into the action. That's an interesting point. Maybe that's why I find dialogue so intimidating to write - there is nothing to hide behind Another note - I think this "ideal dialogue works with no tags"-principle is overblown. Dialogue with loads of tags can work just as well. The fact is that two guys from similar background usually will just sound mostly alike. If you read a transcript of me and my best mate's dialogue throughout a day it would be mostly similar. The idea that they have to be so distinct can cause authors to overblow the distinctions. Another thing is that I mostly read before bedtime and my short term memory just isn't great so I like having someone hold my hand when I read lol. Anyhow, great video, I subbed.
I'm in the same boat. I'm most comfortable with dialogue. If I'm stuck in the narrative I'll often see what the characters have to say. Solid content as always, Duncan.
I don't know how people speak, so I guess I'm just not good at writing speaking.
Any line of dialogue can be said with different types of emotion.
So that's where it breaks down.
Probably the best framework to think about and analyse dialogue ever. Seriously, absolute gold; confirmed and crystalised my approach succinctly.
Oh, and I enjoy your (spoken) voice.
Thanks!
I'll often write out a scene with just the action, then ask myself, "What would my characters be saying during this?" This lets me gradually pare down the narrative, relating the events instead by implication through the dialogue.
But with other scenes, I first write down just the (rough) dialogue, like it's a screenplay in which the actors are going to ad lib most dialogue. Then I fill in the narrative needed to link the dialogue and advance the action. Then I get rid of dialogue tags where I can do so smoothly, by adding a phrase or two. Lastly, I tweak the dialogue to its final form.
One last hint: Often you can switch the speaker just by making a new paragraph, especially if you indent one character more than the other. This is best for snappy back-and-forth with short sentences. Example:
John scratched his head. "Something puzzles me, Sam."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah. Why did he do it?"
"The robbery? Or the murder?"
"Both. He didn't need the money."
"Agreed. He was loaded."
"Exactly! So then why the murder? He didn't know the victim."
"People kill for fun, John."
"Twisted people, Sam. It's rare. There's a more obvious answer."
"He knew the victim."
"Bingo! But....how?"
Sam nodded. "We find that out, and we've got motive."
You can even do this with 3 or 4 speakers, especially if, as OP suggests, several have distinctive ways of speaking.
As you know is probably a the worst way to convey info, but you allready knew that.
Dialogue is fun to write for sure!
Huh I never thought about this with the dialogue being the only non-abstracted window into the action. That's an interesting point. Maybe that's why I find dialogue so intimidating to write - there is nothing to hide behind
Another note - I think this "ideal dialogue works with no tags"-principle is overblown. Dialogue with loads of tags can work just as well. The fact is that two guys from similar background usually will just sound mostly alike. If you read a transcript of me and my best mate's dialogue throughout a day it would be mostly similar. The idea that they have to be so distinct can cause authors to overblow the distinctions.
Another thing is that I mostly read before bedtime and my short term memory just isn't great so I like having someone hold my hand when I read lol.
Anyhow, great video, I subbed.
Thanks, I like your point about over blowing the distinctions. Its definitely something that can be taken too far
Great video! :)
Thanks!
I'm in the same boat. I'm most comfortable with dialogue. If I'm stuck in the narrative I'll often see what the characters have to say. Solid content as always, Duncan.
Thanks!