As You Were Saying: A Primer on Dialogue

 

Christina Hamlett returns as Guest Blogger today with a wonderful post regarding writing dialogue. This is one to keep for reference when you're writing dialogue in a short story, novel, or even a memoir.

AS YOU WERE SAYING:

A Primer on Dialogue 

For new writers, crafting credible dialogue is often one of the hardest skills to master. Just because Art Imitates Life doesn’t mean our real-life conversations with friends, lovers and children will successfully translate verbatim to stage, page or cinema. Likewise the most common mistakes I see in my work as a consultant are: (1) The characters all talk exactly the same way, (2) They talk more eloquently than normal people, (3) They talk way too much and (4) They “talk” more to the readers than to each other in explaining backstory.

Happily, the remedies are plentiful—many stemming from the 16 years I spent in theatre as an actress and director. The better listener you can be to what your characters are saying, the more convincingly your dialogue will flow.

THE SEDUCTION OF SOUND

Stand-up comics have long known that words containing G, K, P and Q are funnier than other words, especially if they’re also coupled with repetition and shuffled letters (i.e., bass ackwards). Romance novelists rely heavily on words beginning with SL, SM, WH and plenty of OOs (literally and figuratively) in the middle. One needs only to observe the lips/tongue action intrinsic to these combinations to see why they’re so often used. In contrast, business/technical writers prefer multisyllabic words that favor B, D, R and Latin suffixes. There’s an off-putting hardness and complexity to scientific dissertations because—well, quite frankly, they’re not supposed to be easily understood by regular, workaday people.

Think about the power of short-vowel sounds versus long-vowel sounds. Example: “Now you’re just getting nasty” versus “Now you’re just getting mean.”  Though both of them ascribe inappropriate behavior to the enemy, the “á” tone in the first one is harsher than the more soothing “ee” sound in the second. This makes the first sentence pack more punch.

TIMING IS EVERYTHING

Have you ever noticed how villains communicate more slowly and seductively than those trying to thwart them?  Their time-clocks, after all, are completely different from those of protagonists; they have the luxury of an adagio pace because, presumably, they’re entirely too smart to be caught up with and, thus, have an ample head start. Meanwhile, the good guys are operating at prestissimo because their lives and Western Civilization depend on it. This is reflected in shorter words, shorter lines, and a lower level of abstraction. Villains often embroider their speech with analogies to classic literature, philosophy, and antiquities as well. Again it’s because they’ve had the free time to read up on all of this while the hero was busy just trying to round up a posse.

THE ART OF CROSS-TALK CHIT-CHAT

Dialogue is a dance in which both characters are simultaneously trying to lead. What keeps the readers fixated is the fact that even what seems like casual chit-chat is an artful cross-talk in which (1) Questions are answered with other questions and (2) Answers contain subtext which fuel the fires of controversy. Skillful dialogue can be likened to a vigorous tennis game where the objective is to keep the opponent off-balance by returning the ball as quickly as one receives it. 

Yet as much as you want to keep your readers on their toes, don’t confuse them by incorporating multiple ideas within one speech or scene. Let them absorb whatever it is they’re supposed to learn in Conversation #1, then move on to Conversation #2, much like a progressive dinner allows the guests to savor and understand everything about the appetizers before they move on to the next house serving the soup or salad. 

CRITICAL DO'S AND DON'TS

Dialogue serves four functions: (1) To reveal character, (2) To advance the plot, (3) To explain the past, and (4) To articulate feelings. If a line doesn’t accomplish any of these, delete it. It’s only taking up space.

Beware the Party Syndrome. This is where writers feel compelled to have their characters come into a room for the first time and get introduced to everyone else already there. Unless it actually is a party or meeting where such introductions are natural, find other ways to convey their identities to your readers.

Avoid long monologues unless it's pertinent to the character or plot. If a character has something lengthy to say, break it up with interruptions from his/her listeners or bits of business/action. 

Are your characters talking more to each other or to the audience as a contrivance to “fill them in”? Don’t let your characters explain things in explicit detail to each other which, presumably, they each already know. 

Never use a limp word when a stronger/sexier/funnier one would be more potent. It’s also important to remember that the physical order of lines not only impacts cadence but weight. Compare: “My mother was a hooker. You go with what you’ve got.” versus “You go with what you’re got. My mother was a hooker.”

Strive for vocal variety. Men talk differently than women. Older people talk differently than those younger. Educated people talk differently than those who are not. If every character talks just like You, this is something you need to work on.

Writing for the stage or screen? Here are some more traps to avoid: (1) Your sentences are so long that actors can’t take a big enough breath to deliver them, (2) You’ve used too many Ss or combinations that make for outrageous tongue-twisters, (3) You’ve ignored the reality most people speak in fragments, use slang and get interrupted, and (4) You’ve used words to convey what could be better communicated through body language and facial expressions.

A WORD ABOUT DIALECTS

As tempting as it is to incorporate colorful dialects, the problem is that phonetically illustrative conversations featuring Scots, American Southerners, Jamaicans, etc.  will only slow the momentum of the plot, forcing your readers to concentrate on the pronunciation of individual words instead of the flow of emotions being evoked. Rather than slog down the pace by trying to capture the nuances of foreign/regional speakers, concentrate on their colloquial expressions and speech patterns instead. 

WHO ARE YOU AGAIN?

I’ve saved my favorite peeve for last; specifically, characters who keep repeating each other’s names even if they’re the only two in the room. If you think you might be guilty of this habit, go through your manuscript and circle each time a character’s name is unnecessarily repeated. (It will cure you of this pretty fast!) Hand in hand with this is the repeated use of “said” in every line. If only two people are talking, readers can easily keep up with who is saying, asking, answering, etc.

Speaking of “said,” there’s nothing wrong with using it. Dull little word that it is, it’s less intrusive than combing your thesaurus for more complicated verbs. On a closing note of mirth, I recall asking my mother at age 10 what “ejaculated” meant. After recovering from her shock, I showed her the following line in one of my Nancy Drew mysteries: “Golly!” Ned ejaculated. “That’s really exciting news, Nancy.”

I daresay it was so exciting poor Ned couldn’t contain himself.

Former actress and director Christina Hamlett is an award-winning author whose credits to date include 45 books, 264 stage plays and squillions of articles. She is also a script consultant for stage and screen and a professional ghostwriter. www.authorhamlett.com.