Weekly Rants: January 16, 2013

Greetings Fellow Readers! Welcome to another round of Random Ranting.

Today I'll be sharing my 'Thoughts on Writing' once again. I'm sure many of you have been waiting awhile for this, so let's not waste time.

[Dialogue

    What is Dialogue?

    Very simple, it's when people talk to each other. Easy enough. However, dialogue plays a far deeper role than I realized. It has the ability to set the tone of the story, establish characters, and can even Foreshadow events. Dialogue can change the entire story with three simple words, or complicate a story with two many. It is also the most difficult I have to deal with when writing. Emotions play a role. Consistency in character behavior can make or break them with readers. Revelations could easily be forgotten as the story progresses.
     Unlike narrative where you tell your story and give characters their actions, what a character says gives the them their depth. You can have them look pretty and beautiful, but their comments can come off coarse or rough. You can make a character look ugly and disfigured, but their comments could be intelligent or wise. Dialogue helps a character become well rounded. Maybe 3 Dimensional if you play it right.
     One of the ways I make my characters dialogue work is play their conversation in my mind over and over again. It sounds insane because it really is. I personally sit in silence, with no distractions around, like noise. I focus my mind on the settings, story and characters placement, then have the characters act out the scene. Pretty much my imagination. Very basic thing that every storyteller should do. But imagining and writing it down are two completely different things. After all, once we read what we wrote on paper, it doesn't look exactly as we thought it would. But then as writers we have to remember that out readers do not think exactly as we do on 1:1 ratio.

     So how does one make dialogue work well on paper?

     For starters, I keep the conversations on topic. Whatever I set up in the narrative, the characters should be talking about it. The only time the characters should talk casually is if I set them up to talk casually, but if they are in a situation, I stay on that topic.  The characters verbal reaction to that specific situation is what readers are interested in.
     Another way is to keep the conversation between 2 characters. This also makes writing the dialogue easier, I'll get to that in little bit. That's not to say that having a conversation between 3 or more characters can't be done, but keep in mind that I have keep my readers attention from shutting done due to confusion of who is talking.

      So about writing dialogue is easier?

      I do find it easy to have two characters talking in a single for one significant reason; Said. Let me give you an example.

"Don't go in there." John said.
"Why not?" Mary said.
"Because the stairs are broken and the light are out."
"Oh. Do you have a flashlight?"
"Right here."

      As you can see in a two person dialogue you can tell who's talking without writing the word said after each line. The Order of Conversation. John talked first then Mary talked second, and they alternate one after the other. No need to use the word 'Said' on every single dialogue line. If you've noticed, you may have known who was talking without each line telling you who 'Said.'

      So what about three or more people?

      Unfortunately, when I am dealing with a bigger cast, and we all do. You just have to make sure that you use the word said to the appropriate person. One method I try, and I stress the word try, to do is to Reset the Conversation. This basically introducing a new character with Said in the line and followed up with one of the previous characters established by Said.

Uhh... Here's an example.

"Don't go in there." John said.
"Why not?" Betty said.
"Because the stairs are broken and the light are out."
"Oh. Do you have a flashlight?"
"Right here."
"Well what's down there?" Martin said.
"I don't know, but I'm sure we'll find out." John said.
"Okay. Though it is dark below."
"Relax. It's probably just rats."

        As you can see, I introduced Martin in the dialogue and reset John by writing John Said after his dialogue. Now Martin and John and are alternating dialogue and Betty is silenced.

       Now what about that pesky 'Said'?

       There is nothing pesky about Said. But if I don't want to litter my dialogue with Said, this where I have characters refer to each other by their names and acknowledge each other as such.

"Don't go in there." John said.
"Why not?" Betty said.
"Because the stairs are broken and the light are out."
"Oh. Do you have a flashlight?"
"Right here."
"Well what's down there?" Martin said.
"I don't know, but I'm sure we'll find out." John said.
"Okay. Though it is dark below."
"Relax. It's probably just rats."
"That's what I am afraid of. Rats nipping at Betty's feet. She should be safe."
"Martin, you are my hero. Now step aside, I have to get to the book."

        As you can see, without using Said, I had Martin talk about Betty to John, and I got Betty to respond to Martin's comment since it was established, through dialogue, that she was going down the stairs. Though this looks pretty basic, my "advanced" form of dialogue without using Said would have narrative action following the persons name.

"Oh. Do you have a flashlight?"
"Right here." John took out the flashlight and handed it to Betty.

       So what about using other words instead of said, like replied or questioned?

       I don't believe it is inherently wrong to replace said with replied or questioned or anything that described what the person said. Personally, I find it redundant when it should obvious. After all we do have punctuation marks that are pretty self-explanatory.

"What are you doing?" John questioned.
"NOOOO!" Betty yelled.

      Not only that, but sometimes the conversations can carry themselves without the need of saying who replied. Throwing replied, exclaimed, etc. can stunt the pacing and flow of a conversation because you have to constantly read 'He replied', 'she explained', at every dialogue or two. This can be frustrating for the reader. I know I, as a reader, feel that way when I get immersed in the conversation. If they have to be used instead of Said, it should carry weight in the conversation or plot, or else its best to just write Said and let the characters talk.]


That's all I have I have on my mind. Thanks for listening to my rants this week. You all have yourselves a good weekend.

Until next time...
See ya.