Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop ✒ Writing Tips

Lesson 9: Why are dialogues important?

Dialogue is defined as a conversation between two or more people as a feature of a book, play, or film.

You can not write a full length novel without dialogues. It is possible to write one chapter or one shot stories that are completely lacking this feature but for a full fanfic you need to have dialogues included.

Why are dialogues important?

Dialogues are a very useful tool in any story. Not only do they give voice to the characters, but they are also helpful at many other levels. Dialogue is important because when you have dialogue it shows the character's personality, emotions, and actions. With dialogue you can show how the character is instead of describing how the character is.

Remind your reader that your characters are human by letting them know the characteristics of their physical world: sights, sounds, tastes, smells, touch, and the aura it creates for them.

Physical details break up the ping-pong talking heads dialogue on the page. Add action, reaction, and description of place. Dialogue separates long passages of description. It makes it easier to read a page.

Some examples of famous dialogues are included below:

"I'm going to make him an offer he can't refuse" (The Godfather, 1972)

"The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist." (The Usual Suspects, 1995)

"Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer." (The Godfather Part II, 1974)

"It was Beauty killed the Beast" (King Kong, 1933)

"You make me want to be a better man" (As Good as It Gets, 1997)

***

Keep in mind that while the plot is the main essence of a story, the dialogues are the spice which are just as essential as the plot. If you have good dialogues and a marvelous plot then nothing can stop your success.

But however if the condition is reversed, i.e you have brilliant dialogues and no plot, then that too is a complete disaster.

Stated below are the few points you must consider before writing scenes which have a lot of dialogues or characters interacting verbally with each other.

1. The way your character speaks is his/her voice and using that voice you can convey a lot of things to the readers.

2. The readers not only take the description into account before forming a mental image of the character, but they also consider the way your character talks, his/her opinions, likes/dislikes etc.

3. Speech is in fact an important aspect of one's personality and should be developed as such to give a clear impression to the readers on what exactly your character is.

4. If you are writing an emotional scene, then your script gets emotional too and kinda heavy. In that case make sure to use the right words to describe the situation.

5. Don't let the character do all the explanations verbally. It is always better to provide some background by demonstration (author's point of view on stuff / narrator's view). For example if your character is mentally distraught due to something, you don't just write:

Sara sighed, "I'm so mentally distraught. I think I will just die."

6. Instead of the character, take it upon yourself to describe the character's situation. For example, you can write the above dialogue in a different way as follows:

Sara entered the room, anxiety dripping from every feature on her face. She slumped down on the couch messaging her temples, all the while thinking about the breakdown going on inside her.

7. Love confessions. These are what take the readers and authors by storm alike. Make sure that your confession is unique but believable at the same time. No one would like to read four pages on two lovebirds confessing their eternal love for each other and then breaking up just after a few more pages.

8. Use scarce but meaningful words in dialogues. Not everyone describes everything and keep that in mind while writing. Especially the characters. The character can not explain verbally all you want to convey to the readers, And that is where body language comes in.

9. Remember, you are writing a fanfiction, not a hormonal teenage girl's secret diary. But if that is what you're writing about, then let it flow I'm not gonna stop you.

10. Whatever happens, do not copy movie quotes or song lyrics as references in your story too much. Or better still, just don't do it at all. A wisely inserted reference is tolerable but references added without an specific reason are simply damn annoying.

***

And that's all for now.

Next update will be up soon and I will try my level best to make that sooner for you guys.