Thursday, May 10, 2012

Dialogue


I know that sometimes when I'm writing, facing dialogue looks like this to me. In my writing, there's way too much internal monologue and description, and not nearly enough dialogue.

So recently, I've made a goal to have a little dialogue as possible. One of the ways I've been able to accomplish this is by writing from the point of view of someone who really doesn't let people hear her thoughts (including me....grr....) I have to figure out what she's thinking by what she says.

In the most recent scene I wrote, this was really successful! It was a scene between her and her future love interest in the story. Most of the dialogue is light-hearted, but there are still moments where you see what they're really thinking. I learned a lot about how these two communicate and how they interpret what other people say without having to go through paragraphs and paragraphs of someone talking to themself.

Oh, and it's a lot funner to read.

Embrace dialogue--let your characters talk to each other, not just think. Don't overanalyze every line--just let them interact as they normally would. If the dialogue gets cut later, that's fine, but in the first draft it's really helpful to get the voice of your characters as well as how they communicate with others.

Anyway, just for kicks I'm going to leave you with my favorite little snippet from today :)

         Anaya: "Are you a man or not?"
         Matthias: "I'm a man who doesn't attack someone unarmed."
         Anaya: "Well, I'm a woman who can kick your butt with my bare hands."

Happy writing!


♥tg

2 comments:

  1. lol... I have the exact *opposite* problem. If I just let myself go, my writing looks more like a script than a novel--almost no thoughts or description. It's so interesting to see that we all have different quirks when it comes to writing challenges.

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  2. I've never had much of a problem embracing dialog either... it may not always be the best, but if there's something my characters know how to do, it's talk!


    I'm looking for some ninja writers to interview for my Ninja spotlight series. If you're interested, go to http://kelworthfiles.wordpress.com/2012/05/16/im-looking-for-a-few-good-ninjas/ to find out more!

    Ack! Annoying captchas. :(

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