Too little dialog

[Bearman1]

Hi everyone,

A quick introduction: I have been reading the forum for a few months now but having recently started my WIP so I thought it was the right time to sign up.

I'm about 8 pages into my wip now and I'm having a great time writing it. Although I've found myself not including too much dialogue. There's obviously characters talking in it, but nowhere near as much as the books I'm reading; a song of ice and fire and wheel of time.

I think I get bored too easily with dialogue, I guess I find setting the scene and focusing on my MC's feelings more enjoyable.

Any advice on how to spice up long strips of dialogue?

Thanks,

 

[Svrtnsse]

The way I do dialogue if I find I have to include a long section is I first write a fairly short summary of what's being talked about. I describe the different topics and in what order they occur to try and get a feel for how the conversation flows.
After that I write out the actual lines the characters say. I don't include and speech tags or beats or descriptions of any kind. It's just the speaker's name or initial letter at the start of the line, followed by the words they're saying.
Then, when I have that I start on the actual scene. I copy the list of phrases and then write/edit in descriptions and beats and everything else around them.

This may be a bit backward and it may not work for everyone, but it's worked out okay for me the times I've tried it.

(admittedly, I'm still on my first novel and I've only applied this method to less than a handful of conversations).

 

[stephenspower]

I do something similar. In one draft of the ms I note what a conversation's about, the info conveyed, and it's overall purpose. In the next I provide some placeholder dialogue and flesh out where each person is coming from; And in the last draft I start drafting actual dialogue (which will change and change and change).

 

[Bearman1]

Thanks for the tips!

I think that might work for me actually. I always find myself being side-tracked when writing a conversation so I think your method will help me stick to the key points.
Think I'll go back and try it out with a conversation at the start of my chapter

 

[Devor]

I think a lot of new authors are too dialogue heavy. It's easy to get carried away with something you think is witty banter that doesn't actually conform to a solid scene structure. I consider "too little" dialogue to be a better starting point.

For me, I write the dialogue first, with only basic name tags and placeholder notes for the narrative side. That way I can focus on how the dialogue is structured and on the way it drives that particular scene, and make rapid changes such as trimming, before worrying about what the characters are doing.

A good line of dialogue should say a lot with very few words. A full page of good dialogue should be packed with tension. Using too little of it may be better than a lot of winded nonsense, but it can mean missing out on opportunities for a lot of powerful scenes.

 

[Bearman1]

I think that's what I'm going for. Initially I wanted to focus on my MC and the world that she was in. But now that I've that done that I've got to the point where I've realised very few other characters have been introduced properly.

I think using the method laid out I will be able to add some much more interesting traits to my characters without getting off-topic.

 

[T.Allen.Smith]

I think I get bored too easily with dialogue, I guess I find setting the scene and focusing on my MC's feelings more enjoyable.

I used to be the same way (probably still am this way to some degree). Then I realized I got bored with dialogue because I wasn't writing dialogue well. There was a lot of mundane conversation, the kind of small talk and side conversations that are a part of realistic, day to day life.

Once I realized dialogue should only be used for the dramatic moments in conversation, then it became fun. It changed to conversation pregnant with drama, conflict, & tension.

Now, I often find myself flying through those bits of dialogue writing because they're more enjoyable. It's a grand vehicle for tension and revelation. It also is a great way to enhance character.

So, my guess (without reading your writing) is that you're bored with dialogue because you're not using it to full effect. Rather it's working as filler or exposition type #2.

I apply Alfred Hitchcock's principle to dialogue:

Drama is life with the dull parts left out.

 

[Terry Greer]

I've experimented with scriptwriting lately.
This is a great exercise for dialogue as that's basically all you write.

In a standard TV or movie script you have to pare down the descriptions to very simple 'matter of fact' actions. This is because it is considered the directror's job to visualize it in detail NOT the writer's.
Of course you have to put some dramatic description in, but its very different (and much more toned down) to what you'd read in a novel (this also goes for the protagonist's inner voice and thoughts).

I'd suggest looking at a few movie scripts from films you already like and see what I mean, then have a go at writing one yourself.
It is very educational and a great way of forcing you to concentrate on the dialogue itself.
I find I visualize a lot of my scenes this way now, as if I was watching them at the cinema - it helps enormously.

You can get hold of celtx free script wiriting software to help :https://www.celtx.com/index.html
to help.

 

[Svrtnsse]

This sounds like really good advice Terry, I'll try and look into this at some point. Should be interesting.

 

[wordwalker]

If you get bored with dialog, maybe that's your own style.

Some authors just like description more than dialog, or maybe the twists in their plots. Or they do love dialog but keep seeing as small, key moments in streams of description. When you figure out what really works for you, embrace it; it makes writing much more fun, and readers love it.

At the same time, of course, work on your sense of what dialog's best at, and tips like these to make the most of it.

One suggestion I like to make is, don't think of dialog as always a warmup, a "talking before anything gets done." If there's anything that can change right then because of what's said--trust won or lost, established plans made obsolete, Dread Secrets revealed--you can plan that dialog around it as a climax or twist. Most talks won't get much of this, of course, but if none of them do, it's harder to take dialog seriously.

 

[Terry Greer]

One bit of advice I've always thought worthwhile (which comes from screenwriting and strongly applies to dialogue) is 'come into the scene late and leave early'.

basically you ignore all the pleasantries/greetings and set up for the scene - deal with the meat of what needs to be said, and then go onto the next scene without winding down the action and having characters say goodbye or leave etc..

Obviously you don't always want to do this - there are time when you want to respond to an entrance or exit, but generally it works really well and keeps the pace of the story higher.