Dialogue
Refers to words spoken by characters.
Dialogue should not be over-used, a story that ”Dialogue Driven” is bad. Dialogue should be brief, and allow the reader to infer deeper meaning
“Kalgoolie is a town where racial tensions run high” is a good example of Non-Diegetic Dialogue, that is dialogue not from a on-screen character.
What can Dialogue do?
Reveal characters I... er.. didn't take the choclate Sir!"
”
Make Scene more dramatic I really hate you!"
”
Move the plot forward There's no way out ecept through that weird door."
”
Examples
Dialogue used to hook the reader
Barabara Kingsolver; Unsheltered
“The simplest thing would be to tear it down,” the man said. “The house is a shambles.”
She took this news as a blood-rush to the ears: a roar of peasant ancestors with rocks in their fists, facing the evictor. But this man was a contractor. Willa had called him here and she could send him away. She waited out her panic while he stood looking at her shambles, appearing to nurse some satisfaction from his diagnosis. She picked out words.
“It’s not a living thing. You can’t just pronounce it dead. Anything that goes wrong with a structure can be replaced with another structure. Am I right?”
“Correct. What I am saying is that the structure needing to be replaced is all of it. I’m sorry. Your foundation is nonexistent.”
Dialogue is used here sparingly to remove the “boring parts” of their conversation this is done by entering the conversation late.
They avoid extraneious details that are uninteresting and unimportant to the story (e.g. Price to pay, how she’ll pay, introductions), and instead begin with a Sizzling Start, that hooks the reader by telling them that the house she cherishes can’t be salvaged.
Starting off in the middle of the conflict and not explaining it fully disoritentates the reader, mirroring the emotion that Willa is experiencing in response to the bad news.
Dialogue used to develop Character Relationships
Jane Austen; Pride and Prejudice
“My dear Mr. Bennet,” said his lady to him one day, “have you heard that Netherfield Park is let at last?”
Mr. Bennet replied that he had not.
“But it is,” returned she; “for Mrs. Long has just been here, and she told me all about it.”
Mr. Bennet made no answer.
“Do you not want to know who has taken it?” cried his wife impatiently.
“You want to tell me, and I have no objection to hearing it.”
This was invitation enough.
“Why, my dear, you must know, Mrs. Long says that Netherfield is taken by a young man of large fortune from the north of England; that he came down on Monday in a chaise and four to see the place, and was so much delighted with it, that he agreed with Mr. Morris immediately; that he is to take possession before Michaelmas, and some of his servants are to be in the house by the end of next week.”
Dialogue is used to develop Character Relationships, here Mrs. Bennet has long indepth replies, very often containing a large amount of substance. In Contrast Mr. Bennet responses are so brief they are represented by sentences rather than Dialogue, “Mr. Bennet made no asnwer”, or “Mr.Bennet replied that he had not”, implying to the reader that he has learned to entertain her idle chatter, if only for his own sake, hence ”you want to tell me, and I have no objection to hearing it.“.
Dialogue used Sparningly
Quote
Kyle gestures with his chin and #bbfabba6; color: black">(1) #bbfabba6; color: black">says, “Heard a bunch of guys killed a girl in Nebraska last week for doing that.” #adccffa6; color: black">(2) “For smoking? Harsh.” < #adccffa6; color: black">(2) Hunter says, “Half the kids in you can do it”
#adccffa6; color: black">(2) Hunter #fff3a3a6; color: black">(3) #fff3a3a6; color: black">says, “Your dad could use you in his factory. Save money on electricity.”
#adccffa6; color: black">(2) “He’s not my dad.”
She makes the silver flicker at the ends of her fingers again. The boys watch.
#bbfabba6;">(1) Simple Clean dialogue tags.
#adccffa6;">(2) New paragraph when speaker changes
#fff3a3a6;">(3) Quotes start with a capital letter, even after a comma.
A Show don’t tell approach is used in this exposition, we learn alot about ”Allie” (the person talking), we aren’t dumped with info, instead we are organically fed information, e.g. ”Your dad could use you in his factory. Save money on electricity.”, indicates her possession of powers, which was prefaced by ”Heard a bunch of guys killed a girl in Nebraska last week for doing that”, which indicates that she should be ashamed of those powers and keep them a secret, but that she doesnt seem to care to do so, and ”He’s not my Dad” indicates a difficult relationship with her father.
References
How to write dialogue, with examples