Today, at #MotiveMeansOpportunity — The Importance of Dialogue
A Brief Study on Using Dialogue in Fiction, by E. Michael Helms
(Author’s note: I was feeling “preachy” today, so I decided to present a sermon on one of my pet peeves in writing. Please forgive my verbosity.)
What is dialogue?
Dialogue is a new, invented language (not a reproduction of how people actually speak; it’s the writer’s job to create effective, believable dialogue)
Dialogue is action (characters interacting with each other)
Dialogue is drama (the story, or plot, is unfolding or moving forward by what the characters say)
Dialogue is immediate scene (characters are on-stage, playing out the scene before the reader’s eyes)
Two of the most common faults I find with many fiction manuscripts are:
1) Too much narrative summary (i.e., too much “telling”, not enough “showing”)
2) Stiltedor poor, ineffectivedialogue
Let’s look at Narrative summary (i.e., what’s happening off-stage) versus Immediate Scene (i.e…
View original post 3,595 more words
We fiction writers can’t help it. We’re absorbed by the details, the minutiae of someone’s life that reveal those individuals to us in ways their words usually don’t. We’re curious beyond the norm.
On July 1, 1999 twenty-one writer friends decided to write a novel. Nothing surprising there, they were each writing their own novel. It wasn’t a group effort. To sweeten the pot, they added a ticking clock. They would do it in a month. No Plot? No Problem! is essentially the story of that first NaNo, and a handbook of how to avoid their pitfalls. I highly recommend it. Even in non-NaNo months. My…
E. Michael Helms 