![]() Some things to remember about how to write dialogue: If you’re seeing a lot of adverbs, it’s time to really examine your dialogue and make sure you’re conveying what you need to in the actual scene and not leaning on adverbs as a crutch. That’s not what you should be aiming for. If it is well-written, the reader learns new things without even realizing.Īdverbs and the other kinds of errors that clutter your dialogue tags just get in the way of good dialogue and make it too… obvious. Good dialogue is very information-dense without hitting you over the head. what they keep inside, what people are planning to do, what people did, how people feel about things, etc. It tells us who a character is, how they talk, what they think, what they say aloud vs. They don’t add much - only in special circumstances do they work - and they are usually a sign of a writer not trusting their reader.ĭialogue conveys things. Don’t cut all adverbs out of your manuscript, but prune… aggressively. You think they’re a really good idea, then you eat a couple and you realize they’re much better in moderation. For the last time, folks, let’s lay it all out there: adverbs are like corn dogs. This one needs no introduction or explanation. The rest could be trimmed back significantly. ![]() The only actions we really needed, I suppose, are Chris taking out his phone to check the time and Suzie pushing herself away from the table. I couldn’t keep track of the dialogue because there was so much business in between. What’s going on in this scene? What are the characters saying? Do we even really care? I don’t. Suzie pushed her chair away from the table, leaving her sandwich nearly whole on its red checkered wrapper. “Impossible, there are at least a dozen vents.” Chris put his phone away and folded his hands in his lap. “It’s the third time this week Biff’s shoved him in that locker.”Ĭhris reached into his pocket and checked the time on his phone. Suzie chased her bite with a sip of Diet Coke from her dewy wax cup. “I gueff,” Chris said, his mouth full of burrito. “I don’t know, I mean, he’s got to come out of there sometime,” Suzie said, ripping a bite out of her turkey sandwich with her perfectly white teeth. Here’s an example of one short, continuous snippet that starts to read like choreography because of all the dialogue tags (sorry, indentation and blogging do not go together): Sure, but when you do it too much, it really drags your dialogue down. You want to make sure your reader gets what these characters are physically doing in space, right? You want them to see your characters like they see actors in a movie. In real life, we take pauses in our speech, we fiddle with our keys, we put a tea saucer down then pick it back up again (if we’re classy enough to drink it out of fine china). ![]() You have these characters in your head and they’re moving around the place you’ve imagined for them. Writing dialogue sometimes feels like doing blocking for a play or directing actors in a movie. Don’t Use Dialogue Tags to Choreograph Action Be careful not to repeat yourself (like I just did). If we separated those tags from the dialogue and used either the description or the dialogue alone, we would still convey the same emotions. In the examples above, the action or adverb basically echo what is conveyed in dialogue. These are technically not bad attempts at writing dialogue. “Oh yeah? What’s it to you?” she said, testily. “I’m so angry, I could spit!” she growled, nearly snorting fire from her flared nostrils.Īlex’s hands flew to blot at his crimson cheeks. Hint: this is where most of your ickiest adverbs will be. Go back through your manuscript and see if you’re saying anything twice in a single line… once in your dialogue, another time in your tag. Redundancy in dialogue tags is a big issue, as anything redundant in your manuscript sticks out like a big old zit in a prom photo. Here are some of the most common, so you can play along at home and edit them out of your revision. When I’m reading manuscripts, I always note some dialogue tag issues. ![]() Don’t clutter your scene with dialogue tags, let what’s being spoken take center stage. But there are dialogue tags, and there are excellent dialogue tags. If the actual line of dialogue is the meat of the sentence, these little guys hang somewhere around or within it and add information.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |