Post by account_disabled on Jan 6, 2024 3:37:18 GMT
In a story we all know how important dialogues between characters are . But is it really that easy to make them talk? In a certain sense we are tempted to answer yes, because after all we talk every day and in different contexts: family, friends, work, school/university, shops, etc. Yet, the very action that comes so naturally to us seems not to find in written form the simplicity that it possesses in everyday reality. Reading several previews of self-published books on Amazon I saw scary dialogue . One author ended every dialogue with an ellipsis, for example, another had almost all of them begin with “well”. But it doesn't mean that all great authors know how to write dialogue. If you make a three-year-old child use the subjunctive, I'm sorry to tell you, dear famous and esteemed author, but you don't understand anything about dialogues.
Can the writing of dialogue in a novel be improved ? Sure, but is exercise really enough? Not really, in my opinion, so I thought of three methods that I consider useful for learning to write dialogues . Read (and try to write) plays So far I have only read one drama and a modern one at that. This is Sunset Limited by Cormac McCarthy, sold as a "novel in drama form", but it is a drama, it is structured and written like a drama. I have other plays at home, by Shakespeare for example, which I have never read, and by other Special Data classical authors. This article is therefore also for me, since I was very poor at reading dramas. Cormac McCarthy is unreadable for many because he doesn't use quotation marks in his dialogue , but in my opinion he is very good at writing them. I want you to read a piece from Beyond the Border . Could you turn that stuff off? said the boy. Damn, that's a wolf. Yes sir, a she-wolf. What the hell. The pickup truck scares her. Scary? Yes sir. But what's going on in your brain? If it breaks free from the ropes it will eat you alive. Yes sir. What do you want to do with that wolf? She is a female. What? A female.
She is a female. Hell, she doesn't make any difference. What do you want to do with it? I'm preparing her to take her home. At home? Yes sir. For what damned reason? Can't you turn that stuff off? I don't know about you, but I can see that guy and the guy in the pickup truck talking. But never mind Cormac McCarthy, we're talking about drama. You all know what they are. Literary works intended for the theatrical stage , in which dialogues have a dominant function . There is a description of the scene for each act and every now and then, an indication of the author may appear next to the name of the character. Scenes and directions are written in italics and essentially represent the narrative of the drama. In Bernard Shaw's Mrs. Warren's Profession we can read, for example: THE MISS ( looking over the book ) This is Mrs Alison's villa. ( She resumes her work .) The description of the scene in the first act is half a page long, but in Candida it is even three pages long. Bernard Shaw will be one of my next reads. Reading plays also makes us understand the rhythm of dialogues .
Can the writing of dialogue in a novel be improved ? Sure, but is exercise really enough? Not really, in my opinion, so I thought of three methods that I consider useful for learning to write dialogues . Read (and try to write) plays So far I have only read one drama and a modern one at that. This is Sunset Limited by Cormac McCarthy, sold as a "novel in drama form", but it is a drama, it is structured and written like a drama. I have other plays at home, by Shakespeare for example, which I have never read, and by other Special Data classical authors. This article is therefore also for me, since I was very poor at reading dramas. Cormac McCarthy is unreadable for many because he doesn't use quotation marks in his dialogue , but in my opinion he is very good at writing them. I want you to read a piece from Beyond the Border . Could you turn that stuff off? said the boy. Damn, that's a wolf. Yes sir, a she-wolf. What the hell. The pickup truck scares her. Scary? Yes sir. But what's going on in your brain? If it breaks free from the ropes it will eat you alive. Yes sir. What do you want to do with that wolf? She is a female. What? A female.
She is a female. Hell, she doesn't make any difference. What do you want to do with it? I'm preparing her to take her home. At home? Yes sir. For what damned reason? Can't you turn that stuff off? I don't know about you, but I can see that guy and the guy in the pickup truck talking. But never mind Cormac McCarthy, we're talking about drama. You all know what they are. Literary works intended for the theatrical stage , in which dialogues have a dominant function . There is a description of the scene for each act and every now and then, an indication of the author may appear next to the name of the character. Scenes and directions are written in italics and essentially represent the narrative of the drama. In Bernard Shaw's Mrs. Warren's Profession we can read, for example: THE MISS ( looking over the book ) This is Mrs Alison's villa. ( She resumes her work .) The description of the scene in the first act is half a page long, but in Candida it is even three pages long. Bernard Shaw will be one of my next reads. Reading plays also makes us understand the rhythm of dialogues .