conversations

[juelz4sure]

Ok I'm just curious as far as what other people struggle with the most I seem to struggle the most where there is a lot of talking between characters. There are some convos that feel dry and choppy where other few and far between (as of now) flow so nicely.
anyways i was just wondering what other people struggle with and maybe we can give each other ideas as far as how to improve on the parts we struggle with
juelz

 

[Warren_Paul]

I definitely find writing good dialogue harder than narrative.

For me it depends on what else is happening. I find when I don't have to include much narrative they go smoother, I can have quick short lines. Other times I feel like the character is reciting a novel, talking too much all in one go.

I believe it is better to keep the character's dialogue short and sweet if possible. Sometimes I make characters a bit annoying by having them interrupt the one that was talking, just so the reader isn't reading a wall of text.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

I often write the dialogue before the rest of the scene, sometimes far in advance. The dialogue tells me what the characters are thinking, feeling, and doing. Then I build the scene around the dialogue.

 

[Gumboot]

My weakness is keeping track of stuff. More than once I've something happen twice in the same book; for example one character will explain the significance of a name to another character on two separate occasions.

 

[Ökuþórr]

Ok I'm just curious as far as what other people struggle with the most I seem to struggle the most where there is a lot of talking between characters. There are some convos that feel dry and choppy where other few and far between (as of now) flow so nicely.
anyways i was just wondering what other people struggle with and maybe we can give each other ideas as far as how to improve on the parts we struggle with
juelz

I struggle with dialogue too. I (when im not writing mythical things) write in first person and have a main character that doesn't say very much. We see the story through his eyes and hear his thoughts and feelings, but not much talking from him.
I find it odd that I can do thoughts but not dialogue.

 

[Mouse]

Dialogue I can do.

Description, I can't.

 

[AnyaKimlin]

My issue is grammar and punctuation, also kind of getting carried away and ending up with way too much plot. My other one is frequent deletings and restartings. (planning just hasn't worked, so far my only two attempts were a disaster)

Dialogue I find fairly easy, but I don't put a huge amount of thought into it, I keep it simple and focus more on the actual interaction, and what is going on than the words spoken by the characters. I love banter it is so much fun or a major row - those scenes almost write themselves.

This I find is a really useful resource for the 'staging' of dialogue. Bookshelf Muse

'casting' my characters with a real person is useful. I tend to use actors/singers that I can stalk round youtube. That way I know instinctively what their physical movement will be and it also gives them tricks of speech. I didn't do it with my first main character, but have with subsequent ones and it has improved my dialogue.

Description again comes fairly easy, but my university study was archaeology and I worked in a museum. Both of them involve describing an unfamiliar world to people. Again for me it is about keeping it simple and including just enough to create the image. Readers generally know what a wheel looks like and unless it is triangular they don't need to be told the shape . The colours of the sea people generally know - so just need to say if it is blue, green or kind of dingy grey and how rough it is. Maybe describe how the light is affecting the scene to give feeling of time of day etc. In 2012 most readers have a greater world knowledge, so whilst in the 1890s I may have felt a need to describe the Eiffel Tower in detail, these days just saying the Eiffel Tower will give the reader the required image. I suspect that is why these days we don't need as much description, and most books contain more action. Also your character interacts with the setting, that is something I have got better with is building the setting, story and character together. An important thing ladies that write erotic fiction taught me was that my character has five senses with which to experience life with and not just sight or hearing.

I keep scrapbooks like this one for Fresh Cream (my detectives) which i am currently keeping on my very defunct blog because of the handy applications. This helps with descriptions. For my not quite high-fantasy I have to use my rather rubbish art skills (stick figures lol) to make up the images that aren't available.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

I'm with mouse, I can write dialogue all day, every day. love love love it. Description, it's not so much I can't do it as I don't see where it should go, and over description totally bores me.
I still have issues with pov and I still have serious trouble with possessive apostrophes (sorry Chrispy....)

 

[Hex]

Commas

Otherwise, I find it depends... sometimes I think my dialogue works, but some characters I struggle with.

I'm finding it difficult just now to know how to communicate high emotion without resorting to hopeless cliche (nothing wrong with a little bit of cliche...) -- just because I feel the emotion doesn't mean the reader's going to pick it up from the words I choose, and I don't know what really draws someone in -- although I think I'm beginning to learn.

I'm not even sure what techniques authors use in the books I read... Guy Gavriel Kay, for example, moves me to tears on almost every page (reading Tigana especially is a very damp experience) but with many books I don't get so involved and I'm not sure what's different.

Telling vs showing -- sometimes you need to tell, but right now I feel as if telling is somehow a failure.

Infodumping -- I hate it, but it's such a temptation.

 

[HoopyFrood]

Dialogue's about the best thing I can do. I've moved into writing scripts these days, and that's all about the dialogue and action (I think the medium more suits how I think).

I love scripted dialogue. It's really worth listening to how people talk in day-to-day life, the things (so much!) they leave unsaid, the issues they skate around, the way that people, especially if they don't know each other that well, will leave a lot of sentences hanging. I adore subtext and how powerful even mundane lines can be within context and the things unsaid.

I think the most interesting dialogue comes from those types of people who rarely say what they really want to (due to personality, or shyness, or not wanting to offend, or a whole heap of other reasons). The way they work around the issue, the things they say instead, can say so much more (and can be especially powerful if the person they're saying it to just doesn't get it...)

Or those people who take a lot of words to say nothing in particular, as this post expertly demonstrates.......

 

[Jo Zebedee]

I think you're right Hoopy and to anyone who struggles with dialogue, I'd suggest reading plays. I know that they're not the most exciting thing in the world to people - although I love them - but a reallly good playwright brings dialogue alive*

*I'll throw a list out I think are very good at dialogue; eugene o'neill, arthur miller, a lot of the irish playwrights (well we can talk ); O'casey, synge (his playboy of the western world is fabulous dialogue), beckett (he holds the stage for two hours with Godot with nothing but dialogue), I also like Wilde.

 

[David Evil Overlord]

Dialogue I can do.

Description, I can't.

My weakness, too.

 

[David Evil Overlord]

I think I'm going to have to write a story called "Paige not found".

 

[Ursa major]

I often write the dialogue before the rest of the scene, sometimes far in advance. The dialogue tells me what the characters are thinking, feeling, and doing. Then I build the scene around the dialogue.

Same here.

The problem I have is paring them down so they don't fill the books with pages and pages that don't really go anywhere. (Dialogue should serve a purpose, just like any other aspect of a book.)

 

[juelz4sure]

Dialogue I can do.

Description, I can't.

Mouse I'm the complete opposite description comes very easy to me, sometimes causing me to over detail

This I find is a really useful resource for the 'staging' of dialogue. Bookshelf Muse

I will definately look into this link thank