{"id":385,"date":"2011-12-08T05:01:00","date_gmt":"2011-12-08T05:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/blog\/2011\/12\/08\/thursdays-tips-dialog\/"},"modified":"2015-11-25T12:23:15","modified_gmt":"2015-11-25T19:23:15","slug":"thursdays-tips-dialog","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/thursdays-tips-dialog\/","title":{"rendered":"Thursday’s Tips — Dialog"},"content":{"rendered":"
Great dialog is hard to write. No one wants to read dull words, even if they echo true-to-life exchanges, like:<\/a> <\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\u201cHello, Nancy.\u201d<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\u201cHi, Carol.\u201d<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\u201cHow are you?\u201d<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\u201cI\u2019m well, how are you?\u201d<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
Cue reader: skim… So, the better approach hit me this morning while I brushed my teeth. (Inspiration hits at the funnies times, doesn’t it?) It\u2019s a great method that takes some practice, but works well if you, as the writer, can be objective. Ready?<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
Have you ever played Uno<\/i> by yourself? <\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
Our family of six used to sit around and play Uno<\/i> when I was growing up. Such a fun, simple game. Of course, the older we got, the more strategies we learned. Sometimes, my sister and I would play alone, just the two of us. Our turn rolled around a lot faster and those \u201cSkip\u201d and \u201cReverse\u201d cards meant something brand new: more turns! <\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
But there were times when my siblings were busy. At those times, I\u2019d play alone. I\u2019ve done that with other card games too. Have you? You sit there, deal up two hands, pick up one and get the cards into place. Call this Player A. You choose the blue #7 and play it, strategizing what you\u2019ll do next turn. You\u2019ve got a plan. Player A is going to win!<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
Next, it\u2019s Player B\u2019s turn. You put down your handful of cards and pick up Player B\u2019s stack. Order them. Plan your attack. And if you\u2019re objective, you don\u2019t concern yourself with what Player A is \u201cholding.\u201d You play to win. Then, Player B\u2019s turn over, you grab for Player A\u2019s hand and make specific choices given what Player A is holding.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
Let\u2019s apply this to dialog. When your characters are talking, especially if they\u2019re arguing, get into each of their heads. Take turns, like with playing cards. Have a goal for each (\u201cI want to win!\u201d), a motivation (\u201cWinning makes me feel good!\u201d), and a plan (\u201cThis strategy will work.\u201d). Act as if that character is the only winner in the conversation\/argument. This speaker is ready to take on this conversation. Do the same with the other character. <\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
Suddenly, your dialog comes alive with subtext (what the characters aren\u2019t <\/i>saying) and the characters\u2019 strengths shine (no passive protags here). Readers will stay engaged in the pages of dialog, no risk of them skimming ahead.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
Dialog should move the story along, provide reveals, engage readers. Don\u2019t hold back. If the story calls for it, don’t be afraid to let your characters argue. Make each \u201cPlayer\u201d play to win. Be in that character\u2019s head fully while considering how they\u2019d respond. Be as objective as possible. <\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
Using this practice will help fire up your characters\u2019 exchanges. Try it. And write on! <\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Great dialog is hard to write. No one wants to read dull words, even if they echo true-to-life exchanges, like:  \u201cHello, Nancy.\u201d \u201cHi, Carol.\u201d \u201cHow are you?\u201d \u201cI\u2019m well, how are you?\u201d Cue reader: skim… So, the better approach hit me this morning while I brushed my teeth. (Inspiration hits at the funnies times, doesn’t […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":1149,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[504],"tags":[155,138],"class_list":["post-385","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-editing-writing-advice","tag-dialog","tag-thursdays-tips"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=385"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1149"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=385"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=385"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=385"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}