Effective dialogue can help a novel tremendously. One technique to strengthen the dialogue of your story is revealing new information to the reader and to the characters through dialogue. Think about it. How do we generally learn new information that will impact our lives? We are TOLD through a friend, family member or associate whether in person, over the phone or (especially in business and legal matters) in a letter or email. So learning how to throw a zinger into a dialogue scene can really pull the reader in.
Example
Jane: I can't believe mom is really gone.
Jim: We're going to have to move on, Jane.
Jane: Jim, it's only been a year. How can you just let go? She was our mother for God's sake!
Now so far, this has plenty of conflict. The death of the mother and obviously the different reactions by the two siblings. How can we tone this up with a zinger?
Jim: Jane, she chose to leave us. The car wreck did not kill her. She took a bottle of sleeping pills right after she crashed. She was just looking for an excuse.
Jane: What? Are you drunk? You can't mean it.
Now things have gotten more interesting. Jim has obviously known that their mother committed suicide whereas Jane did not. Now things will be different entirely. Will she even mourn her mother in the same way now that she knows she chose to take her own life and therefore chose to leave her and Jim?
This is just one example of how a revealing bit of information in the dialogue of your novel or story can amp things up and change the characters for the rest of the story. Jim might not change much other than possibly regretting telling his sister, but Jane will never look at her mother's death the same way again. This technique is just one of many in the area of dialogue. Used properly it can really turn up the story's volume in a single line.
Best wishes,
Anthony David Mitchell
No comments:
Post a Comment