Dialogue-Driven Writing
My novels involve a lot of dialogue, particularly the fantasy ones. As I think I've written before, I have to remind myself to include things like descriptions of surroundings, buildings, what people look like, clothes they're wearing, etc. Most of the time, I'll put that kind of narrative in, but it's rarely important to the plot.
I know there are novels where the location is an important part of the story. Some use the state of the home as a metaphor for the family's dysfunction. Some have such detailed descriptions of buildings and locations that you can imagine where the story is taking place in exquisite detail.
For whatever reason, that's just not me. For me, the relationships between people, led by their dialogue, is the most important part of the novel. I "hear" their voices in my head, and sometimes I can't type fast enough to capture the conversation. I see them interacting, and I usually include things like "she smiled" and "he grinned" in between the lines. But what people are wearing is rarely important to a storyline. And where the events are happening rarely drives the plot forward.
So, dialogue is my main way to create exposition. What people say, how they say it, and to whom they say things is what creates the drama and what makes the characters interesting.
Another device I've used frequently, sometimes a lot, is thoughts from the main characters. Because my fictional biographies are written in first-person narration, we can know what the protagonist is thinking. I've had a few books where this device has been used heavily, such as Best Meet-Cute Ever. In that book, Tina talked to herself a lot, and I even had a special style format for her self-dialogue. But most of the time, there are just occasional glimpses into the character's inner thoughts, usually when there's turmoil. Because my fantasy novels have an omniscient narrator, the reader sometimes learns about a character's inner thoughts or responses. But not an inner dialogue.
In the case of the fantasy novels, the inclusion of the familiars - the animals to whom the mages are bonded - serves a similar purpose, as the dialogue between mage and familiar is often the most honest. Or revealing perhaps may be a better way to put it. A familiar knows everything the mage is thinking anyway. So, their conversations often let the reader in on something - similar to how inner dialogue would.
In today's writing, the main character of Rich People's Problems - who is a novelist - has the opportunity to write a screenplay for a movie that's being made of one of her novels. She's convinced she can do it since her novels are largely driven by dialogue anyway. The male protagonist isn't so sure, having been an actor at one point in his life. Which made me wonder how writing a screenplay would be different from writing a dialogue-driven novel. Guess I'll need to do some research.
I know there are novels where the location is an important part of the story. Some use the state of the home as a metaphor for the family's dysfunction. Some have such detailed descriptions of buildings and locations that you can imagine where the story is taking place in exquisite detail.
For whatever reason, that's just not me. For me, the relationships between people, led by their dialogue, is the most important part of the novel. I "hear" their voices in my head, and sometimes I can't type fast enough to capture the conversation. I see them interacting, and I usually include things like "she smiled" and "he grinned" in between the lines. But what people are wearing is rarely important to a storyline. And where the events are happening rarely drives the plot forward.
So, dialogue is my main way to create exposition. What people say, how they say it, and to whom they say things is what creates the drama and what makes the characters interesting.
Another device I've used frequently, sometimes a lot, is thoughts from the main characters. Because my fictional biographies are written in first-person narration, we can know what the protagonist is thinking. I've had a few books where this device has been used heavily, such as Best Meet-Cute Ever. In that book, Tina talked to herself a lot, and I even had a special style format for her self-dialogue. But most of the time, there are just occasional glimpses into the character's inner thoughts, usually when there's turmoil. Because my fantasy novels have an omniscient narrator, the reader sometimes learns about a character's inner thoughts or responses. But not an inner dialogue.
In the case of the fantasy novels, the inclusion of the familiars - the animals to whom the mages are bonded - serves a similar purpose, as the dialogue between mage and familiar is often the most honest. Or revealing perhaps may be a better way to put it. A familiar knows everything the mage is thinking anyway. So, their conversations often let the reader in on something - similar to how inner dialogue would.
In today's writing, the main character of Rich People's Problems - who is a novelist - has the opportunity to write a screenplay for a movie that's being made of one of her novels. She's convinced she can do it since her novels are largely driven by dialogue anyway. The male protagonist isn't so sure, having been an actor at one point in his life. Which made me wonder how writing a screenplay would be different from writing a dialogue-driven novel. Guess I'll need to do some research.
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