Dialogues

[G.G.]

I often hear people complain about descriptions, not so much for the lack of it but rather for the opposite. It seems pages filled with them might make the reader skip/skim over them.

Is there something as too much dialogues in a book?
Or maybe not enough?

What do you like/dislike in dialogues.

Tags: Do you prefer the common and simple said/replied or more descriptive ones such as yelled/whispered/begged/cried and so forth.

Do you get lost when some dialogues have no tags attached to them?

[Brian]

Even if your dialogue is straightforward some people will get lost without the tags. I prefer them not to be there in a 2 person conversation, but I write them in anyway. I just use generic ones. I rotate between 6 or 7 of them. Most readers are going to skip over them anyway unless they get confused on who is speaking.

I tend to describe what the character notices, and try to stay in the middle of action sequences. I ask myself a lot "do I really need to describe this?" I do the same with dialogue. What purpose does this conversation have? How does it move the story along? Readers will get bored if there's 10 pages of description on the design of the carpet and/or characters talking about the weather.

[James]

I agree with @Brian. I always use tags when in doubt. I think the worst think you can do is confuse a reader. A reader who can't follow who is speaking will simply stop reading.

I come from a screenwriting background so I love writing dialogue and use a fair amount of it to tell the story. But I agree, you need a balance between description and dialogue and everything has to have a purpose that contributes toward moving the story along.

[Ann]

I really love good dialogue in stories. I think they are the most memorable parts of stories for me because I can hear the character speaking. I have actually read afew stories where the character tells another character something that has just happened in a scene. Thats too much. There could have been a time skip or something :p


I like to use different words than said because said is a bit boring for me. Or I try to pair it with a movement or the tone that the character has. But I really limit it in action sequences. I like to write action sequences that trail the readers eyes across the scene so you already know who is speaking because you are looking at them :3

[[deleted user]]

Dialogue is great, it should be pertinent and sexy, by sexy I mean spunky, the characters should come alive through their dialogue, they should communicate with each other in a real and personal way and in the dialogue they should tell there story, at the same time dialogue need to be short and snappy. Descriptions need to be cut to the core and good dialogue should become the new mode. As you can see I love good dialogue, it moves it vibrates it lives.

[Ann]

As you can see I love good dialogue, it moves it vibrates it lives.

- totes agree there. Great way to put it.

[Jack]

IMO the more dialogue the better although I believe it should not be exclusively dialogue. I have read best selling authors books (I mean well-known best sellers) who spend far too much time on description - enough so I had to put the book down. Regarding tags, I've read advice to use "said" predominately, but I prefer mixing in other tags like "replied," "observed," "concluded" to mix it up. I also like to mix in a character gesture or reaction before the dialogue to make a tag unnecessary. In summary, IMO, I believe mixing it up is best.

[Jack]

James J. - I more or less said the same thing as you said regarding tags - too many tend to make the book drag, but on the other hand, I've found (and every reader is different) too many gestures one after the other tends to be too much. It also depends on what kind of things you like to read because we tend to write like what we like to read. For instance, I can't read most of Stephen King's books because there is too much detail for me. Someone like Robert Parker (Spenser novels) are more to my liking because they read very fast. Both authors are best sellers.

[Ann]

This is a handy thread I'm sitting here thinking about it while I edit now lol

[G.G.]

Jack wrote: "IMO the more dialogue the better although I believe it should not be exclusively dialogue. I have read best selling authors books (I mean well-known best sellers) who spend far too much time on des..."

I do that too. I 'try' to stick to said and replied but sometimes I will add a different one when I want to emphasize on something. The trick about having a character do something before or after instead of a tag is a trick I like too. It saves a bit on the he said, she said, thing. Also when characters have specific ways to talk I don't feel the need to add a tag because it's too obvious who's talking.
For example, my protagonist never uses contractions. It makes his speech strange at times (but he's an alien after all. I think it's normal that it may sound strange). His gf on the other hand, almost eats half her words, so when they speak together, there is absolutely no way one cannot know who's saying what.
(And no, it's not that bad, it just how the alien sees it. :P)

@James You can't say people won't skim. The reason why I asked to begin with is that I read a blog about someone talking about people skimming them. Of course, the blog was about bad dialogues, not constructive, funky, sexy, funny, sad ones. So the goal is to make them entertaining as well as advancing the story.