FICTION 114 [M] [1] [2] [3] - Classroom A - Classroom BLesson 1The What
As we all know, sometimes what you don't say can be even more
important than what you do say. This week we are going to play around
with giving different levels of information within dialogue. In a dialogue without any tags, it's easy for the reader to make
details unclear. The writer can drop hints about the setting,
characters' genders, appearance and actions without making it completely
clear to the reader. Here is an example: "Did you get my message?" "What message?" "Janet didn't tell you I called? What's the point of having a
roommate if she never gives you the messages?" "Ssh!" "She gives me messages. I must have not looked at the board.
What's the problem?" "Are you coming tonight?" "This was the urgent message?" "I need to know. If you're out, I've got to find someone else.
Andy can't be alone." "Ssssshhh!!!" "Look you should leave; count me in for now, ok?" "Great! See ya!" This may not be the most brilliant piece of dialogue, but let's try to make some guesses on the details: Number of people: 3 (the two talking, the third shushing) Setting: Library Genders of characters: One girl (with the roommate, Janet) and one guy (trying to hookup with friend, Andy) Appearance of characters: No idea whatsoever! :) Plot: One character wants to double date and is trying to confirm Now let's try for another guess: Number of people: 4 (the two talking, two different people shushing) Setting: Computer Cluster (could even be movie theater) Genders of characters: All guys Appearance of characters: Still no idea! :) Plot: The guys want to play poker and are looking for a fourth See? Both of the above are possible and my dialogue was quite descriptive. I could have even written something much more obscure like the following: "Don't pull that!" "But that's the only way!" "Stooooop!" I will leave the interpretation of this one to your imagination. :) The amount and kind of information you convey through dialogue is up to you. In real life, people never tell each other where they are, so you can't put a line like, "I'm in the library; what do you want?" in your dialogue and not make it look absurd, but you can use some tricks to make details obvious to the reader. Look at this piece: "Since when do they have commercials in the theater?" "Who knows? Who cares? Are you listening to my story?" "Yes, of course I am. You said that he said you're a pretty girl but he's still not over his ex." "Good you are listening. So he leans over and plants this passionate kiss on me and hugs me good bye. The nerve!" "He kissed you?" "He sure did. Caroline, you should've been there. I couldn't feel my toes." "What a bummer. Ssssh, the previews are starting!" In the above dialogue, we're pretty sure they're in the movie theater. We know they're both female, and the plot is also quite obvious. We still don't know what time of day it is or the appearance of the women, but we do have more information without unnatural sounding dialogue.
Assignment for Week One Reading: Read the assignment and pay attention to the dialogue in the book you're currently reading. Observe whether the writer gives information through the conversation. Does s/he instead put it in the tags or description? Writing: Write two sections of dialogue. One with no tags, which can be interpreted several ways. Give some hints but purposefully make some areas blurry. Make the second one, also without tags, more obvious, similar to my second example. Feedback: When you give feedback to the others in the classroom, try to guess the details of the dialogues they have posted.
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