{"id":5409,"date":"2021-03-30T13:29:00","date_gmt":"2021-03-30T13:29:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/indiecateditorial.com\/?p=5409"},"modified":"2024-03-29T09:45:28","modified_gmt":"2024-03-29T09:45:28","slug":"when-dialogue-ruins-your-scenes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/indiecateditorial.com\/index.php\/2021\/03\/30\/when-dialogue-ruins-your-scenes\/","title":{"rendered":"When dialogue ruins your scenes"},"content":{"rendered":"
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When dialogue ruins your scenes<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

When dialogue is great, it can be terrific, keeping readers or audiences on the edge of their seats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whether it\u2019s the verbal sparring of Bogart and Bacall, the wisecracking characters of 1930s films, or dramatic courtroom exchanges in A Few Good Men, dialogue can spark and enthrall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s not just true of films or plays either \u2013 there are plenty of novels with powerful dialogue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But there are also times when dialogue ruins scenes. Because here\u2019s the problem \u2013 dialogue can be a little too seductive. Or to be more exact, writers who are rather too fond of their characters can sometimes find it difficult to know how much is too much.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The problems with dialogue are numerous and linked to different issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, writers who find their characters springing spontaneously to life, like Athena from her father\u2019s head, might feel they spend a good part of their time just reporting what their characters are saying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s like taking dictation. Sometimes it\u2019s like being possessed as you struggle to keep up with what your characters are saying and doing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your fingers fly over the keyboard and you\u2019re hoping they\u2019ll slow down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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When characters won\u2019t stop talking<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Characters like this can have a real spark because they haven\u2019t been consciously constructed or built from the ground up. They\u2019ve not been sketched out on paper but appear to emerge from the writer\u2019s subconscious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They can be unpredictable, obstructive, overly chatty (or the opposite).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Such characters can pull the plot way off track. They have their own opinions that can supersede the author\u2019s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If they are chatty, their dialogue can go on longer than necessary. And if they\u2019re the amusing type, the author may find them entertaining.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, this can have a detrimental effect on the pacing and plot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amusing dialogue scenes can only go on so long. Dialogue scenes should usually serve a purpose.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If the author has two characters like this in the same scene, the situation can become unmanageable. Cutting back these scenes is pretty much an example of murdering your darlings. The scenes might seem to be full of life, but a novel is not episodic. There should be a plot, and it should keep on moving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It shouldn\u2019t be paused frequently for a chat break.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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When dialogue destroys your atmosphere<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Where this can become an even bigger issue is when there\u2019s a conflict between the tone of the dialogue and the genre of the novel or its overall atmosphere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, if you want a dark, foreboding atmosphere to hang over the narrative, too much witty repartee is going to blow it out of the water. Think horror novels or dark thrillers. The dialogue becomes tone-deaf.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It would work in a witty chic-lit novel, but there are other narratives where you really need to reign it in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You particularly don\u2019t want it at the wrong moments in the plot, where it interrupts the story or delays important events.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Too much of this and your reader may bail out completely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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When dialogue makes scenes too \u2018loud\u2019<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Another issue I\u2019ve seen in manuscripts is that dialogue can actually amplify the volume in scenes where you want a quieter and possibly more introspective atmosphere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sometimes, instead of dialogue, indirect speech is really better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are other reasons why you might choose to use indirect speech, but volume is one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another is that too much speech which has a low-information-to-wordcount ratio buries important details. You don\u2019t want the most important details of the speech to be hidden among the less important chat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While people can drone on in real life, you have to be a bit more ruthless with characters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Novels, like films and plays, are artificial constructs. They are not a realistic representation of life. The scenes are edited, with toilet breaks and other mundanities usually left out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The same should be true of speech.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You don\u2019t have to be puritanical about it and only include the absolutely most relevant dialogue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But you do have to weigh the length and tone of your dialogue against the surrounding narrative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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When dialogue slows the pace<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Dialogue often produces shorter lines and paragraphs down a page. This leads to the reader turning the page faster. While that is good for pace, it can also be draining to read if it goes on too long.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is particularly true if the dialogue doesn\u2019t have an important purpose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reader isn\u2019t reading to eavesdrop on people, they want to see what happens to the characters and follow the plot to the end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When dialogue works really well it can boost the pace, but when it doesn\u2019t it can slow the pace to a crawl.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A novel heavy on dialogue is going to have a different tone from one that has much less.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This doesn\u2019t mean that the first is wrong \u2013 it could be a feature of the novel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But it does have an impact on tone and volume, though there are other factors like the personalities of the character and the genre that also have to be factored in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Other examples of when dialogue ruins scenes<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Fictional dialogue is a huge topic. Certainly, it\u2019s too complex to cover in one blog post. But these are some of the other occasions when dialogue can ruin your scenes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n