Begin Writing Fiction by Shruti Chandra Gupta - HTML preview

Writing dialogues

Good writers reveal their characters mainly through dialogues, not description. What a character says shows us what kind of a person he is. Is he selfish, lazy, arrogant, shy, selfconscious or aggressive? To write effective dialogues, you need to use appropriate words to portray the personality of a character.

Decoding a character through dialogues

It is not necessary to fill in pages with a character’s conversation. Short dialogues, if properly used, produce a stronger effect than long dialogues. Take a look at this extract from Catch-22 by Joseph Heller. The protagonist, Yossarian is in the hospital.

‘Oh, pretty good,’ he answered. ‘I’ve got a slight pain in my liver and I haven’t been the most regular of fellows, I guess, but all in all I must admit that I feel pretty good.’ ‘That’s good,’ said the chaplain.
‘Yes,’ Yossarian said. ‘Yes, that is good.’
‘I meant to come around sooner,’ the chaplain said, ‘but I really haven’t been well.’ ‘That’s too bad,’ Yossarian said.
‘Just a head cold,’ the chaplain added quickly.
‘I’ve got a fever of a hundred and one,’ Yossarian added just as quickly.
‘That’s too bad,’ said the chaplain.
‘Yes,’ Yossarian agreed. ‘Yes, that is too bad.’
The chaplain fidgeted. ‘Is there anything I can do for you?’ he asked after a while. ‘No, no.’ Yossarian sighed. ‘The doctors are doing all that’s humanly possible, I suppose.’
‘No, no.’ The chaplain colored faintly. ‘I didn’t mean anything like that. I meant cigarettes . . . books . . . or . . . toys.’
‘No, no,’ Yossarian said. ‘Thank you. I have everything I need, I suppose – everything but good health.’
‘That is too bad.’
‘Yes,’ Yossarian said. ‘Yes, that is too bad.’

The overall feeling is that of boredom. Neither the chaplain nor Yossarian have anything to talk about therefore their conversation is abrupt and broken.

How did the writer create this feeling? You will notice how a dialogue has been repeated many times over. Yossarian and the chaplain alternatively keep saying ‘That’s too bad’ or ‘That is too bad’. Repetition bores, not only the reader but also the characters. Yossarian keeps repeating ‘That’s too bad’ after the chaplain. He even goes a step further and extends it to ‘That is too bad’. Clearly, he doesn’t want to talk to the chaplain. Another interesting fact is that neither of them is remotely interested in the other. When the chaplain says that he hasn’t been well, Yossarian doesn’t inquire after his health. The chaplain however tells him that he has a head cold. Yossarian immediately tells him that he has a fever. He exaggerates it by telling him that it is ‘a hundred and one’ not just ‘one hundred’. What he wants to suggest is that he has as many problems as the chaplain if not more.

You learn something about the character of Yossarian from this dialogue. He is concerned only with himself. He exaggerates his problems. He lies and he speaks his mind.

About the chaplain, we learn that he is polite and understanding. He is clearly uncomfortable talking to Yossarian, but he is trying to do his best. He colored when asking Yossarian if he needed toys, which tells us that he is shy and somewhat timid. Like Yossarian, he doesn’t lose a chance to exhibit his problems.

Here, we were using dialogues to get to the character, but while writing you need to do just the opposite. Create dialogues according to the characteristics of the character. Yossarian is selfish and frank. His favorite pastime is to relate his problem to someone. You need to show these characteristics to the reader through dialogues. Write words in such a way that it highlights these characteristics of Yossarian, in the same way as Joesph Heller did in the passage above.

Use short dialogues

Dialogues that run for more than ten lines become tiresome when they are not placed correctly. Sometimes, characters and plot demand long dialogues. There might arise a need for longer dialogues to show a garrulous, excited, crazy or desperate character who might speak a lot. At other times, the demands of the plot might force you to make a character narrate an incident or a story. Even in such a situation, it is better to break a long dialogue by inserting short dialogues by other characters. Another character might interrupt the long dialogue by saying:

‘What! Do you think I am dumb? I believe in your story as I believe in Saint Patazuma.’ ‘I don’t care whether you believe in Saint Patazuma or not. I believe in Saint Patazuma.’ ‘Who’s Saint Patazuma?’
‘A saint. Now listen.’

A dialogue should not be stuffed with unnecessary information. I could have written the second last dialogues this way too. ‘I don’t know any Saint Patazuma. Who is he?’ If it is clear from ‘Who’s Saint Patazuma?’ that the character doesn’t know him, you don’t need to unnecessary extend the dialogue by repeating what is evident. This is called wordiness; the natural impulse to write more than what is necessary. Every writer suffers from it, but it is good to know that practice minimizes it and editing corrects it.

What lies hidden?

 

You are halfway through your story and your characters are changing. The fragile heroine is now growing bold. She is taking a stand. Shouldn’t your dialogues show that change?

Observe how shy people talk. They might not speak at all, instead they may nod, point, use facial expressions or certain gestures when that can suffice. When pressed, they may use syllables to express themselves. They may talk at length at home, but among strangers they feel uncomfortable. They will always speak in a soft tone with a low voice. Now that is your heroine. You have been giving her very little dialogues at first, but now that she has started getting bold, you will have to show that change through your dialogues. She will be direct. Her voice will be louder. She will speak where she merely gesticulated earlier. She will not be afraid of an argument.

‘Where is my book? I had left it on the table,’ she said worriedly. ‘Gracy, did you see my book?’ she asked even when she knew it was her who had taken it. It was peeping from under her coat.

That is your heroine at the start. Now look at her at the middle.

 

‘I want that book right there when I come back,’ she said aloud to no one, yet Gracy understood that the book was not to be touched.

 

Now she has authority. She is powerful and brave. It is through the combination of dialogues and narration that you can make the reader see a character.

 

Change in perspective

It is clever to unfold a character’s personality by the use of another character. Your brother thinks that he is witty, but you may not think so. Difference in perspective sharpens a character’s image.

Anna feels she is beautiful. She adores herself in front of the mirror everyday, she tells herself how perfect her eyes, nose, lips and cheeks are. She puts on make-up as soon as she is out of bed. The reader will believe you. Anna is beautiful. Then you bring in her brother, Sean. He tells her to stop poking her ugly nose in his matters. He tells her not to smile in front of his friends because her mouth is too big. Now, the reader understands that she is not pretty, and is extremely conscious and guilty of her ugliness.

Charlotte Bronte used this technique to focus the image of Jane Eyre early in the book.

 

Miss Abbot turned to divest a stout leg of the necessary ligature. This preparation for bonds, and the additional ignominy it inferred, took a little excitement out of me.
"Don't take them off," I cried; "I will not stir." In guarantee whereof, I attached myself to my seat by my hands.

"Mind you don't," said Bessie; and when she had ascertained that I was really subsiding, she loosened her hold of me; then she and Miss Abbot stood with folded arms, looking darkly and doubtfully on my face, as incredulous of my sanity.

"She never did so before," at last said Bessie, turning to the Abigail.

"But it was always in her," was the reply. "I've told Missis often my opinion about the child, and Missis agreed with me. She's an underhand little thing: I never saw a girl of her age with so much cover."

This extract has been borrowed from Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte.

What others think of a character is as important as what the character thinks about herself. Here, Miss Abbot even includes Missis (Aunt Reed) to make her statement strong.

In presenting the character of Jane Eyre, the author has included strong emotions in her dialogues. From the very beginning we can see how self-respecting, rebellious and passionate she is.

"Well, you have been crying, Miss Jane Eyre; can you tell me what about? Have you any pain?"
"No, sir."
"Oh! I daresay she is crying because she could not go out with Missis in the carriage," interposed Bessie.
"Surely not! Why, she is too old for such pettishness."

I thought so too; and my self-esteem being wounded by the false charge, I answered promptly, "I never cried for such a thing in my life: I hate going out in the carriage. I cry because I am miserable."

A good character presents himself strongly from the beginning. He may be likable or not, but he does feel acutely and speaks his mind. It is even better if there is a conflict between your protagonist and other characters. That will reveal your protagonist’s deeply felt emotions effectively.

Things to remember

1. Page after page of dialogues can become dull. To counter that, use short narratives to break the dialogues. Occasionally, you may have a page length dialogue without a break, but that should be just that, occasionally.

2. Include physical or emotional details with the close of the dialogue.

 

“I don’t want to go,” I said, with hurt pride.

This simple dialogue has changed tone by the addition of ‘hurt pride’. Without it, ‘I don’t want to go,’ would have remained just that. She doesn’t want to go. After ‘hurt pride’ it has turned into rebelliousness.

3. You can also use repetition, certain phrases, accent, slang etc. to bring forth a character’s personality. Jim in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain speaks English with an accent, as he is a Negro.

He got up and stretched his neck out about a minute, listening. Then he says:
"Who dah?"

 

When you do that, make sure that it can be easily understood by the reader, otherwise he may get impatient or annoyed.