Dialogue can make or break a writer. It can make a character’s flaws or virtues obvious or subtle. It proves that what the author has said about a character in narration is true. And it teaches the reader more about the character than the narration ever could. If a writer tells the reader that a son hates his father, it is just a flat revelation. However, if the author shows that hatred through dialogue, so much more is revealed.
The dialogue between two characters can not only reveal the emotions they feel, but also the reason for those emotions and some of the background between the characters. It makes the emotions convincing.
Can your dialogue tell more than your narration?
For example, the dialogue between the son and the father says so much more:
Ed huddled at the cluttered kitchen table, his head lowered.
His father sneered at him, “Tell me why you’re not at the race.”
Ed lays his head on the table and mutters, “The engine seized. I don’t know why.”
“You don’t know much of anything, do you?” His father mocked.
Ed stood and upended the table. Plates and utensils flew to the floor with a loud crash and the sound of shattering glass. “I hate your guts! I will always hate you!”
This short dialogue discloses so much. Ed is beaten down. His father mocks him and makes him feel stupid. The anger he endures for his father is palatable and just below the surface. The anger is about to turn violent. So much insight from only six lines.
Should dialogue revelations be simple or complicated?
For example:
“You’ll never learn how to cook! Your food is lousy! I’m going to the diner for a decent meal!”
In this simple line, the reader learns that the married couple’s relationship is strained. The husband is aggressive and he has been dissatisfied for a long time. He doesn’t respect his wife and has enough money to take care of his needs. She doesn’t have the power to stop him from leaving.
An example of complex dialogue:
“There’s only one point to my being a doctor. I have limitless access to drugs. It’s not just the money. Smuggling drugs is exciting. Playing cat-and-mouse with the law keeps me feeling alive!”
In two lines, we learn so much. He has the opportunity to be respectable, but he chooses a hard and risky lifestyle. It’s all about the adrenaline. He likes to take risks and despises convention. He cares little about the addicts he harms. His life is all about himself.
Dialogue gives the reader real insight. Whether it is simple or complex depends on the story. Narration imparts information, but dialogue does so much more because it defines the quality of the characters’ voices. Are the voices loud, shrill, hesitant, or soft? Do their actions match the voice, or do they reveal a hidden agenda?
Her voice was hushed. “Sweetheart, I love you.” He pulled back, pointing his finger at her face. “You’re a liar! If you loved me, how could you steal from me — and for him of all people?” She reached for him, but he pulled further away. “I do love you — I mean it!” “Liar! You love me because I look like him! You love my brother!”
This writer has deliberately kept the dialogue to one paragraph to create proximity between the people. It may be grammatically correct to separate the dialogue with each speaker but the author is making the point that these people are close and the dialogue and responses are guttural and immediate.
In this brief, tight paragraph the author has defined the woman’s voice as hushed, intimate, and intense. He physically shows the male’s anger by his pointing and his dialogue: “You’re a liar!” Because of the different voices and actions, the reader can sense the different emotions and reactions. The woman’s begging for forgiveness and understanding is caught in her reaction, (“I do love you –“). The man’s last bit of dialogue shocks the reader and tells so much about the trouble between the couple. Keeping it tight makes the final reveal pop.
This shows how dialogue can be so much more effective than narration. The individual dynamics of the speaker is displayed through both description and speech. Fictional characters are not real people. It is up to the skill of the writer to give them life.
Copyright 2021 Karen Kelly Boyce
Karen Boyce
Karen Kelly Boyce lives on a farm in N.J. with her retired husband. She is a mother and grandmother. She is the author of “The Sisters of the Last Straw” series published by Tan Books. You can see her work and learn more about her on her website: www,kkboyce.com