EXERCISE: The Morning After...

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original posting: Tue, 29 Aug 2000 21:17:01 -0400

A quick (and possibly quirky) one...

Often TV shows, movies, and even the occasional short story or book will start the scene (after a romantic interlude, beating in the alley, or whatever) with a character waking up, stretching, showering, going to breakfast, etc. without any immediate indication of how we got from there to now (although there may be clues -- that sudden grin at the mirror, for example, or the pained look at some kind of bruise).

So -- something happened last night.  You decide what it was, from the mundane to the extreme (a dragon set up residence in the chimney?  all right, but you have to explain it!).  Don't tell us, but make sure you know the backstory that leads up to...

The scene starts with the character waking up.  Take us through the morning, with the occasional odd clue that something is different today (that draft of flame out of the fireplace?  well, it certainly got the pot boiling, didn't it?)

And then the point where you explain what happened, where you let the reader in on the mystery.  By then, of course, you have some other hooks into them to keep them reading and reading and reading...

Write!

EXERCISE: Title Challenge: The Sarcophagus of Love

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original posting: Wed, 30 Aug 2000 20:23:00 -0400

The Sarcophagus of Love

Yes!  You saw it here first, and thought about that stone coffin, often decorated with carvings, and pondered and pandered and saw that the title was right...

The Sarcophagus of Love

and then you wrote it, you honed it, you polished it fine, and sent it to the list, where we all did divine...

The Sarcophagus of Love

It was just a concrete boat between friends, but they called it The Sarcophagus of Love?

Go ahead.  Put the thoughts together and tell us about the sarcophagus of love.

Write!

TECH: Make A Scene #16: Dialogue Scenes

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From Make a Scene by Jordan Rosenfeld, we're now on Chapter 16: Dialogue Scenes.  And without further ado . . .

Dialogue is a very versatile element in fiction writing, and it's used in most scenes. This chapter talks about scenes that are primarily dialogue. Dialogue scenes usually feel fast to the readers, so they pick up the pace and move the plot forward. You can also use them to build conflict with characters arguing and expressing themselves. You can also build tension with characters struggling for position or caring.

Opening a dialogue scene. Before starting a scene, decide if you're going to use dialogue to convey action or to reveal character, plot, or background information. Don't use dialogue is filler, with characters prattling along. You probably don't want to start in the middle of a conversation, because it's confusing. Instead, use a scenic launch, or narrative, action or character -- then move into dialogue. Try to start by:

• get the reader settled firmly in the setting to begin
• start the conversation in the first couple paragraphs
• make the protagonist an active part of the conversation; don't let them just listen in
• make sure the reader knows who is talking
• build the dialogue around conflict and opposition

Dialogue for big revelations. Use dialogue to give the reader information about the plot or characters. Dialogue can show who characters are, reveal effects on other characters, and introduce new plot information. Reveal characters by:

• show them speaking under pressure or in conflict. Dialogue should not be mundane.
• use conversational style to reveal true nature
• express feelings or thoughts about significant events or situations

Always suit your dialogue to the character. Each of them should talk in their own way.

Reveal plot information by:

• make sure the information is earned. Don't let mysterious strangers reveal important information without a reason. Deus ex machina applies to information, too.
• show the protagonist's emotional reaction to the new information
• the greatest emotional impact is in the middle of the scene or at the end.

Make your revelations important, and build into them. Make sure that the revelation has consequences, that the plot and the protagonist change.

Use tension and subtext to make dialogue scenes rich. Build your dialogue around bartering or negotiation. Rosenfeld calls this tug-of-war dialogue. Think of each character asking for something and withholding something at the same time. Different points of view, dynamics of relationships, exchanges of insults or arguments, attempted manipulations or seductions, attempts to convince another character of something, and fending off accusations -- all of these can use tug-of-war dialogue. Even without actual physical movements, this kind of tug-of-war can help make a dialogue scene feel active.

But if people are just volleying words back and forth, you can lose the sense of a meaningful interaction. To keep that, pay attention to subtext. People don't always say what they mean, they withhold information and feelings, and they use language to manipulate each other. So use flashbacks, body language, setting details and objects, symbolic objects, or even avoiding certain topics.

Ending dialogue scenes. So dialogue scenes give the reader more understanding of the characters or of a plot element. Revelations near the beginning of the scene usually mean that the rest of the scene explorers their feelings and reactions. However, an effective approach is to make the revelation near the end of the scene, so the reader rushes into the next scene to find out what happened. If the next scene turns to something else, the reader is left with a mystery, wondering just how the characters will react. So you want to end your dialogue scene with the protagonist:

• on the final words of a spoken revelation
• shook up in some way
• starting an action in response to the revelation
• starting to reflect on what happened

Rosenfeld suggests that dialogue scenes should:

1. Does your dialogue scene reveal new information about characters or the plot?
2. Does the dialogue feel like action to a reader and add energy to a scene that would otherwise be plodding
3. Does the dialogue scene have enough setting details for foreshadowing, subtext, and an even pace?
4. Does the dialogue reveal plot information in a realistic way, not just a convenient way?
5. Does the dialogue that a character uses reveal intentions?
6. Does the dialogue use opposing forces or a tug-of-war to build tension?

That's what Rosenfeld had to say about dialogue scenes.

So, let's see. What about an assignment? Perhaps the first might be to consider an existing novel and a scene that is largely dialogue that you remember? Perhaps the final scene in many mysteries, where the great detective explains just who done it? How does the author start the scene, and how do they keep us grounded in the scene in the midst of all that flying dialogue? How do they wrap up the scene?

Or take a scene that you've been working on, and consider doing it as a dialogue scene. Does it fit? How does writing it as a dialogue scene help or hinder? Consider replacing the car chase (action!) scene with a dialogue scene -- how does that change the pacing and approach?

Take a look at your story overall. Does it have a dialogue scene in it? Is there a good place for one? What would it do to the structure? Why would you add one -- or take one out and replace it with plain old fisticuffs and other violence?

Go ahead. Consider the advantages and disadvantages of a dialogue scene. Remember the talking heads of TV, and make sure your chatterboxes have at least a sketch of a setting around them. Then let the voices rise, let tempers flare, let the exchange of conversation show us characters engaged with plot.

And don't forget,
write!

When we write, characters talk.