Dialogue has to show not only something about the speaker that is its own revelation, but also maybe something about the speaker that he doesn’t know but the other character does know.
–Eudora Welty
Good dialogue accomplishes 4 things in fiction:
reveals and develops character
delivers backstory
drives Plot
directs pace
But there are more subtle aspects to dialogue.
Which brings me back to Welty’s quote and makes me think of insight, and more importantly what is out of sight to the speaker, what she or he cannot see about her or himself, a character’s flaws, which easily points to a path of grow, ultimately transformation.
And since all good stories depict change, ever how small, it helps, or in fact, the writer in crafting compelling dialogue, must know her or his characters inside and out.
A task not so easily accomplished particularly when we consider how much we discover about characters, the revelations that encounter during the various drafts we write of a story or novel.
More to the point moving and deft dialogue shines a light upon intent and implies desire and action. By pitting a character’s wants and needs against the strictures of her or his situation, good dialogue drives plot.
This juxtaposition, or conflict, if you will raises tension all the while of pulling the story toward climax and the narrative arc. And it does so from the outset of a story.
A good example of this is the opening lines of Edward P. Jones short story from Lost in the City, “The Store”, p. 77
“I’d been out of work three four months when I saw her ad in The Daily News, a few lines of nothing special, almost as if she didn’t really want a response. On a different day in my life I suppose I would have passed right over it.”
The first two lines of Jones’ first person narrative/internal dialogue give not only identity and context of the character’s situation, but also what he wished to have done, to have passed right over it, the implication being that having not done so he will regret his choice.
More importantly he tells us that his choice in not having passed over the advertisement has led to change, a transition. We read on to find out not only what happened, but also how he was changed.
Claire Langley-Hawthorne angles the dialogue in her novel, The Consequences of Sin, toward the sensual aspect of human interaction. Fraught with tension and bound in subtext, the characters’ conversation lays the groundwork for future interactions between the protagonist, Ursula Marlow, and Lord Wrotham.
This is not simple conversation, rather an intense exchange of bartering for more than of what is stated.
My dear,” he began smoothly, “you must understand—
Lord Wrotham stopped midsentence. Deciding to take a different tack, Ursula had walked over to his desk, come around to his side, and sat down on the edge less than a foot away from him. In her doing so her skirt brushed against the back of his left hand. Lord Wrotham sat stock-still. Ursula sensed the power of her trespass, and it was intoxicating. Lord Wrotham lifted the cigarette to his lips and let it hand for a moment in midair. He raised an eyebrow slightly. Ursula leaned forward.
“I was rather hoping you would have more information,” she said with the merest hint of a smile.
“Really?”
“Yes—I felt sure you would have had something for me.” She stared at him acutely aware of the narrow space between them—of the starched edge of his collar and the smooth skin of his throat—so close. He smelled of tobacco and bergamot. A heady combination.
“I have nothing that can answer the real question you have,” Lord Wrotham said, his voice dispelling the tension.
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ANGLES ON DIALOGUE
–Douglas Unger
http://www.douglasunger.com/dialogue.html
How to Use Dialogue in Fiction – Four Purposes
Character Development, Backstory, Plot and Pacing
–Jennifer Jensen
http://writingfiction.suite101.com/article.cfm/four_purposes_of_dialogue
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