angerik
Traveller in the arts
Posts: 3
(10/25/02 9:22 am)
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 Any conversation is a story
You know what I miss, Al?
-Nah, no idea, man. What?
Examples of good dialogue in writing. You know. The cutting insult, the sly response, the mannered query. Thoughts and feelings, opinions. That sort of thing. I miss it a lot.
-Yeah. So what?
It adds juice to the tale. You know, makes a reader participate. Gets them thinking about the characters and not the writer.
-I don't get you, Isaac.
Well what do you do when you see a large block of words on a page?
-What? Like a, a paragraph? That goes on for ages and ages?
Exactly, what does it tell you.
-Geez. I dunno, man. A scene? A setting, maybe? I never really thought about it, eh.
PRECISELY! You didn't have to think about it! Sure there are parts that have to be told like where the situation takes place, a bit of history, some background. But wouldn't you rather have to work it out yourself. All the good books do exactly that. You get a better picture of a charcter from what he/she says than being told that picture.
-Ahh. So you're talking about showing and not telling then?
Yes, in a nutshell sure, but to have dialogue makes for a better read. Look at this, for example.
-This what?
Our little tete-a-tete going on here. Damn sight more interesting than having the reader pour over some diatribe I've spurted out regarding the lack of dialogue in stories, particularly short stories, don't you think?
-Dunno, mate. That last sentence was a bit of a mess, eh?
Well that proves my point better than I had hoped.
-Sorry?
Without any narrating the reader has formed in his mind a pretty good idea of the two of us.
-What? That I'm from the city, no university, cut a bit rough, with my 'Man's and 'eh's; and that you're probably a Jew, and 'cause of your eternal bleating are some liberal-minded toss that few regular people would ever like to meet. They probably can guess you like the finer things too. And read Time.
Er. I wasn't quite thinking of it like that. But you are right and it is true.
-Well, it looks like you made your point then. What you
gonna do about it now?
I have no idea. But I feel better for having said - Hold itI know what we can do!
-'We'? What's with this 'we' business?
Sorry. I know what to do.
-What are 'you' going to do?
I think writers should try to write a story of say 200 words that involve nothing but conversation.
-Ah, that's no story.
This is and its a good one too.
-That's debatable.
Any conversation is a story, my good friend. Any conversation.
-Well, we'll see in a coupla weeks when others have given it a go.
I look forward to it
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