How do you feel about a lot of dialogue?

[vfaqvrf]

(post withdrawn by author, will be automatically deleted in 24 hours unless flagged)

[aquashark]

honestly it all depends on the perspective, from a readers viewpoint lots of dialogue can be incredibly immersive but it wont go into depth for how the characters are thinking while they speak. Which can be good in its own way don't get me wrong trying to read between the lines as a reader can be very fun.

however from a writing perspective it can be a pain to have constant dialogue without thoughts to go deeper into the scene, personally I find it harder to structure a chapter with high amounts of dialogue compared to a chapter with more thoughts than dialogue. Might just be me.

[Heidifisk]

To be fair it's almost always depends on how its presented.

If a character is saying a lot, break it up between dialog boxes ect. Maybe have them do a few actions while speaking.

[Cass]

This is how it is with me. I always have to find ways to make my characters stop talking.

[Cass]

I.m the opposite. I find it harder to write more thoughts than dialogue.

[thepenmonster]

I'm writing a novel though...

Then you definitely don't want to do that.

[allenT]

Unless it's informative that serves the plot, I would prefer shorter dialogues to none. I personally don't like to read too much back and forth small talks.

[Zhengo]

Flowery language means someone who purposely talks in overly long sentences with "big words" in a dramatic way

[stiatent]

Whaddup @Cass​

Guess dialogue to me would be determined by the pacing needed for the scene, ensuring points for plot progression are included and mood you want the reader to feel while reading. I'd imagine some bits of dialogue may lend to 'personality', 'red-herrings' or feed the 'MCs misbleief' to keep the plot 'unpredictable' or full of surprize.

Maybe, the type of story too, an action is usually fast paced so less dialogue/inner monoluge while a slow drama or slow horror might be the oppostie.

Moderation in dialogue is necessary as the saying goes "too much of 1 thing' can get overwhelming. So you can always come up with little distractions within the scene to break a lengthy dialogue. Eg. The character pauses and glances at someone or something passing by. Whatever the character looks at can either be used to change the topic, cut conversation short or hint something on their mind (as the object person they are looking at can be quickly used to tell us their state of mind, without us being told in dialogue - the whole saying show dont tell)
I gotta run and thats all i can come up with for now, but hopefully some of this make sense 🤣

[NetherSlayer]

It's very dependent on what the purpose of the dialogue is. Are they just going about a morning routine after getting up? Don't need the dialogue necessarily, can just be more vague and open ended: "They took note of the weather forecast as they ate breakfast, making small jabs at each others' hair or food stuck in their teeth." Maybe include a line or two of what they said but doesn't need to be dialogue intensive here.

If it's meant to directly push the plot along, if you need to reveal lore or the characters need to express themselves to each other so the audience can better understand, then that's when you need to make sure that the abundance of dialogue you'll likely need isn't stilted, and doesn't come off as if you're reading a textbook/dictionary.

[LWriter]

I mean I live by my dialogue so I think as long as it’s interesting and you’re connecting with the characters saying it, yeah, it works. Otherwise theater would be dead lol.

[DokiDokiTsuna]

As a fellow lover of dialogue (especially in novels where I don't have to worry about drawing any of it) I always appreciate a good convo. ^^ Tbh it's made me a bit of a snob, I think; like, I cannot stand it when people just have characters sit around and trade clichés: "I don't know if we can do this" "I'm not good enough" "Don't give up hope" "We can do this together" "I won't leave you" "You're not alone"

...A lot of video games (especially RPGs...) are filled with this kind of 'anime small talk' and it makes me want to rip my ears off, while the other 99% of the playerbase doesn't mind at all, apparently. ¯_(ツ)_/¯ I've never heard anyone else complain...but IMO, it's painfully unoriginal and dull. There are billions of different ways to arrange words and express emotions; ways that can EASILY be tailored to reflect each character's unique worldview and personality...why are we constantly circling back to the same ~50 placeholder phrases??

Anyway, rant over: So I think, if you are a lover of dialogue, the best thing you can do for yourself is to make sure your stories are character-focused. I had to learn this the hard way, over years of failed scripts and novel attempts...
Most stories are remembered for their events; the things the characters do and the places they go. And because of this, a lot of novice writers simply list events and actions and assume they've written a cool story-- 9 times outta 10, they haven't even come close. It actually takes a lot of skill and thematic awareness to create a memorable story where character progression actually takes a backseat. It also requires restraint when it comes to dialogue...events don't hit as hard when they're surrounded by unnecessary babbling. If you try to write an action-heavy story without reining in your dialogue, you usually just end up ruining it.

So your best option is to focus on that dialogue. Learn to look deeper than the events of the stories you consume and determine which ones are actually leaning on those events to push the characters forward, and model your writing after those. Conversely, you can start writing stories with fewer events in them; see how much mileage you can get out of a purely interpersonal conflict. You mind find that you actually enjoy it-- I gave slice of life a serious try a couple years ago and basically wrote nothing else for months. ^^; When dialogue is pretty much all you need to tell a story, it's that much more of a fun challenge to craft it well and make sure each line progresses the plot.

Of course, eventually I came out of that phase and started trying to incorporate action back into my stories again...but in a more streamlined way that lets the character conversations shine. Particularly, I stopped forcing characters to talk past each other in order to invite conflict, and started letting them be honest and express their feelings immediately, building conflicts organically. Or, y'know, letting them actually resolve conflicts through their dialogue...i.e. learning to be okay with the fact that sometimes two characters won't need or want to fight each other. ^^;

[KayleeH]

I myself like a good balance of robust dialogue and character actions to break it up and give it more of a natural, realistic feel. I write with a lot of sensory details, because I'm a very sensory seeking myself. If there is only talking, with nothing else going on in the scene, then I get lost pretty quick. Vise versa, if there is only descriptions or little internal monologuing, that is also going to throw me off. But, I know not everyone is like this and I do my best to keep that in mind with my writing.

[Lensing]

That´s exactly how I see it too and that describes what I like about dialogue scenes.
A good mix of dialogue and character action instead of endless dialogue or long
descriptions

[Lensing]

When it´s agruing & flirting + reaction then it works.
It can be overdone but it can also be exactly what leads the story forward.

[Leyelle]

I love reading dialog, I actually think more people would be likely to drop off it was mostly narration. As long as there is narration between lines of dialog (I.e. describing what people are doing as they're talking) I think it's fine for slices of life and such. maybe a little less so for action or adventure stories

[Ordinaryaverageguy]

That's what I was thinking, too. Actions, expressions, thoughts that passed through one or the other's head while one was speaking. Or just give the other character a chance to insert a word or two while the monologist is catching their breath.

[XiuLyn_12]

I wonder about that too!
I think it's nice to read more dialogue instead of a long description. But that also depends on how engaging the conversation is!

I tend to make a lot of inner dialogues to make readers relate to the characters, but it always fills the whole page/scene. This may be a comic, not a novel, but I wonder if there are readers who like reading tons of inner dialogues like this:

[Cass]

Personally, I like it because I get to see in the minds of the character, but I can't exactly speak for other readers.

[Cass]

What's up?? Thanks so much for your input! I try to spit up the conversation a bit when they're talking too.