Say it with Dialogue

We all know what bad dialogue sounds like. It happens all the time, one of our favorite actors delivers a line that falls flat and deflates the whole cinema experience for us. As movie-goers and writers, we often wonder if anyone actually read the script before it was put into production. As we try to craft our own scenes, we all struggle with the written word and the cadence of speech. And, to add insult to injury, we can all agree that bad dialogue is easier plucked out of a finished movie by a discerning ear than edited out of script by struggling writer.

To learn from the masters, let's consider Quentin Tarantino and Wes Anderson. Both of these writers are known for dialogue-heavy scripts. These artists are also known for their ability to attract high-caliber actors and actresses who are dying to play quirky characters in their movies. How do they do it? Tarantino's dialogue is best described as useful banter. The "Royal with Cheese" conversation helped make Pulp Fiction famous. Some could argue that the whole scene could have been cut from the movie without any harm to the story. But, as a writer and creative person, you know the film would have suffered greatly without a discussion of Europe's burger names based on their use of the metric system.

Wes Anderson, writer and creator of some of my favorite modern masterpieces, approaches his scenes differently. Rarely do his characters converse without a serious topic. And, very seldom do his characters actually reference the intricate and interesting world around them. For Wes Anderson, the spoken word is something full of mystery and nuance. In The Royal Tenenbaums, Margot and Richie lay quietly in their tent from childhood. Margot asserts that they "will just have to go on loving each other without anyone knowing it." Although her words seem final and certain, her actions are the opposite. In this way, Anderson has infused her dialogue with several levels of meaning and complexity.

Think about your favorite movies and your favorite sections of dialogue. The task of crafting engaging and unique scenes may seem overwhelming. But, just like story structure, writing dialogue has some tried and true formulas. Drafting dialogue should be just like drafting your outline. The words, phrases, and styles will evolve and change as you polish your work.

To avoid the pitfalls of poor dialogue, here are some simple things to remember.
1) Know your levels. Dialogue can be on-the-nose, full of metaphor, or completely abstract. Each level of dialogue is important and necessary to make a story entertaining. If your characters are saying exactly how they feel at all times, the audience will tire of such self-aware and obnoxious characters. If the dialogue is so full of allegory, metaphor, and simile that it is hard to understand, the audience will feel left out of the story world which you are trying to get them involved in. Mix up levels of dialogue and use them as a tool for different scenes.
2) If you don't have anything to say, don't say it. Just like our elders advice, characters should not be filling empty space on the page with words. If the scene is over and everything has been said, move on to the next event. If the conversation about the weather has lasted 25 pages, it's time to change the subject. If your character is on the fifth page of soliloquy, wrap it up. The most painful dialogue to an audience is word vomit to an empty room. Of course, talking to yourself can be a character trait, but the spoken word needs to be received by someone in someway for it to be important.
3) Characters should not narrate there own scenes. Even in first-person novels and movies, the main character is not supposed to be doing play by play of what is happening. Scenes should be organic and dynamic enough to exist without the characters narrating the location, time, place, or events.

Once you have poured over your work for hours and hours, get a group of people together to read it. They don't need to be actors. Better yet, normal people should read your scenes aloud. The lines they stumble over need to be rewritten. The dialogue they deliver without feeling needs to be edited to evoke emotion. The scenes that seem boring need to have a reason for existing.