pariah
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Posts: 107
Joined: July 2011
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Post by pariah on Jul 18, 2011 0:56:44 GMT -5
I thought I had this insomnia thing licked and was on my way to bed when a thought jumped into my head.
I thought about how much it would hurt to get your finger slammed in a car door.
I then thought that it may be funny to watch someone else get their finger slammed in a car door and a laughed for a while.
After that I logged back on and decided to ask for some advice.
Can a story be driven by dialogue alone? Has anyone here tried it or have any of you read anything where it was pulled off effectively?
I know it works as a visual medium but how would it work in novel or short story form?
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Richard
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Posts: 610
Joined: July 2011
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Post by Richard on Jul 18, 2011 22:20:51 GMT -5
Personally, I love dialogue, and use it in all my non-fiction work. I think an all dialogue story would be tiresome. What I mean is, all of the non-dialogue writing is what stirs the imagination. That is what paints the picture in the minds eye rather than just communication between characters. That is where mental escape and participation enters. It can be relaxing. I don't find dialogue to meet those criteria.
All dialogue works for comedy, but not in fiction IMHO.
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pariah
Member
Posts: 107
Joined: July 2011
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Post by pariah on Jul 18, 2011 23:45:57 GMT -5
I was having the same thoughts myself.
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Post by spookwriter on Dec 9, 2011 13:08:58 GMT -5
Dialogue is absolutely necessary to break up the tedium of exposition. Nothing chaps my butt like pages of description, especially about 'the sky is blue, the birds have flew, the snow has snew,' etc. etc. ad nauseum! Lively dialogue keeps things moving at a rapid rate. But be careful: dialogue is not spoken like we speak; rather the way we THINK we speak. Although I don't usually tout books by name, I learned a lot from 'Shut Up!' He Explained-A writer's Guide to the Uses and Misuses of Dialogue by William Noble. He does a great job of teaching the basics of dialogue which is, I think, the hardest thing to write effectively.
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BlueLotus
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Posts: 587
Joined: August 2011
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Post by BlueLotus on Dec 10, 2011 2:32:43 GMT -5
Hmm, I think I will have to take a peek at the book you mention. I'm pretty sure that I write my dialogue all wrong, I tend to write as if I were having a conversation with myself. Which I guess is fine, if I want to sound like a-- Gilmore Girl. No, wait... I totally would not like that, why? Well because it works OK on TV but, not so great in my fav books... Ugh. Thanks for the tip dear. ~BL~
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