A wise man once told me, "If you can just figure out how to punctuate the fucking dialogue, you'll have a future in writing." I've mentioned those wise words before, on several occasions (once fairly recently on my other blog) and I mention them here because I've been thinking a great deal about both that man and dialogue. The man was author David Jack Bell (Cemetery Girl, The Girl in the Woods, The Condemned), a former professor of mine and one of the two people that have been absolutely central to my development as a writer. I owe a great many people a great many thanks, but DJB has been more influential, I think, than even he realizes.
I go back to that bit of advice, something I've actually saved in the years since and read over any time I start to feel a little too sure of myself because I feel that dialogue is one of the most important, and challenging, aspects of writing fiction. More specifically, I feel that it becomes exponentially more potent to the story and more difficult to do correctly when you add difference of culture and language. Very few fantasy epics (which is what I'm writing) take place where every character speaks the same language with the same accent and the same colloquialisms. Even if you aren't a Tolkien-esque writer that regularly invents entirely new languages for your various races, most fantasy writers have at least created some basic words for elves or dwarves or, as in the case of Richard A. Knaak's Ogre Titans books (written in the Dragonlance universe) ogres.
Using these languages in conjunction with English (or common or whatever its called in the individual work) can be challenging because it requires a certain degree of translation. Knaak's ogres speak almost entirely in his fictional language, but he inserts enough of the common tongue that readers can grasp most (if not all) of what the characters are saying.
I'm using my new novel, Skyborn, as an example here because I've included a number of races and, although I'm not really planning to use too much in terms of foreign language, I do place a heavy emphasis on naming conventions and other language-related devices to differentiate between the various cultures in the world of Garn.
That, I think, is the most important thing about writing good dialogue. It promotes realism. Stylistically, I try to stay out of my character's heads in straight narration. It was, originally, a shortcoming. I wasn't in there enough, but with some cristicism I've started looking into ways to incorporate their internal monologues more, without being too in their heads. Its a balance, but I feel that creative use of dialogue will make up for it while giving the reader a much better idea of who they are as human beings (or elves, or lizardmen, or whatever).
Skyborn is typical of my long fiction in that it encompasses an enormous landmass composed of a bunch of different cultures. I enjoy exploring how those cultures relate to one another and I feel that I've never done that quite as much as I have in this new novel. I think much of my inspiration for that comes from Robert Jordan's amazing Wheel of Time series. Very few writers, contemporary or otherwise, have Jordan's talent for blending cultures and illustrating the way that they relate to one another.
So the reason I'm placing such a huge emphasis on dialogue is that I feel it can build tension between characters, create an idea in the readers' minds about the way cultures and individuals feel and react toward one another. The challenge inherent is using these different language conventions, different cultures, personalities and characteristics to create rich, convincing dialogue (while worrying about pacing, tension, theme, and, somewhat less story-driven but still important, style and punctuation). Done correctly, dialogue can establish cultural and personal barriers, drive narrative, create and resolve conflict and tension, and even broaden a reader's idea of the world by providing background information without the use of a sprawling glossary.
Narrative is important, the actions and thoughts of characters and the way they affect changes in the story are crucial and they can't be understated, but the dialogue, the dialogue is where the magic really happens. Styles vary, of course, and the actual use of dialogue can be just as important as what is actually being said. Ernest Hemingway's stories, in my opinion, are entirely driven by dialogue. Hemingway uses very little actual narration in his writing, whereas other writers may use comparatively more narration and less speech.
Regardless of style, the dialogue is important. Hemingway relied upon it for the bulk of his storytelling, which makes it crucial, but a writer who uses more narration must still create and utilize dialogue, particularly because of how little speech is present.
The thing to remember is that your characters have their own voices, just as you and your friends have different voices. So before you start writing, when you're working out the kinks of your characters, think of their voices. Get to know them the way you know your friends and you'll know what they're going to say before you ever start writing it. That, to me, is the best way to create believable characters.
Skyborn has a smaller central cast than most novels in the epic fantasy genre, smaller than most of my own pieces, really, with three major protagonists and a single antagonist. The scope of the story, though, and therefore the supporting cast, is much larger. With that in mind, the dialogue issue becomes even more crucial so that those supporting characters don't end up fading into a single, faceless, voiceless amalgamation of background noise. Supporting casts should be just as vital as the central characters, in terms of voice, otherwise what is the point of using them?
There you have it. Just get the dialogue right, and you're on your way to a future in writing.
Yours,
-S.R.
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