Writing Help 129 | - ☆ Freelance Writer
Apr 05, 2013 | #1
Terms You Need for Writing about the Novel
Dialogue (or dialog, as many of you will most often see it) is a vital aspect of most novels, and while it is not an absolute necessity, one would be hard pressed to find a novel that contained absolutely none of it. The skillful use of dialogue can bring characters to life and animate an entire fictional world; used poorly, it can ruin a novel and destroy our willingness to believe in the fictional world and the events taking place within it.
It will not come as a surprise to most that dialogue is the presentation of direct speech as it is exchanged between two or more characters in a novel. As it stands for almost all written prose, the conventions surrounding dialogue in the novel are straightforward; the words are reported just as they are spoken, without paraphrase, in the voice of the person who uttered the remarks. Note that the reporting of indirect speech is not considered dialogue, as in the following example: "Billy told me that he wanted to eat more grapes, but I told him that there were no more grapes to be eaten." Here, the narrator is presenting a conversation between two people, but does so indirectly rather than directly. The narrator nests the words of the other participant in her own stream of dialogue, paraphrases what was said, and uses that to integrate the other's words into her own sentence. The most important consideration for determining when speech is direct or indirect is to ask yourself if you are hearing the voice of both people speaking for themselves in a verbal exchange or not. For the above to have been presented directly in the form of dialogue, Billy would have to be present, and he would have to use the word I when referring to himself. Since this is not the case, his words are being reported by another indirectly, and so this is not an example of dialogue.
There are several formatting conventions which govern the use of dialogue in a novel, and an example of dialogue done correctly is presented below:
Cindy was angry, and began railing at Billy mercilessly, screaming "I hate you Billy, I hate you and your stupid grapes more than anything!"
"But why?" asked Billy innocently, pretending not to know why she was reacting this way, "I only ate the grapes you told me I could."
"Liar!" cried Cindy, "Last night I told you specifically not to touch the last container of grapes, and you said 'Ok Cindy, I promise I won't eat those ones.'"
First, note that all direct speech is enclosed by double quotation marks, while the regular narration is not. This enclosure indicates that we are hearing the voices of the people directly, and that we are hearing their words as they speak them, without alteration. Within these quoted sections, the characters refer to themselves as I, and use their own speaking conventions which may differ from those of the narrator. Whenever the speaker of a line of dialogue changes, a new paragraph is required. Cindy speaks in paragraph one, while Billy speaks in two, and Cindy returns in three. This prevents the confusion that might otherwise arise, and it also allows the author to take some efficient shortcuts. Hemingway, for example, often presents many lines of dialogue in a row, each with its own paragraph, when he recounts a rapid exchange between two characters. This involves us more deeply in the speed and power of their conversation, but still remains comprehensible because we know who must be saying what in each line based on the paragraph-per-speaker convention. Finally, notice the single quotation marks in Cindy's final line. This is used to mark the presentation of direct speech within someone else's direct speech, again clarifying who is saying what and in what way. These conventions adhere throughout North American English, though if you find yourself using British English or a variant based on it, consult an appropriate style manual to ensure you understand its subtle but important differences in dialogue presentation.
Dialogue
Dialogue (or dialog, as many of you will most often see it) is a vital aspect of most novels, and while it is not an absolute necessity, one would be hard pressed to find a novel that contained absolutely none of it. The skillful use of dialogue can bring characters to life and animate an entire fictional world; used poorly, it can ruin a novel and destroy our willingness to believe in the fictional world and the events taking place within it.
It will not come as a surprise to most that dialogue is the presentation of direct speech as it is exchanged between two or more characters in a novel. As it stands for almost all written prose, the conventions surrounding dialogue in the novel are straightforward; the words are reported just as they are spoken, without paraphrase, in the voice of the person who uttered the remarks. Note that the reporting of indirect speech is not considered dialogue, as in the following example: "Billy told me that he wanted to eat more grapes, but I told him that there were no more grapes to be eaten." Here, the narrator is presenting a conversation between two people, but does so indirectly rather than directly. The narrator nests the words of the other participant in her own stream of dialogue, paraphrases what was said, and uses that to integrate the other's words into her own sentence. The most important consideration for determining when speech is direct or indirect is to ask yourself if you are hearing the voice of both people speaking for themselves in a verbal exchange or not. For the above to have been presented directly in the form of dialogue, Billy would have to be present, and he would have to use the word I when referring to himself. Since this is not the case, his words are being reported by another indirectly, and so this is not an example of dialogue.There are several formatting conventions which govern the use of dialogue in a novel, and an example of dialogue done correctly is presented below:
Cindy was angry, and began railing at Billy mercilessly, screaming "I hate you Billy, I hate you and your stupid grapes more than anything!"
"But why?" asked Billy innocently, pretending not to know why she was reacting this way, "I only ate the grapes you told me I could."
"Liar!" cried Cindy, "Last night I told you specifically not to touch the last container of grapes, and you said 'Ok Cindy, I promise I won't eat those ones.'"
First, note that all direct speech is enclosed by double quotation marks, while the regular narration is not. This enclosure indicates that we are hearing the voices of the people directly, and that we are hearing their words as they speak them, without alteration. Within these quoted sections, the characters refer to themselves as I, and use their own speaking conventions which may differ from those of the narrator. Whenever the speaker of a line of dialogue changes, a new paragraph is required. Cindy speaks in paragraph one, while Billy speaks in two, and Cindy returns in three. This prevents the confusion that might otherwise arise, and it also allows the author to take some efficient shortcuts. Hemingway, for example, often presents many lines of dialogue in a row, each with its own paragraph, when he recounts a rapid exchange between two characters. This involves us more deeply in the speed and power of their conversation, but still remains comprehensible because we know who must be saying what in each line based on the paragraph-per-speaker convention. Finally, notice the single quotation marks in Cindy's final line. This is used to mark the presentation of direct speech within someone else's direct speech, again clarifying who is saying what and in what way. These conventions adhere throughout North American English, though if you find yourself using British English or a variant based on it, consult an appropriate style manual to ensure you understand its subtle but important differences in dialogue presentation.