Sometimes, you can learn more about writing techniques when learning other subjects. I learned a lot more about dialogue taking a theatre class than I ever did in a writing workshop or craft book.
When I went back to university in my mid-twenties, I decided to take some theatre classes. Theatre was something I’ve always wanted to try but didn’t have the chance to, and since I was returning to the same university and had taken all my gen eds, I had room in my schedule for a few fun courses. I assumed I’d learn a little bit about character creation. I didn’t realize that I’d learn so much about dialogue to the point that it change the way I wrote.
For those who don’t know, in a theatre class you typically read an entire play, then pick a specific piece (a scene or a monologue) to practice new techniques on. In the Acting I class I took, we focused on monologues.
Here’s my definition of a monologue:
A 1-2 minute speech from a character in a play. Typically, this speech occurs at a moment of high emotion, when the audience really wants to hear what they have to say and the other characters need to hear what they have to say. Many times, the dynamics of the story change after a monologue, but not always.
I will share with you the exercises we did in the class, then talk about how I adapted them to writing dialogue.
Choice of Sentence Structure in Dialogue
This was the most useful, and easiest to transfer, skill I learned.
“Choice of sentence structure” was one part of the Play and Character analysis sheet the professor gave us for our final project. For actors, the exercise is quite simple: Do the characters use long or short sentences? and Do they talk mainly in monologues or one-liners? (In the play I read, the main character used short sentences but rambled on and on. Not something I expected to find, and it was only by answering the question that I noticed it.)
Transferring this to writing dialogue:
I began to think about sentence structure more deeply. Specifically, I flashed back to sixth grade English where we learned about four types of sentences. Hopefully this looks familiar to you:
- Declarative sentence: A sentence that conveys facts. This type of sentence typically begins with a subject (noun) plus a verb plus predicate, and ends with a period.
- Interrogative sentence: A sentence that asks a question, seeks to learn new information. Its structure consists of a verb plus subject plus predicate, and always ends in a question mark.
- Imperative sentence: A sentence that gives a command. Base verb plus subject, typically ends with a period.
- Exclamative sentence: A sentence that conveys deep emotion. In sixth grade, we learn to put an exclamation mark at the ends of these sentences, but in modern fiction writing, it’s advised to use those sparingly.
In dialogue, you can convey the same piece of information in any of these four sentence types. It takes a bit of thought and rearranging of words to make the switch, but the results create very different character voices.
When I started a new work-in-progress after taking this class, I found myself pausing and rewriting pieces of dialogue. My protagonist was very forceful in her speech, while my second POV character was not. When she spoke in questions, I’d rewrite so they sounded more like commands. For example, “Did he ask you to do anything?” turned into “And if he didn’t ask you to do anything, you can stay here too.”
You can also do it the other way: if your dialogue sounds too on the nose (too many declarative, simply the facts, type sentences), try changing them into questions or emotion statement. These two types of sentences invites others to participate in the dialogue. “It’s cold outside” can be changed to “Is it cold outside?”, “How cold is it outside?” or “I can’t believe it’s cold again.”
The sentence structure you choose will greatly depend on who your character is and what feeling you want your dialogue to convey.
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“I” Directed vs. “You” Directed Dialogue
This exercise was one of the earliest we did when working with a monologue.
For this, we broke our monologues down to its individual sentences and asked the question: Is the character talking about themself (I directed) or are they talking to the other person (you directed)?
Once we marked our sentences on paper, we each stood in the middle of the classroom and took a step forward for “you directed” statements, and took a step back for “I directed” statements. Finding the distinction wasn’t always clear (not all sentences beginning with “I” are self-focused). A good monologue would have a mix of both, and the physical movement helped us feel the back and forth flow of the message being delivered.
Transferring this to writing dialogue:
With this exercise, I really honed in on my character’s intention as I wrote dialogue. Just like with sentence structure, you can express the same information with “I” or “you” statements.
At first, I assumed that “I” sentences would come across as selfish, and “you” sentences were accusatory. But doing the exercise in class, and then writing dialogue afterward, I made some crucial discoveries.
I Statements
- Are more emotional. It’s the character’s chance to express what they keep inside. By expressing emotion, you can bring your characters closer together.
- Are difficult to say. We tend to state our opinions as straight-up fact instead of acknowledging that our opinions differ from others.
- Invites others to participate. “I” statements make the conversation personal, allowing others to share their own opinions/emotions.
- Can be selfish depending on how often a character talks about themselves. (We all know someone who can’t help making every conversation about themselves.)
You Statements
- Occurs in real-world speech more often than one would think. Because dialogue occurs between at least two people, we tend to address everything to the other person. “You know when…” “It’s like when you’re late for…” “Why would you even think that?”
- Show care for other people, especially if you’re specific. After all, what better way is there to show that you noticed what someone else is going through than to address them directly.
- Can be accusatory based on the character’s intention and tone
Choice of Images (And Its Not What You Think)
A good monologue is a complete story within itself. It has a beginning, middle and end. In this exercise, we found the natural breaks in our monologues and split them into three parts.
But acting isn’t just speaking. Body posture is equally important for delivering the message to your audience. So, for each piece of the monologue, we were asked to find pictures to match the words. And those pictures would inspire our body language.
The key to this exercise, and acting in general, is that the pictures have to feel true to us. Each actor should be choosing different images because we each come to the work from differing experiences.
Transferring this to writing dialogue:
When writing dialogue, I keep my characters in my mind’s eye. Setting details became easier to incorporate when I thought about how the character interacted with it, what pose they took, what their hands were doing as they talked.
The more I explored, the more I discovered that body language changes how a conversation occurs. It’s very different speaking on your knees vs standing vs sitting in a soft chair. Each has a different posture and different gestures.
Most importantly, this exercise taught me that it’s okay to draw from personal experience to craft characters. It’s okay to put down what feels right to you instead of trying to make your dialogue sound like someone else. Making your characters sound authentic comes from being authentic while you write.
How do you approach dialogue?
Do you draw from other fields (creative or academic) when crafting stories?
I’d love to hear about it in the comments.