Guidelines-dialogue
1) To improve dialogue, ask what is the purpose of it. Does the dialogue advance the story? Does dialogue carry the action? Is an important tone established? Does dialogue orient the reader? Does dialogue contribute to characterization?
2) Dialogue must not sound like actors in a stage play. Actors have different rules. Their speech has different rhythms and is more restricted.
3) Dialogue must be constructed with attention to rhythmic effects that should be consistent with narrative and should contribute to the reader’s process of reading the story. Excessive short dialogue between characters may give an unwanted and deadly rhythmic effect.
4) In effective dialogue, a character’s question or idea should rarely be answered directly.
5) Modifiers used in attribution of dialogue should be tasteful. Avoid “I love you,” he humorously chortled.
PART II
Providing for the Reader
Principles
* The reader always wants a well-told, structured story with drama and freshness.
* Readers want clarity, logic, and believability; most readers of literary stories do not read to admire the author’s facility with the language.
A. How a story comes to life
A story primarily tells a happening or a series of events, but a story is also a way of thinking, a structured means of communication. A story may embody one or more ideas to create a living environment for the reader.
Although it may be uncomfortable to think so, we are alone in our earthly existence—and for an alarmingly limited time. A human is born, eats, sleeps and dies. Without ever being told why, we are locked alone during life inside our skulls. We are never given the privilege of thinking anyone else’s thoughts, and being so isolated makes us intensely curious about what makes others tick. Stories give us a glimpse of how others think and how others live their lives. As a result, we are guided in our own thinking and conduct.
