Fictional
characters communicate mostly with dialogue to further the plot of a
novel. Good dialogue is cherished by intelligent readers because it
convinces them that they are observing the story rather than being
told by the author. Good dialogue can quickly define characters and further the
plot with little or no description. It sounds real--we
feel we are there. And yet if we examine how close to reality the
aspects of a good novel are, we would discover that although
characters and plot may be hugging reality, good dialogue is almost
always far away!
Reader,
you'd probably think I've gone bananas. You know that most of last
century's important writers, people like Hemingway and J D Salinger,
listened in on various characters to get things right. So how can
good dialogue in fiction be further from reality than both plot and
characters? I know it sounds absurd, but it is true. If you want to
see this for yourself, take the trouble to record with your cellphone
a few everyday conversations. When you play them back, you will
discover that they consist mostly of unnecessary words, incomplete
sentences, a drifting subject, and echoes of questions or words. Real
dialogue lacks interest.
Even
if you remove the echoes, rambles and unnecessary words from real
dialogue, most readers would still find it boring. Sol Stein, in his
masterful Stein
on Writing
(1995) says that the basic difference between real and fictional
dialogue is that real dialogue is “direct” whereas good fictional
dialogue is “oblique”. In other words in real conversation we
directly answer questions whereas in fiction, characters obliquely
answer them to arouse interest.
Let
me illustrate. Say you are at work, and all of a sudden plain,
unnoticeable Mary, who routinely does secretarial work, has done her
hair differently or bought different clothes and you suddenly notice
her as a woman. So you look up to her and say what you feel:
“My
God, you are beautiful!”
In
real life, Mary would probably smile politely and just say “thank
you.”
But
real life dialogue does not usually stimulate curiosity, create
tension, change events or relationships. Most of the time we are not
quick or intelligent enough to give a suitable answer, much less
bring something new to the table. In good dialogue, an author has
invested time to expose a character or further the plot and hence
arouse our curiosity. In a novel, play or movie the simple exchange
above could sound something like this:
“My
God, you are beautiful!”
“I'd
like you to meet my husband.”
Or:
“My
God, you are beautiful!”
“You
have your contacts on today!”
Each
of the artificial dialogues tells us many things in just two lines.
What
counts is not what is said, but the effect of what is meant.
Note that in both artificial dialogue cases, the person spoken to,
did not directly
comment on the topic at hand (as we do in everyday life) but answered
indirectly, obliquely.
And that is the secret of good dialogue.
Here
are a few more examples between real everyday spoken exchanges
followed by fictional dialogue:
(A)
“Good
morning.”
“Good
morning.”
“Good
morning.”
“What's
so good about it?”
(B)
“How
are you?”
“Fine,
and yourself?”
“Good.”
“How
are you?”
“OK,
I suppose.”
“Why,
what's the matter?”
“You
haven't heard?”
(C)
“How
are things at home?”
She had pre-kindergarten twins.
“Busy.”
“How
are things at home?”
She had pre-kindergarten twins.
“Rumple,
ruffle and muck.”
(D)
“Simon,
you are back!”
“Yes.”
“Simon,
you are back!”
“The
whale has come for air.”
In
the four examples above and with just a few words, an author has (a)
exposed a character, (b) furthered the plot, (c) given a strong image
of day to day life with small children and (d) described one's
psychological condition with an appropriate metaphor. In real life we
are not as quick or as intelligent to do so much so quickly.
And
that's precisely why we turn off real life and open a good novel.
See
my other article on dialogue:
I guess this just shows how fiction is more interesting than real life.
ReplyDeleteJeff Pilch