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Dialogue is one area that I struggle with. It is important for a story but you want it to have a purpose. Just in time to practice before NaNoWriMo Hyu-Wai Loucks, posting at Elizabeth Spann Craig, has some great thoughts to help you manage your dialogue.
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How Do I Make Dialogue Meaningful?
by Hyu-Wai Loucks
One of the most difficult aspects of writing a novel, or any narrative for that matter, is striking the delicate balance between dialogue and description. While insight into a character’s thoughts, emotions, and perceptions help shape the audience’s understanding of the character’s mind, dialogue aids readers in developing an accurate and full understanding of the character’s complete self. It offers an external glimpse into how a character moves, speaks, and reacts to the world surrounding them; dialogue is a character’s internal motives coming to life. Even so, it is difficult to develop a meaningful flow of speech which progresses the plot, rather than stagnating it.
Countless times while I have been writing, I will be immersed in the world of my own mind, putting down the situations being played out in my head by pen to paper, only later realizing that my dialogue loops in circles, or even worse, straying entirely from the point I am trying articulate.
How can I prevent this????
Read the full post on Elizabeth Spann Craig.