S TORYTELLING T HROUGH D IALOGUE Creative Writing Benjamin Way 3-7-14.
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STORYTELLING THROUGH DIALOGUE Creative Writing Benjamin Way 3-7-14
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Transcript of S TORYTELLING T HROUGH D IALOGUE Creative Writing Benjamin Way 3-7-14.
STORYTELLING THROUGH DIALOGUECreative Writing
Benjamin Way
3-7-14
OVERVIEW
Why tell a story through dialogue? Showing character emotions Showing character motivations Describing important events
WHY TELL A STORY THROUGH DIALOGUE?
It’s more authentic; your actual life is mostly a series of dialogues.
The natural way for us humans to understand our world is by hearing words and seeing actions, not listening to a narrator.
In a play, you don’t really have the option of a narrator explaining everything.
SHOWING CHARACTER EMOTIONS
Word choices and punctuation demonstrate a character’s emotional state.
Compare the following greetings: “Hello.” “And how are you today this fine morning?” “Oh. It’s you.” “Ayyyy, how you doin’ mah boiii?” [awkward silence] “God! Can’t you find somewhere else to
be?”
SHOWING CHARACTER EMOTIONS 2
Another way to show a character’s emotion is for somebody else to comment on it.
“What are you smiling about?”“Hey, are you okay? … Are you sure you’re alright?”“What’chu yellin’ for?”“Whoa, calm down.”
CHARACTER MOTIVATIONS
This is easy. Just find a way for the character to talk about their motivation somehow.
The hard part is making it fit naturally into a conversation.
CHARACTER MOTIVATION EXAMPLE
Protagonist is excited and nervous about a job interview.
Scene: Protagonist ordering his regular breakfast at a diner.Diner cashier: You lookin’ fly today.Protagonist: Thanks! Gotta look my best; I finally have an interview at Simon Tech. If I don’t get this job, it’s gonna be cereal every morning for me.Diner cashier: Well, good luck, then! Hey, you shakin’, boy. Best try to calm down before you get over there. Don’t wanna seem too eager.
IMPORTANT ACTIONS & EVENTS
Fill in important events that happen between scenes by having protagonist talk about what happened with somebody else.
Scene: back at the dinerDiner cashier: So? How’d it go?Protagonist: I don’t want to talk about it.Diner cashier: That bad, eh?Protagonist: They actually told me “we won’t be in touch.” [sighs] What am I gonna do?
CONCLUSION
It is actually pretty easy to tell a story through dialogue alone. Just pretend like it’s real life.
