Day 03 – Quote / Unquote

I once read a novel by Margaret Drabble that had no dialogue. None.

I don’t remember much about that novel. If anyone recalls the title, let me know. I have a vague memory of things seeming indistinct, people faraway, as if in quiet conversation at a great distance.

I thought at the time, “why do that?”

Dialogue is such a powerful element, so alive, and such an attractive part of any work of fiction. I can’t imagine intentionally steering clear of it through an entire novel.

On the other hand, individual scenes or sequences occasionally best without direct dialogue. The murder scene in Louis Nordan’s Wolf Whistle is one. Distancing the reader from the certain anguish of the victim makes the crime, a racial murder, even more horrific.

Put people together and they usually talk. When it’s in a work of fiction, the writer has a tactical decision to make: how much speech to deliver (direct dialogue) vs. to summarize (indirect dialogue).

Neither option is as easy as it may seem. It’s always said that good dialogue is “real.” True as far as it goes, yet really, really faithful transcripts from life are larded with fat; they wander aimlessly down dead ends, trail off, and for long stretch, can seem pointless.

As for indirect dialogue, try reading the meticulous summary of a conversation–for court evidence–every beat of the conversation, every exchange. It’s like listening to paint peel.

Any scene involving words exchanged will require you to make 2-part decision:

1) How much of what was said is important to the scene?

2) Of that, how much should be said, how much summarized?

Here’s today’s mini-task: a simple drill to develop that particular decision-making “muscle.”

Think of a brief encounter, formal or not, in which the characters make a decision. Three guys meet on the corner and decide which bar to head for. Two attorneys approach the bench and persuade the judge to recess for lunch.

* Write it as pure dialogue. Let the words spoken do it all (include a few tags if you want).

* Write it again as indirect dialogue. All that spoken dialogue in your first version, summarize it now. No quotes.

* If you’re feeling peppy, do it a third time, this time mixing up direct and indirect dialogue.

30 minutes. GO.