Time to Write

Writing "improvised" dialogue

Can you write dialogue that sounds improvised? Should you? 

Eric Roth, co-writer of the current version of "A Star is Born," talks about how he abandoned his usual approach to writing dialogue:

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/eric-roth-having-mindset-writing-a-star-is-born-1161322

I saw the film recently, and I did wonder how much of the dialogue was improvised--and Roth says in the clip that some of it was. 

Obviously, any dialogue can be improvised, but it seems to work best when it's side-comments that help establish the nature of the relationship of the people talking. That might take the form of teasing or being playful, as in "A Star is Born," or maybe some other additional subtext.

I find that a good strategy is giving your 'final' draft one more look and seeing whether loosening up the dialogue that way will add to the richness of your characters. Of course, the specifics depend on the nature of your characters, but by loosening up, I mean something like this:

Original line: "Would you like that?"

Looser exchange: "Would that float your boat?" 

(Other character:) "Float my boat? Did you just escape from the 70's?"

While dialogue is almost never the same as actual speech, strategically bringing it a bit closer can help your characters come alive.

 

 

Put our prejudices to use in your fiction

Our prejudices--our tendency to pre-judge people--can be pernicious in real life, but you can use it to your advantage when creating characters for your fiction.

A study at the University of Texas at Dallas found that our first impression of people is based, at least in part, on their body shape, according to a report by ScienceDaily.

Generally, heavier bodies were associated with laziness and carelessness. (I know--unfair, but I'm just reporting the results!)

Lighter bodies were associated with self-confidence and enthusiasm.

Bodies considered classically masculine (broad shoulders, smaller waist) and classically feminine (pear-shaped) were associated with being quarrelsome, extraverted, and irritable.

Bodies that were more rectangular were associated with trustworthiness, shyness, dependability, and warmth.

In fiction, you can choose to use these assumptions to help define your character--or to subvert the stereotypes by, for instance, creating a self-confident, enthusiastic character who also happens to be heavy, or a lazy, careless one who happens to be skinny.

I prefer the latter, not only because it may be a tiny step toward undoing this kind of pre-judgment but also because readers like being surprised and if they subscribe to the current stereotypes, this kind of reversal will surprise them.