© 2013 Raymond Alexander Kukkee
Escribiano
P
ortrait of Jean Miélot c.1456
D is for Dialogue. Let's talk about dialogue. That is what it is, conversation between two people. it may be conversations held between two or more people, or between groups of people. As writers, we have to create dialogue.
"In the written form, dialogue is usually presented in quotation marks," he said.
"get it?"
"
I got it." I said.
That was dialogue. Nice, ordinary dialogue. Conversational. Direct.
Some trendy writers over-use the word 'dialogue' as a verb. It seems unnecessary.
"Monsieur Louie LePtuie-Plumpkin, I desire to dialogue with you" the man in the purple smoking jacket said arrogantly, stumbling as he turned away.
"Shall we dialogue this very afternoon?"
"Uh-huh."
Only if you leave the booze in the desk, sir, Louie thought to himself.
That did seem a bit unnecessary and fancy, did it not? .
"I'd like to talk to you about that" will usually suffice.
How about you? Do you ever use 'dialogue' as a verb? If you do, hopefully it has been used correctly.
Meantime, let us keep our dialogue between characters realistic. Practice writing dialogue as it occurs in ordinary conversation. How do your characters really speak? Is the dialogue true to their character? Let's listen in on this dialogue.
"Hi, Jack! Better get used to it, as of this morning, Sammie isn't on the writing team anymore--she called in and quit!"
"No!.... boss, I...thought that might happen, --we better talk about this," Jack said, " I talked to her last night. Someone upset her yesterday. Too bad, her writing on this project has been very good."
"---Hers was better than mine, --and certainly better than yours, boss, you're a terrible writer." George said, overhearing their dialogue through the open door. He poked his head out the door and laughed.
"
George,-- you're right, I'll call her back this afternoon, give her a raise, and tell her she's back on the team."
"Okay boss, thanks", George said, "
-- she's pretty hot,--
Oh, and she overheard me dialoguing about wanting to play footsies with her last week, oh, she's hot! - We won't regret bringing her back,-- will you boss? George winked and grinned rubbing two fingers together.
"
No, George, I won't regret it at all, but you might. She's a better writer than you are anyway, so I'll give her your office. Find yourself a new job, you're fired."
"--
But boss--no, --no, wait, let's dialogue about that, can't we dialogue about that? Awe, c'mon boss, I was only dialoguing."
"
Let me know if you ever decide to talk it over and change your neanderthal attitude, George,--go pick up your last check, bye-bye!"
See? That's what dialogue should be about. Just talking. That's why D is for Dialogue.
Is that Incoming I hear?
Photo credit Wikimedia commons
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About Raymond Alexander Kukkee
A published author and freelance writing professional, Raymond lives and writes in Northwestern Ontario.
Oh, I know dialogue and probably use it too much, but I do so love it…besides my characters won’t rest until their thoughts are out for all to see! But, really…dialogue as a verb? Nuh-uh!
Glory, I, too love writing dialogue; it is my favourite part of writing. You write your dialogue very well, it sounds so natural. Your characters always ring true..that’s the whole idea. I laugh when I see ‘dialogue’ being used as a verb, although the dictionary considers the transitive/intransitive use as correct. Thanks! “:)
No, but I do speak. I rarely use the word “talk” except to say the phrase “talk on the telephone”.
My hangup with dialog is the punctuation.
In Canada, people ‘talk’ and may even ‘converse’, or even ‘speak’ to someone about a serious matter, but it seems ‘dialogue’ is seldom used except for pseudo-sophisticates attempting to impress themselves. Hopefully they use punctuation correctly while doing so. “:)