Which is better? Dialogue or description. Okay, they aren’t really opponents. Each has its function. Without
dialogue, we would have endless pages of description. Remember the “classics”
we had to read in school? The ones from the 1800s, where paragraphs went on for
over a page—complete description, little dialogue. Bo-ring, right? On the other
hand, without description, we would have talking heads. No idea where the
characters are or what they are doing. Disconcerting.
So, how do we achieve a balance?
Perhaps the better question is what is the reader’s expectation? In an
action-adventure novel, the reader expects action. Short, punchy sentences.
Brief dialogue. Short paragraphs. In a contemplative novel, one expects longer,
more in-depth descriptions. Now, that doesn’t mean you can’t do both in the
same novel. All action leaves the reader breathless. Even action heroes need
downtime. Romance novels require the characters to talk to each other, along
with mood-setting descriptions. I cannot imagine a fantasy novel, with all its
glorious descriptions of a magical place, not having characters who speak.
Last week, in my post on Autumn,
I mentioned that descriptions in a good part of Switched were fairly easy
to write. Fall in Michigan bombards the senses. Sights, sounds, smells, tastes,
touch. When we incorporate the senses in stories, readers are grounded in
reality. Because they have had similar experiences, they can identify with the
characters, plunging them deeper into the story.
So, how many of you have ridden
in a starship? Well, neither have I. No surprise there. The trick with writing
science fiction, sci-fi romance or fantasy is in the details. It’s the little
things that count applies to writing as much as it does to a good marriage. We
build this fantastical world out of our imagination, but it has similarities to
our real world. By hitting on those similarities, we make our world believable.
The starship in the Switched series
has a gray-carpeted hall. We all recognize industrial carpeting from offices,
banks, businesses. Throughout the ship, there’s a continuous hum from the
engines that the crew is so used to they don’t hear it. Riding in a car or
plane is a close match. We hear when something is amiss, as Jessie does in Switched,
but if the engine is running smoothly we take it for granted.
As I’ve mentioned in every
interview, I’m a pantser—I write by the seat of the pants—not a plotter. An
idea comes and I run with it. The story plays out like a movie in my head.
Since I like action-adventure movies, my stories usually begin with action. Switched,
Too begins “Emergency Alert!” Boom. Throws the reader right into the middle
of a crisis. Or, I’ll begin with provocative dialogue. Switched 3 (no title
yet) begins “I want to meet my mother.” Doesn’t that beg a question? Whichever
way a story begins, the point is to hook the reader whether s/he picks the book
up off the shelf and reads the first page or clicks on “Look inside” for a
preview on Amazon.
Dialogue is easier for me to write
than descriptions because I hear the characters speak. (Sure hope my kids aren’t
reading this. They’ll put me in a home
for sure.) As the story unfolds, I concentrate more on what the characters say
and do, not where they are exactly. My first draft is pretty bare bones.
Dialogue and stage directions, some internal dialogue. Then, I go back and
layer in descriptions. Actually, I do a lot of back and forth writing. I’ve
heard it called circular writing—write for a while, go back and add, write
more, go back, etc. Those writers who plot first are probably groaning at what
they consider wasted time. I say, whatever works.
Let me rephrase my original
question. Which do you prefer to read/write—dialogue or description? Or does it matter?
