Ima newbie (im still working on my first story) I was just wanting to ask is it always good to have a lot of dialouge in a story. I just cant seem to find a good connection with my characters in a story. PLEASE HELP!!! lol ...More details or character connections??
Connection between Characters
- Thread starter Ezyryder
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Colleen Thomas
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Dialogue is neccessary, for some it is a powerful tool, for me it is a neccessary evil. Dialogue can drive a story, it can allow you to develope characters and their relationship to one another and to the world at large. It can be a pain in the tush to read if done poorly and can detract as much as it adds.
Your best bet is to read some of theowrks posted by lit authors here and if you find a couple who are good with dialogue and who move their stories with it in the way you wish to pm them and ask for tips. Most people here at the AH will goout of their way to help you.
-Colly
Your best bet is to read some of theowrks posted by lit authors here and if you find a couple who are good with dialogue and who move their stories with it in the way you wish to pm them and ask for tips. Most people here at the AH will goout of their way to help you.
-Colly
dr_mabeuse
seduce the mind
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Ezyryder said:
By connections do you mean the characters' relationship to one another? Like what brings them together and what they have to talk about?
Because if you can't find a connection between characters in an erotic story, you might be in trouble.
---dr.M.
A7inchPhildo
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Colly has some good advice there. Characters do need to comunicate somehow. I have read stories where the dialogue has been superb, and then some it has killed the story.
Not all stories need to have actual quotes. That seems to work for some. Personally I have a hard time not allowing my characters to speak.
If you have quick questions on how to use quotes check out KillerMuffins "How to punctuate like a pro." Page 2 http://www.literotica.com:81/stories/showstory.php?id=79818&page=2
Another highly recomended excellent read is by Whispersecret "How to make Characters talk." http://www.literotica.com/stories/showstory.php?id=8982
Conections of characters depends greatly on where the story is at, and where it needs to go.
Example: If Tom meets Jane in the subway, and Jane and Tom are just going to fuck. There is little need to have them comunicate. Physical comunication is sufficient, or just the thoughts of one character can tell the story easily enough.
: Now if Tom and Jane are married and Tom is trying to convince Jane to fuck his friend. Well, now there is a lot of explaining to do for the reader if Jane and Tom do not speak. It is easier to write what trickery Tom is doing then have Jane say how she feels. Then Tom also responds like wise.
A story can be done either way, just some times it pays to let the characters chat. (which can be a lot of work) Other times it is really not needed or wanted.
In either case no reader wants to read useless banter that does not pertain to the story, and propell it forward. It can be useless in content, but useful if the quotes at least displays who the character is. Like a New Yorker might tawk funny, or a uneducated youth might dis de bitch she is.
Really try to stay away from any chat that does nothing for the story. If your characters get ice-cream just tell it, don't beat it to death with full conversations of what the girl behind the counter said. There again unless she has a roll in moving the actual plot along no one cares, if she askes, "Would you like plain or sugar cone?"
I like talking characters in a story. I don't like stupid talk, I don't like getting lost in who is talking, I don't like stories with little to no effort given of proper use of quotes.
If you are still unsure how to use quotes, at least be consistant Use " or ' whatever just keep it all the same, is better than jumble games in a story.
If you would like some other professional sites on exact quote usage, and character talk just ask I will be glad to link them to you.
Nice to have you aboard easyrider, make sure you stay a while and play with some of the others here as well. They have a nifty little thing going on called the Olympics in another thread check it out. Great bunch of peeps here!
Phildo
Not all stories need to have actual quotes. That seems to work for some. Personally I have a hard time not allowing my characters to speak.
If you have quick questions on how to use quotes check out KillerMuffins "How to punctuate like a pro." Page 2 http://www.literotica.com:81/stories/showstory.php?id=79818&page=2
Another highly recomended excellent read is by Whispersecret "How to make Characters talk." http://www.literotica.com/stories/showstory.php?id=8982
Conections of characters depends greatly on where the story is at, and where it needs to go.
Example: If Tom meets Jane in the subway, and Jane and Tom are just going to fuck. There is little need to have them comunicate. Physical comunication is sufficient, or just the thoughts of one character can tell the story easily enough.
: Now if Tom and Jane are married and Tom is trying to convince Jane to fuck his friend. Well, now there is a lot of explaining to do for the reader if Jane and Tom do not speak. It is easier to write what trickery Tom is doing then have Jane say how she feels. Then Tom also responds like wise.
A story can be done either way, just some times it pays to let the characters chat. (which can be a lot of work) Other times it is really not needed or wanted.
In either case no reader wants to read useless banter that does not pertain to the story, and propell it forward. It can be useless in content, but useful if the quotes at least displays who the character is. Like a New Yorker might tawk funny, or a uneducated youth might dis de bitch she is.
Really try to stay away from any chat that does nothing for the story. If your characters get ice-cream just tell it, don't beat it to death with full conversations of what the girl behind the counter said. There again unless she has a roll in moving the actual plot along no one cares, if she askes, "Would you like plain or sugar cone?"
I like talking characters in a story. I don't like stupid talk, I don't like getting lost in who is talking, I don't like stories with little to no effort given of proper use of quotes.
If you are still unsure how to use quotes, at least be consistant Use " or ' whatever just keep it all the same, is better than jumble games in a story.
If you would like some other professional sites on exact quote usage, and character talk just ask I will be glad to link them to you.
Nice to have you aboard easyrider, make sure you stay a while and play with some of the others here as well. They have a nifty little thing going on called the Olympics in another thread check it out. Great bunch of peeps here!
Phildo
By character connections I basically mean chemistry between them..making them fit good in a story and not have a bland dull story line. It may be something unexplainable to do and depend on the writer. I thank you for all of your help and if there is nething you can help explain to me better about this just keep me posted!
A7inchPhildo
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Ezyryder said:
Hmm, Ezy
Well we can't mold the characters for you unless you want to read our stories. LOL Just kidding.
The only way to give a character chemistry is to feel the character and dream/ live out the story in your mind. Run the story like a movie in a day-dream experience what they feel, hear, see, touch, smell, taste. And do your best to write that into the story.
If I understand your question properly. The question you are trying to get at is, what separates one writer from another. That my friend is the dream of the story? There is no text answer to say how your characters relate to the plot. They do what you want them to do, nothing more nothing less.
If that is not what you are getting at then I refer back to what dr.M said.
wishfulthinking
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Ezyryder said:
Dialogue is a powerful tool for turning people on, not just moving the story along or explaining the action
, and because of this, I think it is important not to overdo it. The trick I find that works for me is to try and imagine myself as each person as I write what they say, and ask myself, eg. would this tough character ask, demand or suggest it?
I agree with Colly and the others, look at works of your favourite authors of books or stories you’ve read to discover why their dialogue works for you, and turn it to your advantage.
welcome and good luck!
wishfulthinking
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P.S My characters often refuse to do what they are supposed to do too!
If all else fails, there is a selection of volunteer editors that can help!
If all else fails, there is a selection of volunteer editors that can help!
gauchecritic
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Ezyryder said:
I think the question you're asking is "How do you write a story?". Fortunately you've realised the answer already; it's unexplainable.
Take your pen (or keyboard) and start writing. If this doesn't work then you need to think of a story first.
Take as long as you like thinking. Minutes, hours, days or weeks, when the time comes (and you'll feel it when it does) then go back to your pen/keyboard.
If you need notes or outlines do those during the thinking time (and whilst writing).
Start writing. It really doesn't matter what you write, very few 'authors' (none) write the finished product first go. Even those that don't do drafts or edit after writing 'the end' write the finished article at once.
After you've written 'the end' (assuming you haven't edited on the fly) then read it again and see if it's as good as you thought. If it's not, then change it.
Then ask someone else to read it and see what they think. This could be the part that hurts.
Then comes the most difficult part. Knowing when to stop editing.
I'm of the opinion that trying to fit details or interactions or 'writerly tricks' into a story is the wrong approach.
If you consciously think "this would be a good place for alliteration/flashback/re-iterating." then the process shows in the reading.
Write first and see what happens.
Gauche
Weird Harold
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Ezyryder said:
Personally, I'm a big fan of as much dialogue as the story will justify. There are several good discussions in this forum about using dialogue that the search function should turn up for you, but WhisperSecret's How To Esssay (referenced above by A7inchPhildo) is probably your best starting point.
The bes way to determine if your story needs more dialogue is to use your word processer's Find function.
Search for "told," "said," "replied," "explained" and other words typically part of "dialogue tags" -- if there are a lot of occurances that are NOT part of a dialogue, then your story probably needs more dialogue.
For example:
Tom asked Mary if she was hungry and she replied she was
Is almost always better written as:
"Mary, are you hungry?" Tom asked
"Hungry? Yeah, I guess I am." She giggled, as her stomach growled as if to confirm her words.
The first example is little more than an outline entry telling you where to put the dialogue.
The second is just one of many ways that she could have answered the question and each possibility is another toothpick in the grand sculpture of her characterization.
The "Mary" who isn't sure how to answer until her stomach growls is a very different person than the "Mary" who makes some joke about having just eaten as she licks up the trace of cum at the corner of her mouth.
Both are distinct from the "Mary" who asks if she has to wait for the horse to cook before she eats it.
Dialogue is extremely useful for building characterizations because HOW a character says something expresses more about the character than the simple fact that they said something ever can.
dr_mabeuse
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Ezyryder said:
I think that at some point most writers find themselves dealing with a 'what if' scenario. What if a bored housewife started thinking abut sex with the mailman. What if a fireman took a shine to a woman he'd rescued? What if a woman were blackmailed into sex? How would they act? How would they go about trying to satisfy their desires? What would they think and how would they feel?
I'm still not sure I know what you mean by 'connections' between characters, because if you're talking about relationships, well, everyone has a relationship with everyone else, even if they're nothing more than strangers, because not knowing someone is a kind of relationship too.
I think you might be asking how you find a connection that will give you a good story. That's a question no one can really answer, and, like Gauche said, that's the same as asking how you write a good story. But I might suggest that you start by considering the kinds of stories that are told as gossip. Gossip is like contemporary oral folk-fiction. We listen to and repeat the stories that we find interesting, and they always contain some interesting situation. You start from there and then imagine the kinds of people who might find themselves in that situation. Then you only have to tell the story, make the characters believable, and include some hot sex. What could be easier?
---dr.M.
Omni
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Ezyryder said:
As everyone posted here has said dialog is a very good thing. It can give information, it can show personalities, and it can show a certain chemistry between two people. Are they witty together, more shy, are they attracted, and the list goes on.
Taking this one thing you said "make them fit good, not have a dull storyline" This make them fit good is an interesting thought. If they fit too good to begin with there is no tension, no intrigue, no perhaps hook to keep the reader reading.
All nice people, meeting, liking each other, flirting, having sex all nice is well kind of boring. Laughs. You need to throw some small kinks in there that they have to overcome to build a bit of tension, therefore interest.
I like quirks too, quirks in sex, quirks in personalities. Joe is a jock, super athletic always popular dude, but he cums to quick and bothers him. Sally is a book reading computer nerdette, brainy, but a bit shy with an oral fixation she has never managed to fulfill. Now figuring out how to put that together might be interesting.
Little story hooks and tensions throughout a story that the characters have to overcome can help story interest a lot. I'm an adventure glutton. I like to throw two personalities into an adventure big or small and see what they do with it.
Omni
Colleen Thomas
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On tool that is useful in building a connection between characters is not dialogue per se, but internal monologue. A character, basically talking to themselves, but with the reader privy to that conversation is a very good way for Character A to relate how he feels about character B, without actually telling character B.
It's not quite dialogue, but is more personal and enjoyable in many cases than simple summary information.
-Collt
It's not quite dialogue, but is more personal and enjoyable in many cases than simple summary information.
-Collt
MathGirl
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Dialogogue
As always, I agree with Mr Harold. Strangely, I also think Dr M is correct. There should be as much dialog(ue) as can be supported. I'm a big Elmore Leonard fan. His stories are good, but they may not always be the greatest (plot, etc.). He writes dialog, though, as well as it has ever been written. It's terse, pointed, and it sizzles. I don't know how Elmore does it, but the dialog is what makes his novels.
Personally, I'm lazy and use dialog as little as possible, at least in the smut I write. When I'm writing smut (and I've posted several stories here at Lit.), I get on a roll, and I am thinking several sentences ahead of my typing. I'm trying to get my fingers to catch up with my thinking, and I can't be bothered with all those paragraphs, shifts, apostrophes, capitalization, commas, etc. that are necessary for dialog. Since I don't pretend to be a writer, I just write in a way that satisfies me. Therefore, I use "He told her to ...... and then he .......... her with his ... inch ....." rather than writing dialog.
When I'm writing non-smut, I usually have characters with strange accents, speech impediments, ethnic speech patterns, mental derangement, etc., so I use dialog as a tool to show how they speak and what kind of people they are. Sheep seldom speak, so I use them frequently to avoid writing dialog.
All-in-all, I'd suggest using dialog a). if you know how to write it, and b). if the characters have something worthwhile to say. If both a) and b) are not the case, avoid it like the plague.
Analiterarally,
MG
Dear EzR,Weird Harold said:
As always, I agree with Mr Harold. Strangely, I also think Dr M is correct. There should be as much dialog(ue) as can be supported. I'm a big Elmore Leonard fan. His stories are good, but they may not always be the greatest (plot, etc.). He writes dialog, though, as well as it has ever been written. It's terse, pointed, and it sizzles. I don't know how Elmore does it, but the dialog is what makes his novels.
Personally, I'm lazy and use dialog as little as possible, at least in the smut I write. When I'm writing smut (and I've posted several stories here at Lit.), I get on a roll, and I am thinking several sentences ahead of my typing. I'm trying to get my fingers to catch up with my thinking, and I can't be bothered with all those paragraphs, shifts, apostrophes, capitalization, commas, etc. that are necessary for dialog. Since I don't pretend to be a writer, I just write in a way that satisfies me. Therefore, I use "He told her to ...... and then he .......... her with his ... inch ....." rather than writing dialog.
When I'm writing non-smut, I usually have characters with strange accents, speech impediments, ethnic speech patterns, mental derangement, etc., so I use dialog as a tool to show how they speak and what kind of people they are. Sheep seldom speak, so I use them frequently to avoid writing dialog.
All-in-all, I'd suggest using dialog a). if you know how to write it, and b). if the characters have something worthwhile to say. If both a) and b) are not the case, avoid it like the plague.
Analiterarally,
MG
Last edited:
G
Guest
Guest
I'd say you have enough info here to last quite some time so I won't add anything except to say that I always agree with Gauche.
You should also be incredibly honored to have received one of the longest ever ever ever posts by Maths (MG to you until you're past virgeness).
Good luck, Perdita
You should also be incredibly honored to have received one of the longest ever ever ever posts by Maths (MG to you until you're past virgeness).
Good luck, Perdita
Thank you all for posting all this to help me. I just wanna make sure I get started off on a good start, im sure my first work wont be a masterpeice, but with all this help and everything it most certianly will help me out. I think i'll stick with Mathgirl's "smut" style to begin with and as I progress add more and more. But once again thank you all for the help and im sure this wont be my last question lol please bare with me!!
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