Conversation in stories

[Chicklet]

Hey there,

Some people believe that stories are confusing with too much conversation, some people believe that stories are bland and boring without it.

What's your opinion?

-Chicklet

 

[Svenskaflicka]

I believe that every word in a story, be it parts of conversation, road descriptions, or the colour of a pair of nipples, has to be vital to the story, or it should be erased.

 

[Chicklet]

I disagree...

I like reading little rants inside stories that don't have to mean anything to the story. I like to read fun things, and I don't think that every story needs to be quite to the point.

Example: I have a friend who is a journalist, and I can really tell her profession in her stories. Her stories aren't boring, they're good, but ever single bit of information in them is vital. She writes quick, to the point, still hot stories, but I don't enjoy reading them as much because I feel like there isn't much depth to them.

-Chicklet

 

[Svenskaflicka]

Well, I don't mean that you should put up a word limit, and then cut out what doesn't fit! Ofcourse you should aim for depth and life in your story. But there is a fine line between telling a story and babbling a story, and only good authors manage to stay on the right side.

 

[Quasimodem]

. . . Some people believe that stories are confusing with too much conversation, some people believe that stories are bland and boring without it. What's your opinion? -Chicklet

Poorly-done conversation can be confusing, just like poorly-done description, or poorly-done action can be confusing.

Dialogue is just easier to screw up, easier to make sound phony, easier to lose track of who is speaking.

 

[Guest]

When you consider what a dialogue in Real Life can achieve, or destroy, then doing it right in a story is essential (not to mention RL )

I appreciate 'frivolous' dialogue too for comic relief or whatever.

I don't know that one can write 'too much' dialogue, it just has to be well written and viable.

Always a good question, Chicklet, thanks.

Perdita

 

[oggbashan]

Most of my original stories started out with no conversation or at best reported speech.

When I started rewriting them with conversations I found that the action moved much faster and the feedback improved. My stories are still long and boring but the conversations break up the masses of text.

I've probably gone too far and included too much conversation but I don't worry. My technique has a long way to go and I think I'm improving.

I start a course on creative writing next month. I'm preparing for it by writing descriptions of people, locations, events and leaving sex out. It is hard. The sex rears its head too often but then I have the start of another story for Lit.

Og

 

[Weird Harold]

Re: I disagree...

SF: I believe that every word in a story, be it parts of conversation, road descriptions, or the colour of a pair of nipples, has to be vital to the story, or it should be erased.

I like reading little rants inside stories that don't have to mean anything to the story. I like to read fun things, and I don't think that every story needs to be quite to the point.

Example: I have a friend who is a journalist, and I can really tell her profession in her stories. Her stories aren't boring, they're good, but ever single bit of information in them is vital. She writes quick, to the point, still hot stories, but I don't enjoy reading them as much because I feel like there isn't much depth to them.

-Chicklet

I agree with SF, every word in a story should do something to advance the strory, enhance the readability, or create a mood for the story. Inother words, exactlythe kind of thing you say you like to read.

I just finished a very long erotic story that had a lot of extraneous philosophy disguised as conversation between characters -- some of the dialogue could have been cut and pasted from a political speech or doctoral thesis on philosphy. The preaching definitely detracted from the flow of the story. about one meg of the 2.8 MB the story takes up in plain text files could have been eliminated and the story would have been ten times better -- most of the cuts would be in the long preachy monologoues.

Dialogue in stories should be as close to the conversations you hear around you and indulge in as possible -- that includes the silly asides and dumb puns real people indulge in as well as converstaions that substitute for dull narrative expositions.

The answer to "how much dialogue is right for a story?" is "however much dialogue is right for the story." Some stories work best with zero conversation and some (a very few) work best as nothing but dialogue. The key is that the needs of the story dictate everything about it.


oggbashan,'s experience with improving scores as here placed reported conversations with dialogue is just one example of the power of dialogue to improve a story. However my experience with preachy dialogue that runs on for pages provides a counter example of how "dialogue" can hurt a story.

 

[deliciously_naughty]

For me, it has everything to do with the characters. I try to listen to my characters, and when they have something to say, they say it.

 

[KillerMuffin]

At Literotica, it doesn't matter that much because content is not judged very much. Put conversation that has little to do with the story into the story. However, if you have ambition to be published where editors are picky, if it doesn't further the plot, delete it.

 

[dr_mabeuse]

How much dialogue should be in a story depends, of course, on the story. If you've got a situation in which people have to exchange information, well, you're going to need dialogue of some kind.

I've seen entire stories and even books done in dialogue, but these are mainly gimmicks; the form is inherently limiting. (You can't have more than two characters, for example. Otherwise you have to deal with all the "John saids" and "said Mary's".) There is an immediacy and a kind of voyeuristic buzz associated with this kind of thing, but it's still a gimmick. You rarely get the feel that the author told the story in the best way possible.

I think that a lot of people feel that including dialogue helps bring an immediacy to a story, a feeling of being there now, and it does. There are other ways of doing this though. Dialogue isn't an absoluite requrement.

It's interesting that copying speech verbatim doesn't usually produce the most natural sounding dialogue. Oral speech relies too much on intonation and body language to get its message across. We can't capture all those nuances in writing, so we have to make our dialogue sound natural artificially.


---dr.M.

 

[Lauren Hynde]

I've seen entire stories and even books done in dialogue, but these are mainly gimmicks; the form is inherently limiting. (You can't have more than two characters, for example. Otherwise you have to deal with all the "John saids" and "said Mary's".) There is an immediacy and a kind of voyeuristic buzz associated with this kind of thing, but it's still a gimmick. You rarely get the feel that the author told the story in the best way possible.

You really need to read Nicholson Baker's Vox.

I think it all depends on the story, of course, and your own writing style. Dialogue can easily ruin a story, especially if we're talking about the average Literotica story, but just like everything else, if you're a good writer, you'll know how to write compelling dialogues and you'll know when to use them and not. No one else can say how much is too much.

 

[BlackSnake]

I like conversations in stories, especially when one character is telling a story to another with the intent to turn them on.

When I read stories like these there is usually interruptions of thoughts or comments from other characters.

Tell me how you feel. Why did you, my friend, let that guy grab your ass without protest?

I like more than just puppets, l like Pinocchio. The interaction among characters will give the reader a since of the character's persona. Make them more realistic.

"Woo! That's so cute," she said.
"I bought it at the flee market for my collection," he replied.
..."He is so sensative," she thought. "Could I see your collection?"

 

[Chicklet]

For me, it has everything to do with the characters. I try to listen to my characters, and when they have something to say, they say it.

This is sort of how I feel. And, sometimes, I don't know my characters very well in the beginning of the story but as their conversations happen I get to know them. Does that make any sense or have I flipped? (sparks a new question to ask, though...)

 

[pointless]

I like conversations in stories, especially when one character is telling a story to another with the intent to turn them on.

When I read stories like these there is usually interruptions of thoughts or comments from other characters.

Tell me how you feel. Why did you, my friend, let that guy grab your ass without protest?

I like more than just puppets, l like Pinocchio. The interaction among characters will give the reader a since of the character's persona. Make them more realistic.

"Woo! That's so cute," she said.
"I bought it at the flee market for my collection," he replied.
..."He is so sensative," she thought. "Could I see your collection?"

i think i pretty much agree with you. conversation is a good way to show the characters personalities. it's the best way to get a feel for them as an actual person.

the dialogue shouldn't dominate the plot though. when it starts to become boring or pointless it should cease. i've read several good stories that were ruined by the authors unwillingness to just tell me what the fuck was going on without having the characters discuss everything to death.


dull.

 

[Chicklet]

i think i pretty much agree with you. conversation is a good way to show the characters personalities. it's the best way to get a feel for them as an actual person.

agreed here too

it is so much more fun to write a little conversation revealing character traits than having a paragraph saying "john was a thirty-six year old bachelor with thinning hair and a good sense of humor."

 

[BlackSnake]

agreed here too

it is so much more fun to write a little conversation revealing character traits than having a paragraph saying "john was a thirty-six year old bachelor with thinning hair and a good sense of humor."

Exactly. I mean, how many RL experiences happen where two people look at each other and start fucking when even saying "Hi"?

 

[BlackSnake]

agreed here too

it is so much more fun to write a little conversation revealing character traits than having a paragraph saying "john was a thirty-six year old bachelor with thinning hair and a good sense of humor."

Exactly. I mean, how many RL experiences happen where two people look at each other and start fucking without even saying "Hi"?

 

[Guest]

Exactly. I mean, how many RL experiences happen where two people look at each other and start fucking without even saying "Hi"?

Raising hand here.

I don't think it's that uncommon, BS (and that's before I became a slut.)

Perdita


Edited to add: It was the sixties; you had to be there (well, not in Yorkshire of course).

 

[dee1124]

Ah, the sixties, yes. Either no conversation or hours of incredibly deep, meaningful discussion before hitting the sack. I swear I and my friends solved problems people didn't even know they had. Now, if only I could remember ...

Anyway, I like dialogue in stories. I like writing dialogue, too, though it's not as easy as you would think. It has to sound like what actual people would actually say (I believe someone's made that point already). And there is the problem of all the "he said / she said" bits. I leave those out as much as I can, with just a few as guide posts. I got some feedback on one of my "Adventures of Rhia Jones" chapters saying the reader had gotten lost, so I guess the signs weren't as frequent as they needed to be. Still, if your characters have distinct voices, it should be possible to include tons of dialogue. I've tried doing an all-dialogue story, but that hasn't worked out yet.

Dee

 

[Quasimodem]

Stating that a story is better for not having a good mix of narration, description, action and dialogue, is like saying that a person is healthier without one of the four food groups.

(Yeah, I know. Vegetarians! My point, exactly.)

As for the “he said,” “she said,” bit. The first story I published at Literotica was an all dialogue, tagless story.

So far, most people have been able to follow what happened.

I don’t claim it is a great story. It needs description, action, and narration. As an experiment, however, it was successful.

http://www.literotica.com/stories/showstory.php?id=18124

Ah yes, the Sixties!

We had almost decided upon the meaning of the Universe, when somebody distracted us by "making a nose."

If you don't know what "making a nose" means, you'll have to find a time machine. I'll never tell!