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Storytelling Through Dialogue

Storytelling Through Dialogue. Creative Writing Benjamin Way 3-7-14. Overview. Why tell a story through dialogue? Showing character emotions Showing character motivations Describing important events. Why tell a story through dialogue?.

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Storytelling Through Dialogue

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  1. Storytelling Through Dialogue Creative Writing Benjamin Way 3-7-14

  2. Overview • Why tell a story through dialogue? • Showing character emotions • Showing character motivations • Describing important events

  3. Why tell a story through dialogue? • It’s more authentic; your actual life is mostly a series of dialogues. • The natural way for us humans to understand our world is by hearing words and seeing actions, not listening to a narrator. • In a play, you don’t really have the option of a narrator explaining everything.

  4. Showing Character Emotions • Word choices and punctuation demonstrate a character’s emotional state. Compare the following greetings: • “Hello.” • “And how are you today this fine morning?” • “Oh. It’s you.” • “Ayyyy, how you doin’ mahboiii?” • [awkward silence] • “God! Can’t you find somewhere else to be?”

  5. Showing Character Emotions 2 • Another way to show a character’s emotion is for somebody else to comment on it. “What are you smiling about?” “Hey, are you okay? … Are you sure you’re alright?” “What’chuyellin’ for?” “Whoa, calm down.”

  6. Character Motivations • This is easy. Just find a way for the character to talk about their motivation somehow. • The hard part is making it fit naturally into a conversation.

  7. Character Motivation Example • Protagonist is excited and nervous about a job interview. Scene: Protagonist ordering his regular breakfast at a diner.Diner cashier: You lookin’ fly today. Protagonist: Thanks! Gotta look my best; I finally have an interview at Simon Tech. If I don’t get this job, it’s gonna be cereal every morning for me. Diner cashier: Well, good luck, then! Hey, you shakin’, boy. Best try to calm down before you get over there. Don’t wanna seem too eager.

  8. Important Actions & Events • Fill in important events that happen between scenes by having protagonist talk about what happened with somebody else. Scene: back at the diner Diner cashier: So? How’d it go? Protagonist: I don’t want to talk about it. Diner cashier: That bad, eh? Protagonist: They actually told me “we won’t be in touch.” [sighs] What am I gonna do?

  9. Conclusion • It is actually pretty easy to tell a story through dialogue alone. Just pretend like it’s real life.

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