Long Dialogue Tracking by MAS208

BLUE SUN ROOM

Long Dialogue Tracking

POSTED BY: MAS208
UPDATED: Tuesday, October 30, 2007 09:29
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VIEWED: 3778
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Saturday, October 27, 2007 3:24 AM

Hi

It's somewhat of an unimportant query, but it's something that bugs me when writing.

Most stories contain a glut of dialogue in long continuous conversations.

Since I am potently dyslexic (partially dysgraphic) I often find it hard to judge, both in reading and writing dialogue in particular, if it is me or the story which is at fault.

I know people pick up their cues from things like the individual talking style of characters, to follow what goes on.

Do most of you readers have trouble in following long conversations no matter how well written ?.

Or is there an upper limit to how readable reams of conversation can be, due to the limitations of writing itself ?.

It's an open query , and admittedly one I could accomplish by doing more observation in the BSR.

It's mainly my interest in knowing what fanfic readers here can tolerate with regard to large quantities of dialogue, and what is an instant 'turn off'.

Thanks and of course apologies if something similar has popped up before. I couldn't find it.

Cheers!

f of g= fog ,f of g of h =fogoh , m of r of n= moron
thank god for maths!

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Saturday, October 27, 2007 6:10 AM

MERRYK

I don't have a problem reading it as long as there is a) identifiers with names or something equally as clear—not just trying to figure out by talking style, and b) something other than the dialogue. Descriptions of thoughts, appearances, facial expressions, tones, body language, etcetera—I need that.

--
"My way of being polite, or however...well, it's the only way I have of showing you that I like you. Of showing respect." Simon Tam, Jaynestown

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Monday, October 29, 2007 5:41 AM

MAL4PREZ

Quote:
Originally posted by MAS208:
Do most of you readers have trouble in following long conversations no matter how well written ?

First - I must note that I am rather particular, and my opinion may not speak for the majority of FFF readers...

I find fic that is endless dialogue to be basically useless. It leaves me with all the work of identifying the speaker, filling in facial expressions, body language, mood, and possible irony or subtleties behind the spoken words. There's also the background details - location, positioning of the characters within the setting, the lighting, background noise, etc. These things are what made the TV show so rich, and if a writer can't take the time and effort to fill them in, at least a little... Well, I'm not going to do the writer's work for them.

Lazy? Hmm, maybe. But reading fic is for fun, it isn't supposed to be work!

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hmm-burble-blah, blah-blah-blah, take a left

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Monday, October 29, 2007 5:59 AM

EMBERS

I will get confused occasionally, and when I do I blame the writer,
IMO there should be enough clues in the conversational style (different people should talk differently, there should be clues in what they say and how they say it)
OR if the two people are so much a like, so that the things they say are almost the same, then there should be occasional references to who is talking on the page (the 'she said', 'he mumbled' etc)

I love reading conversation, but I do expect the writer to make it clear.

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Monday, October 29, 2007 7:53 AM

AGENTROUKA

I agree with everyone so far.

Mere strings of dialog tend to be boring and/or confusing.

Even scripts describe the tone of the conversation or how people move or what they are doing while talking, which can already add a LOT to the text itself.

After all, Firefly stems from a visual medium that says a lot more than the mere verbal exchanges.

If I had to choose between dialog-only and no dialog at all, I'll choose the latter, because it gives me greater insight into the characters.

Though, generally, the only fic I've read that employs the dialog-only technique tends to me "humorous" fic that is aiming for a "surpising" reveal at the end, which you can already see coming miles away because of the very conspicious absence of descriptions.

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Tuesday, October 30, 2007 4:49 AM

MAL4PREZ

I have to say, I was thinking about this last night and recalled a book that has the two main characters talking - short lines of dialogue with nothing else - for several pages. Oddly, I really enjoyed it!

But here's the context: the two were in a car, driving through the desert at night, so there was nothing to describe. One character was dopey and it was easy to tell who was who by their lines. Also - and this is key - the conversation was broken up by cuts into another scene which was very desciptive and completely different in tone. The two "threads" wove together extremely well. It was the best part of the book, imo. (Dark Rivers of the Heart by Dean Koontz, btw)

So, yeah, plain dialogue can be used effectively, if done with care.

-----------------------------------------------
hmm-burble-blah, blah-blah-blah, take a left

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Tuesday, October 30, 2007 8:15 AM

LEIASKY

I don't like that format at all and will typically not follow a writer's further work if I notice they do it a lot. There are places where it works, but more places where it doesn't.

It seems the lazy way out of describing expressions, what's happening in a scene, if all that's there is dialogue.

"A government is a body of people usually notably ungoverned."

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Tuesday, October 30, 2007 9:29 AM

WHODIED

There is an excellent example of multiple-person dialog in ScrewtheAlliance's obscenely long masterpiece, 'The treasure of Lei Fong Wu'.

He manages, with very few indicators, to keep all nine voices clear and faithful to the characters, while juggling them a la Robert Altman.

His work is well worth the time, if you're open to epic fic.

In fact, his BlueSun room page is my FFF bookmark.

--WhoDied

_______________________

Respect the narrative flow much?

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