Emily's Foundation, Week Four: Dialogue in Historical Fiction
What's the situation here? What are they discussing? Although there's only one airman who's talking, the dialogue doesn't need to begin with him. All the men hold interest. Are you drawn to the smoker? Or the man with the goggles? Is he a pilot, and the one taking notes might be the navigator?
Once you've decided who the Point of View character is, then you can proceed with your scene. Clearly, something exciting and dangerous is about to happen! You'll deal with this element when you create the Setting, Mood, and Dramatic Tension for the scene.
Today, we’re focusing on Dialogue. What I find really interesting in teaching Dialogue is that virtually all my students find Dialogue comes naturally to them! Their problem typically is not that they are unable to write excellent dialogue, but rather, that they simply don’t write dialogue.
The tendency, even with many experienced writers, is to tell the story with description rather than to let their characters tell the story (through dialogue). So my advice for your work with this prompt is simple: Get inside whichever characters in the photo you think should be on stage during the scene… and when they’re ready, let them speak! You’ll be amazed at how easily the dialogue flows!
When your characters are ready to speak, bear in mind that your Point Of View character might not need to actually speak: His "speech" can be in the form of thoughts as well as spoken words. For instance, if your Point of View character is the pilot with the goggles, his inner-dialogue may be, "We might not make it back from this mission."
While the other characters may be providing all of the spoken dialogue in this scenario, the pilot's thoughts are quite possibly more effective in creating the Dramatic Tension of this scene than if he'd spoken them out loud.
You now have a difficult challenge in front of you: You are limited to just words in painting this scene, and this photograph is so evocative that creating a comparable scene with only words will test your mettle as a fiction writer. But I trust you're up to it by now!
Once you've decided who the Point of View character is, then you can proceed with your scene. Clearly, something exciting and dangerous is about to happen! You'll deal with this element when you create the Setting, Mood, and Dramatic Tension for the scene.
Today, we’re focusing on Dialogue. What I find really interesting in teaching Dialogue is that virtually all my students find Dialogue comes naturally to them! Their problem typically is not that they are unable to write excellent dialogue, but rather, that they simply don’t write dialogue.
The tendency, even with many experienced writers, is to tell the story with description rather than to let their characters tell the story (through dialogue). So my advice for your work with this prompt is simple: Get inside whichever characters in the photo you think should be on stage during the scene… and when they’re ready, let them speak! You’ll be amazed at how easily the dialogue flows!
When your characters are ready to speak, bear in mind that your Point Of View character might not need to actually speak: His "speech" can be in the form of thoughts as well as spoken words. For instance, if your Point of View character is the pilot with the goggles, his inner-dialogue may be, "We might not make it back from this mission."
While the other characters may be providing all of the spoken dialogue in this scenario, the pilot's thoughts are quite possibly more effective in creating the Dramatic Tension of this scene than if he'd spoken them out loud.
You now have a difficult challenge in front of you: You are limited to just words in painting this scene, and this photograph is so evocative that creating a comparable scene with only words will test your mettle as a fiction writer. But I trust you're up to it by now!
If you decide to use one of these three pictures just above, instead of the photo at the top, follow the same process of creating Dialogue.