Dialogue in fiction requires purpose. Having dialogue because it seems like a time for characters to talk, maybe because they just met, is not sufficient. Understanding the purpose of dialogue allows you to pack the most punch with everything your characters say. Today I discuss three purposes of dialogue: world building, character development, and plot device.
Dialogue as worldbuilding.
Character conversation can work in tandem with narration to introduce readers to the world. Instead of explaining every detail, readers pick up a lot about a world–its history, its culture, its environment, its people, its conflict–through dialogue.
See how much you can pick up about the world from conversation between a land owner and a government official on the second page of Brandon Sanderson’s The Final Empire:
Tresting turned to the man standing beside him on the hill. “One would think,” Tresting noted, “that a thousand years of working in fields would have bred them to be a little more effective at it.”
The obligator turned, raising an eyebrow–the motion done as if to highlight his most distinctive feature, the intricate tattoos that laced the skin around his eyes… [more description of the obligator]
“You should see the city skaa, Tresting,” the obligator said, turning back to watch the skaa workes. “These are actualy quite diligent compared to those inside Luthadel. You have more… direct control over your skaa here. How many would you say you lose a month?”
“Oh, a half dozen or so,” Tresting said. “Some to beatings, some to exhaustion.”
“Runaways?”
“Never!” Tresting said. “When I first inherited this land from my father, I had a few runaways–but I executed their families. The rest quickly lost heart. I’ve never understood men who have trouble with their skaa–I find the creatures easy to control, if you show a properly firm hand.”
The stark separation between landowners and workers, the relationship between landowners and workers, the relationship between this government official and the landowner, the callousness of most landowners, the mention of the city of Luthadel and its inferior skaa, the history of the skaa as being a working class for more than a thousand years… All from a snippet of conversation.
Dialogue as character development.
The way characters speak communicates far more than the actual words. Accent/dialect, vocabulary, and grammar may indicate education level, nationality, age, religion, and much more. Paired with situation and other context, dialogue also implies a character’s personality, feelings, and really anything you’d like the reader to know.
The following excerpt is from Pierce Brown’s Red Rising. See what you learn about the main character, Darrow, from the scene in the mineshaft.
“Hold. Hold. Hold!” Uncle Narol snaps over the comms channel. “Darrow, hold, boy!” My fingers freeze. He’s high above with the rest of them, watching my progress on his head unit.
“What’s the burn?” I ask, annoyed. I don’t like being interrupted.
“What’s the burn, the little Helldiver asks.” Old Barlow chuckles.
“Gas pocket, that’s what,” Narol snaps. He’s the headTalk for our two-hundred-plus crew. “Hold. Calling a scanCrew to check the particulars before you blow us all to hell.”
“That gas pocket? It’s a tiny one,” I say. “More like a gas pimple. I can manage it.”
“A year on the drill and he thinks he knows his head from his hole! Poor little pissant,” old Barlow adds dryly. “Remember the words of our golden leader. Patience and obedience, young one. Patience is the better part of valor. And obedience the better part of humanity. Listen to your elders. “…[Darrow rolls his eyes, wants to get back to work.]
“I’m on a tear,” I say. “If you think there’s a gas pocket, I can just hop down and handscan it. Easy. No dilldally.”
Darrow is fairly new on the job, throws caution to the wind, doesn’t mind talking back to his elders, doesn’t take advice very well if it goes against what he thinks he’s capable of. He works with generally uneducated, crass men, which means he’s probably similar. Lots to be gleaned about him and his coworkers from this conversation, and a lot of it goes beyond what they say.
Dialogue as plot device
Characters talking is a great way to inform readers of upcoming plans or foreshadowing a future event, among other ways of moving the plot ahead.
The following excerpt is from An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir. It’ll be hard to pick up without having read the book, but Elias is planning to desert in the near future. This scene, of a friend tracking down the deserter and running into Elias planning his own desertion, foreshadows the difficulties Elias is about to face when he deserts.
“He took an auxiliary company off the north watchtower and into the East Branch tunnel. You think they’ll catch him?”
“Of course they’ll catch him.” I fail to keep the bitterness out of my voice, and Helene gives me a hard look. “The cowardly scum,” I add. “Anyway, why are you awake? You weren’t on watch this morning.” I made sure of it.
“Those bleeding drums.” Helene looks around the tunnel. “Woke everyone up.”
The drums. Of course. Deserter, they’d thundered in the middle of the graveyard watch. All active units to the walls…
“I thought the deserter might have come this way.” I turn from my hidden pack to look down another tunnel. “Guess I was wrong. I should catch up to Dex.”
“Much as I hate to admit it, you’re not usually wrong.” Helene cocks her head and smiles at me. I feel that guilt again, wrenching as a fist to the gut. She’ll be furious when she learns what I’ve done. She’ll never forgive me.
Hel traces the dust on the ground with a fair, practiced hand. “I’ve never even seen this tunnel before.”
A drop of sweat crawls down my neck. I ignore it.
You may be thinking that this excerpt, and in fact any of the ones included, could be used as interchangeable examples, and that perhaps is the biggest takeaway. Dialogue at its best serves to world build, develop characters, and move the plot ahead. In episode 15.19 of the podcast Writing Excuses, Victoria talks about how conversations need to have a point and she builds her dialogue out from that point. So check out your own dialogue. What is its purpose? How can you help it better fulfill that purpose?
More posts on dialogue coming soon! Check this page for more.