fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #2992 ]

⌈ Secret Post #2992 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

01.

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02.

[Grand Theft Auto 5]

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03.

[Zipang]

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04.

[Ricky Gervais]

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05.

[Tokyo Babylon/X1999]

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06.

[Dexter]

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07.

[The Mentalist]

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08.

[The Truth - Terry Pratchett]

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09.

[It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia]

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10.

[Douglas Adams]

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11.

[Black Books]

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12.

[Lucky Star]

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13.

[Edward Petherbridge as Lord Peter Wimsey]

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14.

[Ga-In, Brown Eyed Girls]

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15.

[Oz the Great and Powerful]

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16.

[Colin Baker]

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17.

[9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors]

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18.

[Yatterman Night]

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19.

[Johnny the Homicidal Maniac]

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20.

[Blake's 7]

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21.

[Game Grumps]

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22.

[Alexis Denisof]

Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 07 pages, 170 secrets from Secret Submission Post #428.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Okay, so, how do you set the scene/give a lot of characterization without having large paragraphs of prose? I haven't yet figured out a good way to get those two things into dialogue. My writing tens to be very prosy, which works well for PWPs but doesn't translate well for other things.

Hmm, could you give an example of what you're talking about?

Characterization comes through dialogue with the words the characters are choosing and how they respond to the conversation so I'm not sure what kind of characterization you're aiming for.

If you want to avoid long paragraphs, you can break up the information. Like, the person comes into a room and it's dark. Then while he's talking to the person in the room, he picks up objects in the room or walks closer to something or he has trouble seeing the person's expression because it's dark. Elements of the scene are introduced as they affect the character.

Is that the kind of thing you're looking for or did you mean something else?

No, that's helpful. I'm just not good with dialogue. But that breaking up the information thing is actually super helpful.

Okay, good. I second what others have said about characterization through dialogue. If you do have difficulty conveying characterization through body language, may I suggest this book:

http://www.amazon.com/Emotion-Thesaurus-Writers-Character-Expression/dp/1475004958/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

It has pages of emotions you want to convey and then things people do to convey that emotion. I find the list of actions characters can take to convey their emotions is very helpful.
/2 cents

Dialogue and the body language that goes along with it are some of my favorite parts of writing! Studying body language might be a good place to start, and different styles of speaking. Those things can give a lot of insight into a character.

Constantly interrupting people and talking over them could be a sign of arrogance or impatience and then the way other people react to that will say something about them, whether they lose their temper and snap at them or quietly let them say what they want to say. Someone who is feeling uncomfortable could be fidgeting a lot, playing with bits of their clothes or their hair, or always moving around to sit in a new position. Actually that moving around thing could also be a sign of some kind of disability (among many other things obviously); that's something I do because I get to a point where my joints are complaining about staying in that position and I need to find a way to arrange them that they're not sick of already. A dreamy sort of person could get lost in thought a lot and trail off at the end of sentences. Or trailing off like that can be a sign of insecurity because they're not at all confident in what they're saying. Someone who thinks they're smarter than they really are might try to use big words but use them wrong. Some people might be really talkative around their close friends but other people can hardly get a word out of them. There's posture too; do they sit very prim and proper or splay all over? That could help with the setting too, because maybe they're in a really nice place and one of them is afraid to touch anything and is sitting on the edge of the seat trying to disturb it as little as possible.

I'll shut up now. And obviously going on about any of this too much is a problem, but I love little touches like that.

I try to make the characters interact with the environment as much as they do each other. Instead of just dialogue full of only 'he said, she said,' the dialogue tags become activities instead that rely on or show bits of detail around the scene.

There's no problem with the occasional prose portions, although what I notice can sometimes happen if you don't want for it is it becomes like a sort of scriptwriting - a few paragraphs of place-setting and then the characters just float in it without actually interacting with anything. Are they in an office? Outline the office, then have them play with pens or folders, describe the couch just a little as they lay in it. Let the characters notice and toy with things.

Beyond that, I don't know that I have good answers, either. I just embrace the prose and try to blend character shit in there, too.

I'm still getting the hang of this myself...

Rather than having a big block of environment and then sparse bits of dialogue, have characters interact with the environment during their dialogue. Or use the environment to reinforce the dialogue. Eg. if the characters are talking about spaceships, you can then describe the spaceships.

Dialogue can be used to establish character. Particularly word choice and style of talking can give you a lot to work with. It can be used to communicate the character's background, age, gender, and status, as well as their opinions and perspective. Body language is super useful!

Feed the description to the reader slowly in bits and pieces. Sort of like making a pencil sketch of the character, then you add a bit more detail, and then as the story goes along you get to know the character as a complete picture.

Also, not all description is bad. But I think the best description is concise. Try cutting an idea or concept from your paragraph of description. Find the best sentence and stick with that. Sometimes large paragraphs of prose are just necessary.

I also have very prosy dialogue, so... good luck!

[ SECRET POST #2992 ]

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