Recommended Screenwriters
How Good is Your Dialogue? Part 2
- July 25, 2010
- Posted by: HalCroasmun
- Category: Articles
Read three pages of any script and you already know if the writer can write great dialogue or not. In fact, in many cases, the first page tells you.
How good is your dialogue? Good enough to sell the script by the third page? Believe it or not, that’s happened many times in this business.
In Part One of this Article, I presented the first half of this quiz. This is an attempt to quantify the quality of your dialogue. I’m not saying it is an exact science, but I do believe this quiz will give you a chance to look at your dialogue through the eyes of a producer.
As you read through this list, glance at your dialogue from time to time and try to find examples for both sides of the spectrum. Look for places where you have used these skills and also, for places where you badly need to use them.
Last issue, we covered these three skills:
A. Dialogue that expresses character
B. Dialogue that climaxes scenes.
C. Dialogue that brings subtext with it.
Now, on with four more important qualities of your dialogue:
D. Dialogue with significant meaning
While dialogue with deeper meaning is subtext dialogue, I’d like to give this one its own category. Why? Because it provides some unique opportunities to increase the drama in any scene.
Examples include, but are not limited to these:
– Loaded words and phrases
– Emotional phrases that were set up earlier in the script.
– Decisions that sound like nothing, but affect everything.
Rate your dialogue:
(1) I can’t find any of the above examples in my script.
(4) There are lines with significant meaning about every 10 pages.
(10) Readers often comment on how much meaning I build into my dialogue.
E. Dialogue that is “snappy”
Snappy means it is crisp. Instead of long drawn-out monologues, you have taken the time to write precise and powerful dialogue that delivers like the crack of a whip. Many times, one well-written sentence can be more powerful than a full-page monologue.
Snappy also means it has rhythm. Often, characters are verbally sparring like a couple of boxers. And when it comes to the climax, the emotional impact knocks you out of your chair.
Rate your dialogue:
(1) I enjoy the hypnotic feel as my characters drone on and on.
(3) Some of my dialogue is snappy, but what’s wrong with a few page long monologues?
(10) Pick any page of my dialogue and it would make Aaron Sorkin of West Wing jealous.
F. Dialogue that creates anticipation
Dialogue is one powerful tool for creating anticipation in a screenplay. Don’t underestimate how valuable it is to have your dialogue predict future consequences or warn other characters.
Every time a character speaks about the future or implies that something good or bad will happen, they are creating anticipation in the reader.
Rate your dialogue:
(1) My characters live in the here and now.
(4) Sometimes, they talk about the future, doesn’t everyone?
(10) I have specifically built anticipation lines into almost every page of my script.
G. Dialogue that builds emotion
Your dialogue can cause people to laugh, cry, feel tension, and experience a variety of other emotions. And most of the time, that can be done in an artful way that moves the reader while having them appreciate your writing style.
Rate your dialogue:
(1) My dialogue sounds real, but doesn’t move people.
(5) Readers say they enjoy my dialogue.
(10) Readers are moved to tears, laugh out loud, and get angry when they’re supposed to.
That completes a list of seven very important things that should show up in your dialogue. Not in every line, of course, but generally spread out throughout your script.
WHAT TO DO?
What if your dialogue doesn’t live up to this list? Then use this list to improve it. Often, just selecting a few lines on every page and working to improve them will have the entire script feel more professional.
Either way, if you make a commitment to have every line of your dialogue live up to its full potential, you’ll have a much better script and it will be much more attractive to agents, managers, and producers. And, again, our “Advanced Dialogue Screenwriting Class” can help you improve your dialogue to a new level.