He Said She Said—Some Thoughts on Dialogue
Silence. Try to picture it: a novel with no dialogue. That would seem cold and distant indeed. Dialogue is showing, not telling what the characters think. It gives us their own tricks of speech, carries the weight of their emotions, lets us literally hear their own voices. Well done, it adds to the force and immediacy of the story. But if we neglect it, dialogue can drag down the pace, unravel the characterizations, even take readers out of the fictional … Read More »