THE TOP TEN PRINCIPLES FOR WRITING GREAT DIALOGUE – PART 2
WHY CONFLICT & TENSION ARE ESSENTIAL TO WRITING GREAT DIALOGUE
EPISODE DESCRIPTION:
Last week’s episode gave us three more of the top ten principles for writing great dialogue. This week, we dive into principle number 5. In order for dialogue to be “good,” it must:
INCLUDE CONFLICT & TENSION
1. The dullest dialogue is when people agree. People have different agendas and personalities, even when they’re on the same team. But this doesn’t mean the characters are always fighting.
2. Sometimes, people are exactly in sync. On these occasions, there still must be tension or conflict somewhere in the world of your story, or if not the story world, then in a particular scene itself where the form of it feels predictable and overly familiar.
3. One key technique to help in this situation is juxtaposition (i.e. Love scene while changing a tire in the pouring rain.
UP NEXT
Next week, we will go over two more principles of great dialogue.
Principle #6: Good dialogue sounds just right for the scene, story, or movie;
Principle #7: Good dialogue sounds just right for each character.
We’ll also learn about orchestration and how to ensure that each character has his or her own unique voice. Don’t miss these lessons and more in our recurring series on dialogue!
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SPECIAL THANKS
The Mission with Zena Dell Lowe would like to thank composer Carla Patullo for the original music she graciously permits us to use in the intro and outro of this podcast. To find out more about this amazing talent, go to www.carlapatullo.com
TAGS: Artist, Artists, Dialogue, How to write good dialogue, characters, Writing tips, Writing, Writers, Story, Storytelling, Storytellers, Zena Dell Lowe, Mission Ranch Films, The Storyteller’s Mission, The Mission with Zena Dell Lowe
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Ep. 31
Wed, 9/30 11:02PM • 15:21
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
scene, juxtaposition, conflict, flashback scenes, dialogue, characters, tension, sisters, story, juxtapose, love, writing, talks, danny glover, toilet, podcast, terminator, dysfunction, great, john connor
SPEAKERS
Zena Dell Lowe
Zena Dell Lowe 00:08
INTRO:
Hello and welcome to the Storyteller's Mission with Zena Dell Lowe, a podcast for artists and storytellers about changing the world for the better through story.
Zena Dell Lowe 00:18
TOPIC INTRODUCTION:
For the last couple of weeks, we've been talking about dialogue, because those of us that are committed to writing stories have learned that if you want to write a great story, you must know how to write great dialogue. To that end, we have been breaking down what are some of the primary principles that must be present for dialogue to be considered good. Normally, I like to try to address several principles in a particular episode, but today, I want to just address one because I have a lot to say about it and I really want you to get this particular point. So we're going to unpack:
Essential Ingredient number 5: good dialogue includes conflict and tension.
Zena Dell Lowe 01:05
The dullest dialogue is when people agree. People have different agendas, they have different opinions, even if they're on the same team. Now what often happens in newer writers is that they'll have a bunch of dialogue full of information that they want to get out. And there's no personal conflict between the characters themselves, and there's no real conflict in the world at large around them. They're in complete agreement, and really they're just having that exchange, because again, they're trying to get exposition out to the audience. But the dullest dialogue is when people agree. Even people who are on the same team have different ideas of how to do things.
Zena Dell Lowe 01:50
Think of the scene from Lethal Weapon, where Danny Glover's character has been caught on the toilet with a bomb underneath him and Mel Gibson calls, of course, the bomb squad to come and get rid of it. But guess what? He's got to stick around and help pull Danny Glover off of the toilet into the bathtub. They're going to have to pull some Kevlar bomb blanket over themselves and hope for the best when the bomb goes off, because Danny Glover has been on the toilet for so long that his legs are numb and he will never make it alone. So, this shows they are clearly on the same side. Stakes are incredibly high -- it's life and death. We have no doubt that Mel Gibson dearly loves his BFF Danny Glover, because he's willing to even die for him. He's going to take the same risk. He's going to be the one that helps pull him off the toilet. And what happens? Well, it's very funny when we're watching it, because here they are, their hands are clasped, and they're counting down to the big jump. And as they start that count down... One, two... Danny Glover says, "Whoa, whoa, wait, wait, wait. Now, is it 1, 2, 3.... And then we jump, or is it 1, 2, 3, and we jump on three?"
Zena Dell Lowe 03:09
Even right there, we have an example of characters who are on the same team, but they do things differently. They're not always in agreement and so there's conflict and tension there. Now, keep in mind, they're not actually fighting each other. So just because I say that dialogue must include conflict and tension, it doesn't always mean that they are arguing, or that your characters are in conflict with each other.
Zena Dell Lowe 03:35
Now, of course, sometimes they will be. This can add a great deal of interest. Think about cop stories where there's detecting going on and there's solving of cases, or we're in the lab and we're looking up certain information, another character comes in and these characters used to date and so there's tension because the other character feels that they've been robbed or that they were treated wrongly, blah blah blah. That is where subtext comes in because what they're trying to deal with is the case, but there's conflict and tension between those characters. So sometimes you want that.
Zena Dell Lowe 04:13
The point is, anytime you have a dialogue exchange that lacks any kind of conflict or any kind of tension, it's usually going to be dull. But again, it doesn't mean that the characters have to be fighting. Sometimes people are exactly in sync. And that's the point. That's the point of the story. But at those times, there still has to be conflict somewhere in the world of the story.
Zena Dell Lowe 04:42
For example, the very first short film I ever wrote and directed was called Hard Shell. Now, Hard Shell was about two sisters who absolutely adored each other, but ended up cutting each other out of their lives. And I wanted to explore that: what has to happen for two people who love each other to cut each other out of their lives? What has to happen in that relationship? And I didn't want it to be between a husband and a wife because we see that all too often. But I thought, sisters, you know? I wanted to see it in sisters, because siblings are so important to us. And if you have a sister, man, to end that relationship, it's a kind of death. It's like cutting off an arm, and I wanted to see that. I wanted to explore that idea.
Zena Dell Lowe 05:28
Now, in the writing of the story, and, granted, this was my very first short film, so I'm not saying it was particularly brilliant by any means. However, in the first rendition of the film that we were going to shoot, I gave it to a gentleman who had more experience and credits than I did for his feedback. And I had scenes from the present, where the sisters are in conflict, but then I had flashback scenes where we got to see what the relationship used to be like. And in those scenes they were always very loving, playful, friendly. We saw those things. But in the present day, we saw the conflict. And my friend said to me, "Zena. There's no conflict or tension in these. There's no conflict or tension in the flashback scenes." And I was like, "Oh my gosh, I teach this. How could I have missed that?" Right? And so I rewrote those scenes, and we went to shoot. And it wasn't until we were on set that I realized I had made a terrible mistake, because the truth of the matter was, now, since those flashback scenes showed further conflict, further tension, and the sisters were always fighting, really, what was the audience going to want? They were going to WANT these sisters to break up. The audience was going to experience those scenes and be like, "Ugh, what a terrible relationship. No wonder they broke up." They weren't going to feel the loss, they were going to feel relief that it finally ended because all these sisters ever did was fight. So, how did my friend go wrong? And how did I follow him? How did I not understand this?
Zena Dell Lowe 07:09
Well, what I realized is there WAS tension and conflict in the scene already. Because the point of Hard Shell is that in order for two people who absolutely adore each other to cut each other out of their lives, there has to be significant dysfunction or pain or woundedness in the family of origin. There has to be a problem in the family of origin, there has to be dysfunction that they come from, in order to even get to the point that they would make that choice. So, in the flashback scenes between these sisters, there is tension and conflict, it's just not between them. It's from their parents. The conflict and tension existed in the universe. It existed in the world in which they were.
Zena Dell Lowe 08:00
Now, we're going to see this in other stories, too. Think about the Terminator. Naturally, one of the big plot points of the Terminator is that Sarah Connor has to fall in love with Reese, because Reese is going to be the father of the unborn child, John Connor, who ultimately is going to lead the human rebellion against machines in the future. And that's an essential plot point. So, after all of their running away, there's this lovely scene where they come back to the hotel, they have a moment of reprieve, they're resting, they're making weapons, and of course, there's the obligatory love scene. And guess what? There's no tension or conflict between the two of them. It is a true bonding, beautiful moment of two people who cling to each other in these high stakes, life and death circumstances, and they love each other fully and deeply. But guess what? There is tension and conflict in the world, because we know that the Terminator is on his way there, and is, even now, en route to that hotel where they are. So, there is still conflict and tension present in these dialogue exchanges because it exists in the universe in some place.
Zena Dell Lowe 09:25
So again, good dialogue must include conflict intention. The dullest dialogue is when people agree, but it doesn't mean they are necessarily arguing. Now, let's say that you don't actually have conflict and tension in the universe, or the story world that is bearing down on your characters. What happens then? Well, in that case, you need to have it for the particular scene.
So how do you do that? Well, that's where you can add something like juxtaposition. So what would happen if you had two characters who were falling in love, but instead of having them fall in love in a way that is very on the nose and obvious, like candlelight dinner and romantic setting and music and blah blah blah... You set that scene on the side of the road with a flat tire. It's pouring rain, there isn't another car in sight, they're late for a dinner party. And that's when the two characters fall in love. So now you can have dialogue between them that isn't fighting, where they're truly getting along and it's beautiful and sweet and they're on the same page and they're in sync. And yet, the juxtaposition puts pressure on them, it adds conflict and tension in the world, even if it isn't from the plot world itself, it's for that particular moment. So juxtaposition helps.
Zena Dell Lowe 10:54
In fact, juxtaposition is a great technique that I would encourage you to try to master, because it often will give a passage a particular feeling of being brilliant if you use it well. Why? How does that work? Well, what we typically do is juxtapose what otherwise would seem to be sort of a normal or familiar type of scene. So again, I just gave the example of two people falling in love, but now it's on the side of the road, changing a tire, middle of a rainstorm, blah blah blah. But let's look at some other examples from really great stories that we know.
Zena Dell Lowe 11:35
What about Cyrano de Bergerac, who enters a duel, and composes a sonnet? Man, that's a great scene. Because it's juxtaposed. He's dueling, but he is composing a sonnet, which is perfect for his character, and it doesn't seem to fit. So we take something sort of familiar, and it defies expectations because of the juxtaposition that we infuse into it. Or how about -- we've talked about this before -- the opening scene of Quentin Tarantino's Inglorious Bastards? Or the scene in the diner between honeybun and her lover as they plan to rob the diner? Quentin Tarantino is a master because of this technique. In Jeffrey Sweets book on playwriting, which is called The Dramatist's Toolkit -- I highly recommend it, by the way, even if you're not a playwright, it's an excellent book on writing -- and he talks about a student who wrote a very powerful and effective scene, about a gangster, who's using the act of loading bullets into his gun as a mnemonic device, each bullet for one of the six errands that he was supposed to do that day. And there was this flash of delight, he talks about, when the audience recognizes the connection between the mental and physical activities. That's a really great example of juxtaposition, of infusing something that seems normal and familiar with this technique of juxtaposition. So that's a freebie for you. Try to master the art of juxtaposition. If you end up coming upon a scene that you've written that feels very boring and trite and predictable, see what happens if you juxtapose it in some way.
Zena Dell Lowe 13:31
EPISODE RECAP:
To recap, then, we've been talking about Principle number five: good dialogue includes conflict and tension. The dullest dialogue is when people agree, even if they're on the same team. However, it doesn't always mean that the characters are arguing. Sometimes people ARE on the same page, they are in sync. But at those times, there still has to be conflict somewhere in the world of your story. When this is the case, try using juxtaposition to make that scene, and the dialogue in it, more interesting.
Zena Dell Lowe 14:10
CALL TO ACTION:
I want to thank you so much for joining me today. I hope that this analysis has been useful to you and that you will be able to apply this to your writing immediately. If you have found it useful, would you consider writing a review and rating the show on Apple Music? And of course, I would love to hear from you. If you have a particular issue that you would like me to address in an upcoming episode, would you please go to my website? www.missionranchfilms.com, and on the right hand side, you're gonna see a sidebar that says Podcast Voicemail. Click on that and you can leave me an actual voicemail, and let me know what your area of interest is so that I can address it in an upcoming episode.
Zena Dell Lowe 14:55
OUTRO:
In the meantime, you have been listening to The Storyteller's Mission with Zena Dell Lowe. May you go forth inspired to change the world for the better through story.