Journalism demands accuracy and nothing less. It’s amazing how the slightest turn of phrase can change a meaning or rather mean something entirely different to another person — having queried more than a few quotes and received a WUH look in return when a journalist thinks their quote is crystal clear, I know this feeling intimately!
So what is dialogue? What does it do?
I’m currently reading an urban fantasy novel, set in a catering kitchen in New York. The characters are about as fantastical as you’re going to get, but of course, the dialogue grounds them (as does the setting and the time for that matter). I have never distilled the elements of urban fantasy that captured my interest before now — it always boiled down to the fantastical grounded in reality that made it attractive for me. But of course, dialogue is part of that as Tony Park points out.
I think about the change and formality of a story like Tolkien or Lemuel in Charlaine Harris’ Midnight series who doesn’t use contractions as often as anyone else in those books. There’s a formality — or perhaps deliberateness — to his speech that sets him apart from the other characters, and keeps him separate from everyone else, who by now are a family of sorts, and that’s how Harris has built his character through dialogue. He’s the one character I don’t feel like I know yet, and around which Night Shift revolves.
Which author has built a character like this for you?
Great quote, and your thoughts are wonderful as well. I do think dialogue is important and it can really tell you who a character is or how they react to the outside world, as opposed to inner thoughts.
Thank you! It’s interesting how these quote have made me think about the things I’ve read. It’s made me reassess things and dialogue’s place in a novel.