Dialogue

AM:

I began to read a book about espionage and Charlemange. I picked it up for the labyrinth motif, and the mystery of what happened to the protagonists father. I was very disappointed in it. The writing was terrible. It was like reading a colour-by-numbers detective story, or like a transcript of a TV show. The characters were one dimensional stereotypes, although all the ingredients of "good writing" were there: scenes were set well, information was given, all five senses were used, but it had no depth.

I have been conflicted recently, wanting to write something that touches on what it is to be human, an existentialist drama, and at the same time wanting to use a mystery genre and some novelty ideas. The idea of writing a detective story seemed to jar with writing a piece of literature. I wanted my character to be an ordinary person that stumbles across a mystery. Then I realised, a detective is an ordinary person, and that was what the Charlemange book was missing. Everyone was a stereotype. People pull out guns for no reason, except "that's what happens in espionage stories".

So I've let Ben Trovato, my existential occult detective, infiltrate my story about Fat. Fat is now Ben Trovato. I've moved on from Fat coming home with his fathers diary, and introduced Suzanna, who I took for the student handbook, where she is defined as having "no job, no funds, no hope". I made these characteristics a spiritual practice and began a dialogue between them that explores their individual philosophies and why it is they do what they do. I havn't paid much attention to the student handbook otherwise, except for this morning when I read the dialogue guidelines:

"Dialogue must never be written for its own sake and should always have at least one of the following functions:

1. impart information (8/10)

2. enrich the characteristation (8/10)

3. move the plot along (6/10)

4. develop the characters within the story (8/10)

5. further the complexities of the plot (3/10)

6. crank up the pace (3/10)

7. enhance the theme or core truth (8/10)

8. reflect relationship changes and emotions (6/10)"

Beside these functions I have given them a mark out of ten for how well these functions are served in my dialogue. None of them is missed out. Again, it seems only natural to me that these functions are what a dialogue should be about. In the Charlemange book, only one or two of these functions is served at a time, which gives it the paint-by-numbers feel.

The characterisation is enriched because both characters are talking about backstories, their own, and comparing philosophies at the end of a week. The complexities of the plot are thickened, in that we learn of Trovato's motivations and personal ontology. We also learn of Suzanna's. Their relationship is illustrated, and the core truths are begun in their philosophies.

It's little more than a first draft at the moment, but I'm happy with the information that has been developed, and with the themes revealed.

The guidelines also state that dialogue should be kept short, which I didn't do for Susanna because she's telling an emotionally charged story. They are swapping stories, which means that their speech will be longer than usual.

One of the things I've noted is that for every guideline proposed by this book, there is a novel I'm reading that utterly disregards it. This is what makes me think that writing "is" art. Even the guidelines are arbitrary, and I can't help but feel sorry for the people who read this stuff and stick to it, probably writing more than they read and never realising that the guidelines are just a prompt.

PM:

Wrote more dialogue, once between Suzanna and Ben, and twice between Ben and "Loisha" (actually two very different characters). Dialogue improved each time, although I was least pleased with the second attempt.

I also read the course text book for once. It says that you need to have a very good idea of character in order to generate dialogue, of their conflicts, desires, histories. I had to flesh out Ben/Fat considerably in order to do this, which I did by freewriting and creating a family tree. Suzanna and Loisha are essentially the same character, with modifications here and there. There's a relationship developing.

I merged project 3's exercise 3 with project 4's first exercise using an african-scottish dialect, which provided some good ideas and a good sense of character. However, I'm stuck with my detective. He's yet to have a case to solve. I think the best way to find one is through having him converse with lots of different characters, at this stage.