Article of the week

April 15th, 2008

Dialogue Helps Keep Up the Pace in Short Fiction
by Jean Knill

When writing a short story, it’s important you keep up the pace to hold the readers’ interest. You want them to read every word, not skim what they think are the slow, boring bits. If that happens and the first reader is an editor, your story will hit the slush pile before he gets to the end. If the first reader is a competition judge, you’re not likely to get shortlisted, let alone win.

So you have to keep your story moving, and make sure every word is taking the reader forward to the climax of the narrative. Once that is reached, you should have arrived at, or very near, the end of the story.

Don’t be afraid to use dialogue. Direct speech doesn’t have to slow things down, and clever use of it can help move things along. It’s indirect speech that often needs more words, including explanation that the reader will need. Direct speech can reduce the need to describe your characters.

Take the following snippet of conversation, for example.

‘Look, Joanna,’ said Helen. ‘There’s Colin and his new wife. I thought we might meet her today. What on earth is she wearing? She’s too fat for that dress.’

‘But she has such a pretty face. Look at those big, brown eyes. And what a lovely smile she has.’

By reading less than four lines, we know that Helen tends to be bitchy, while Joanna likes to give other people the benefit of the doubt and find something to like about them. We also know that Colin has recently married someone pretty, and perhaps curvy, and these two have not yet met her.

You can get away with grammatical errors in dialogue, too, as long as you know the rules your characters are breaking. Otherwise, your own incompetence is likely to show.

To introduce humor, someone could use cliché after cliché in their speech – something to be otherwise avoided in your story. A person whose speech goes on and on, and often round and round, like Flora Finching in Dickens’ “Little Dorrit”, can also be funny. But do remember your word count. Events have to move along quickly, and most people interact with short, economical sentences. A more appropriate strategy could be to have a character who uses 'malapropisms' - inappropriate words, like Mrs Malaprop in Sheridan’s play, “The Rivals”. Readers will accept these tactics if they add something crucial and move your story along.

You have probably seen or heard the advice to read lots of winning or published stories, and to analyze them critically to see why they are successful. Reading plays can be helpful, too. Look at what the characters say, and see if their personalities jump off the page at you. Although different productions can portray people in different ways, how the characters interact is what moves the drama along.

Now look at your own story and characters. Are the speech habits of individuals consistent? Is the dialogue believable? Is it central to your plot? Have you struck the right balance between dialogue and narrative? Do the interactions between your characters help to move the story along? Does the dialogue help to keep up the pace?

AUTHOR BIO: Jean Knill began her career as a freelance writer in the early 1980s. Her work has been published in many UK magazines and newspapers - including SHE, The Lady, My Weekly, Sports Industries, and Church Times - as well as in writing and travel e-zines. Until recently, her writing has been slotted in beside teaching and marketing projects. Now she has retired from these sidelines and is rejoicing in the freedom to write as much as she wants.