Too Much Dialogue

Sunday, November 22nd, 2009

Yesterday, a review of Elmore Leonard’s latest book said it was good, but left the reviewer feeling like there was too much dialogue. I know from Elmore Leonard’s 10 Rules of Writing that he doesn’t like huge great chunks of prose - and neither do I; the temptation to skim them can be irresistable. I certainly do my best to avoid writing them. But I have to confess that the last time I read an Elmore Leonard book, I thought there was too much dialogue.

I use plenty of dialogue as well - and at times, when I’m reading it back, it feels like too much, at which point I try to delete the unneccesary bits. Deleting dialogue is hard, though. If you stick religiously to the rule that everything on the page should move the story forward, you might find it easier. But maybe not, because dialogue is surely just the other side of the same coin as story. If plot is taken as being the way a story is told, using dialogue is just a form of plot; telling the story in a certain way. Elmore Leonard chooses to tell his stories through lots of dialogue ( so do I, although I am not in anyway comparing myself to him). But I suppose any one plot device, when used heavily through the course of a novel, can drag the story down.

For me, that’s most obvious when I read huge sections of descriptive writing. I remember David Gemmell saying he’s not interested in what a room looks like - just what happens in it. In most cases, what happens in a room will surely be dialogue. So at what point does dialogue stop being action and start being self-indulgence? When the reader feels like it’s too much, I guess. As a writer, I suppose the trick is to try and predict when that will be.

Tags: creative writing, dialogue, writing
Posted in Short Story | No Comments »