How to Write Dialogue
Summary
TLDRThis video delves into the art of writing effective dialogue in screenwriting, emphasizing that good dialogue is not just about natural-sounding exchanges but serves to advance the story's conflict. It clarifies the three main functions of dialogue: exposition, characterization, and action. The script uses examples from films like 'Glengarry Glen Ross' and 'Gone Girl' to illustrate how dialogue should be contextual and purpose-driven, moving the narrative forward. It advises writers to focus on the scene's purpose and character motivations, rather than striving for flashy or stylistic dialogue, which can detract from the story's core.
Takeaways
- 🎬 Dialogue is not just conversation; it serves specific functions in storytelling.
- 📝 There are three primary functions of dialogue: exposition, characterization, and action.
- 🔍 Understanding the context of a scene is crucial for writing effective dialogue.
- ❓ David Mamet's three questions for writing dialogue: Who wants what from who? What happens if they don't get it? Why now?
- 🎭 The context and meaning behind dialogue are more important than witty or stylistic dialogue.
- 🚀 Dialogue should move the story forward and help characters achieve their goals.
- 🔗 Building character beliefs and desires is essential before writing dialogue.
- 📚 Focus on the purpose of the scene and what the characters want to achieve.
- 💬 Make characters sound fluid and natural through consistent writing practice.
- 🖋 Great writers develop their unique style by writing in a way that feels natural to them.
Q & A
What is the main focus of the eighth video in the series on screenwriting and storytelling?
-The main focus of the eighth video is to explore the concept of dialogue in screenwriting, distinguishing it from everyday conversation and emphasizing its role in advancing the story's conflict.
What are the three primary functions of dialogue in storytelling according to the video?
-The three primary functions of dialogue in storytelling are exposition, characterization, and action.
How does the video suggest writers should approach writing dialogue?
-The video suggests that writers should focus on the context of the scene and the characters' wants and needs before worrying about the style or flow of the dialogue.
What are the three key questions that David Mamet recommends focusing on when writing dialogue in a scene?
-The three key questions are: who wants what from whom, what happens if they don't get it, and why now.
Can good dialogue be taught or is it an innate talent?
-The video implies that while some may have a natural talent for writing dialogue, it can also be taught and learned through understanding its purpose and function within a story.
What is the importance of context when writing dialogue?
-Context is crucial when writing dialogue because it helps determine why a scene exists, what the characters want, and how their dialogue contributes to the story's progression.
How does the video use the scene from 'Glengarry Glen Ross' to illustrate the principles of dialogue writing?
-The video uses the 'Glengarry Glen Ross' scene to demonstrate how the characters' desires and the scene's context drive the dialogue, moving the story forward.
What is the role of stylistic dialogue in storytelling according to the video?
-Stylistic dialogue can be enjoyable, but it is not the foundation of a story. The video emphasizes that the context and meaning behind the dialogue are more important for making a scene work.
Why does the video suggest that dialogue should not be the primary focus when building a scene?
-The video suggests that focusing on dialogue before understanding the scene's context and the characters' motivations can lead to writing that feels forced and unnatural.
What advice does the video give for making dialogue sound more natural and fluid?
-The video advises writers to write a lot and get used to the process, as this will help dialogue sound more natural and fluid as they become more familiar with their characters and the context of their scenes.
What is the video's stance on the common advice given to writers about dialogue?
-The video argues that much of the common advice about dialogue, such as focusing on subtext or specific emotional verbs, can be more harmful than helpful, as it interrupts the writing flow and leads to overthinking.
Outlines
📝 Understanding Dialogue in Screenwriting
This paragraph introduces the topic of dialogue in screenwriting, distinguishing it from everyday conversation. It emphasizes the importance of context in dialogue, outlining its three main functions: exposition, characterization, and action. The speaker explains that good dialogue is not just about natural-sounding conversation but about advancing the story's conflict. The focus is on understanding the characters' wants and motivations within a scene, rather than on the dialogue's style or wit. The paragraph also introduces David Mamet's approach to writing dialogue, which centers on the context and purpose of the scene.
🎬 The Power of Context in Dialogue
The second paragraph delves deeper into the importance of context in dialogue, using examples from films like 'Glengarry Glen Ross' and 'Prisoners'. It discusses how dialogue should serve the narrative by revealing character intentions and propelling the story forward. The paragraph highlights that the style of dialogue is secondary to its function in the story. It also addresses common misconceptions about writing dialogue, such as the overemphasis on subtext and emotional verbs, suggesting that these can hinder the natural flow of writing. The speaker encourages focusing on the scene's purpose and character motivations to create dialogue that feels both natural and purposeful.
📚 Practical Advice for Writing Dialogue
The final paragraph offers practical advice for writers on how to approach dialogue. It suggests that dialogue writing should be grounded in the purpose of the scene and the characters' desires, rather than on achieving a particular style. The speaker argues against overcomplicating the dialogue-writing process with technical tips and instead promotes simplicity and natural writing. The paragraph concludes by encouraging writers to write a lot to develop their own style and to let the dialogue serve the story without being overly concerned with making it stand out.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Dialogue
💡Storytelling
💡Exposition
💡Characterization
💡Action
💡Context
💡Stylistic Dialogue
💡Subtext
💡Scene
💡Conflict
💡Natural Dialogue
Highlights
Dialogue is not a conversation but a tool for developing story conflict.
Three functions of dialogue: exposition, characterization, and action.
Good dialogue looks like a conversation but serves a specific purpose in the story.
Dialogue should be used to pass on important information, reveal character traits, and drive the plot.
Context is key when writing dialogue; understand why the scene exists and what the characters want.
David Mamet's approach to dialogue focuses on 'who wants what from whom,' 'what happens if they don't get it,' and 'why now'.
In 'Glengarry Glen Ross,' dialogue shows a character's desperation and the stakes of the situation.
Dialogue should serve the story's progression rather than stand out for its own sake.
Stylistic dialogue is not the foundation of a story; context and meaning are more important.
Good dialogue should sound fluid and natural, achieved through practice and understanding of character and scene.
In 'Prisoners,' dialogue effectively conveys the urgency and differing approaches to finding a missing child.
The dialogue in 'Gone Girl' subtly builds suspicion and advances the investigation.
Dialogue should work to serve the story, not distract from it with overly flashy language.
Writers should focus on the purpose of the scene and the natural flow of dialogue rather than overcomplicating.
Many great films have dialogue that is not stylistic but serves the story well.
Overemphasis on subtext and specific word choice can hinder the writing process and lead to overthinking.
Simplicity in writing dialogue is crucial for maintaining focus on the scene's purpose and character intentions.
Transcripts
welcome to the eighth video in this
series covering the fundamentals of
screenwriting and storytelling
if you'd like to watch the rest of the
playlist you can find it linked below
or on the end screen of this video
when you think about dialogue you
probably think about iconic one-liners
show me the money
were writers with great dialogue style
what country are you from
what ain't no country i ever heard of
they speak english and what
on the flip side everyone knows bad
dialogue when they hear it
it can stunt a scene and pull you out of
a movie from on the nose lines
this is katana she's got my back to long
expositional monologues
so how do you write good dialogue is it
just a talent you're born with
or can it actually be taught let's start
by figuring out what dialogue
actually is dialogue is not a
conversation
the conversations you have in your
day-to-day life are not
comparable to dialogue good dialogue
looks like a conversation
but in reality it's a tool for
continuing to develop the conflict of a
story
first let's talk about the mechanical
side of dialogue so that we can get a
basic
understanding of its function again
dialog
is not a conversation it has a specific
function and a story
so viewing dialogue in this way can help
you create stronger scenes
there are three functions of dialogue
exposition
characterization and action in my
previous two videos i covered exposition
and its use inside of film
dialogue can be used to pass on
important information to other
characters
and to the audience next is
characterization
what a character says can help us
understand who they are
what they believe and what they want and
finally we have
action characters move towards what they
want by talking to other characters
and using dialogue to make decisions
work problems
and reveal secrets now that you have
your basic academic definitions
let's get practical many writers
struggle to write dialogue well
they think the problem comes from not
being able to write dialogue naturally
or failing to make characters sound like
people but these are not the core
problems that writers face when writing
dialogue
the most important thing you should be
thinking about when writing dialogue
is context dialogue
is first and foremost about context you
should be focusing on why this scene is
here in the first place
before you're even worried about
dialogue what do the characters want in
this scene
what do they believe how does this
scene's existence
move the story forward we know the
answers to these questions not from
writing dialogue
but from building our characters
building what they believe
and building what they want dialogue in
and of itself
will never create a good scene not even
the wittiest quickest
most fun dialogue will make a great
scene on its own
writing good dialogue happens after you
have a working definition of the context
of a scene
david mamet one of the best writers of
stylistic dialogue
said that when you're writing dialogue
in a scene you should focus on three
questions
who wants what from who what happens if
they don't get it
and why now notice how these questions
have nothing to do with the exact word
choice or flow of dialogue
they are about the context in which the
dialogue exists
let's take a look at a scene from
glengarry glenn ross written by david
mamet
and apply his questions to the scene who
wants what from who
i need those leads and i need them now
or i'm out
shelley is a salesman at a real estate
company shelly is about to lose his job
and needs the new sales leads from john
the office manager
immediately we get an understanding of
what the character wants
and what is driving the dialogue of this
scene
what happens if they don't get it if
shelley doesn't get his sales numbers up
this month he'll be fired
he needs these new leads so that he can
make sales
me you give me one premium lead you know
what the premium leads to
i know what the pre-premium leads cost
yeah i know what they cost
i generated the sufficient dollar
revenue to buy them but i cannot
sell [ __ ] why now
the other salesmen are doing what they
can to make sales and beat shelley
he has to get these new leads or he will
be too far behind
how does this scene turn the story
i need your help
i can't do it
john doesn't give shelly the leads
shelly is stuck in a really bad position
now
if he doesn't sell he's fired so now he
must figure
out how to get his sales numbers up this
sets shelly in a new direction
jon won't give him the new leads so he
will have to figure something else out
the dialogue works because the scene
works the scene moves the story forward
the scene shows characters working
towards getting what they want
the dialogue only exists to serve that
end so the specific style that the
writer writes in
is simply a choice not a core function
of the narrative
many film lovers enjoy fast-paced woody
dialogue and i do
too but stylistic dialogue is not the
foundation of a story
and good writers know this it is the
context and meaning behind the dialogue
that makes that scene work the beautiful
part about knowing what your characters
want and knowing the context of the
scene
is that your dialogue will flow much
better once you have a grasp on why the
scene exists
now you know why your characters are
talking and what they are talking about
when you're focused on making your
dialogue witty slick and cool
before you're worried about building the
correct context for a scene
you're going to write yourself into a
corner i want you to pause and think
about some of your favorite movies of
all time
do they all have amazing stylistic
dialogue
how much of the dialogue do you remember
from most great films
let's take a look at a scene that
doesn't have flashy dialogue but still
works very well for the story
this is a scene from prisoners written
by aaron guzikowski
mr dover's daughter along with another
girl have been kidnapped and detective
loki is trying to find them
loki suspects that mr dover has been
working outside of the law
to find his daughter so loki is
following him
let's return to mammoth's questions who
wants what from who
why are you following me
get in the car detective loki believes
mr dover took
alex one of the suspects in the
disappearance of dover's daughter
so loki is following dover but dover
wants detective loki to focus on finding
his daughter
what happens if they don't get it kids
go for more than a week
have half as good a chance of being
found and after a month almost none are
not alive
these men are on the clock every hour
that passes makes it less and less
likely
that they will find dover's daughter
both of them are looking for the girls
while both men want to find them they
have radically different ideas on how to
do it
why now and every day she's wondering
why i'm not there
to [ __ ] rescue her do you understand
that me
not you not you but me
every moment counts they have to find
the girl soon
or they may never see them alive again
what happens at the end of this scene
that moves the story forward loki
believes dover may not have taken alex
and is simply distraught about his
missing daughter
so loki lets him go and focus his back
on finding the young girls
notice how the dialogue isn't snappy
witty or stylistic
but it's still powerful and is used to
move the scene and the story forward
this should be your goal don't worry
about crafting the most perfect sounding
dialogue
worry about creating dialogue that moves
your story forward and worry about
creating the correct context
to actually build a strong scene let's
take a look at one more simple scene
this is a scene from gone girl written
by jillian flynn
nick's wife amy has gone missing
detective boney is questioning nick
about her disappearance
who wants what from who detective boney
wants to get more information about nick
so she hasn't yet ruled him out as a
suspect
so you got to the bar around 11 today
where were you before that just to cross
that off
home what happens if they don't get it
if boney doesn't get more information
the case could turn cold amy could go
missing forever
speaking of which amy's blood type god i
don't know i have to look it up at the
house
you don't know if she has friends you
don't know what she does all day and you
don't know your wife's blood type sure
you all are married
why now the longer amy is missing the
smaller the likelihood that they find
her
what happens at the end of this scene
that moves the story forward
boney is becoming more suspicious of
nick he doesn't seem to know anything
about amy
this is alarming to her she decides to
press harder on nick
going forward can they get here in time
for this press conference tomorrow
wow i have no idea i haven't talked to
him you haven't called your wife's
parents
i mean you can't get a signal on this
building i'd been in here talking to you
well call them please nick
now i picked this quick
unflashy scene for a reason the dialogue
isn't crazy
this isn't even a major turning point in
the story but it's still
following core narrative mechanics
characters are using dialogue to move
towards what they want
the dialogue isn't supposed to stand out
and be flashy
it's just supposed to work and serve the
story
and in a lot of ways maybe that's the
best form of dialogue
because stylistic dialogue can run away
from you and take away from the most
important thing
which is the telling of the story just
like great editing can be invisible
maybe dialogue can work the same way the
reality is
you don't have to write like tarantino
or mammoth or any of those writers
understand what you're good at there are
so many great films out there where you
never really thought much about the
dialogue yet you loved the story anyways
it's not that the dialogue was bad it
just wasn't stylistic
it was just good dialogue
a lot of what is taught about writing
dialogue simply isn't practical
everyone talks about constantly keeping
subtext at the forefront of your mind
or they talk about knowing exactly how
each line of dialogue has a particular
emotional verb behind it
like attack or punish or pursue or they
give all kinds of tips on avoiding
exposition and dialogue
and honestly i think that most of this
is worse than useless
because it interrupts your flow of
writing and it makes you overthink every
single line as you push through the
scene
so what should you be focusing on when
you go to write
ultimately dialogue comes down to two
things number one
focus on the purpose of the scene why
are your characters here what does each
character want
what will happen here that turns the
story and what or who
is standing in the character's way and
number two
focus on making your characters sound
fluid and natural
this happens by writing and writing a
lot the more you get used to writing
and the more you build the context of
your scene before writing dialogue
the more fluid your dialogue will sound
whatever style of dialogue you may have
will come as you write you have to write
to see what you like and see what you
don't like
great writers don't try to sound a
certain way they simply write in the way
that is natural to them
in this video i didn't give a detailed
analysis of subtext or specific word
choice
or all the other phrases and tips people
like to throw around to make non-writers
feel intelligent
and writers feel stuck and confused i've
found that when i'm writing dialogue
simplicity is a necessity i can't hold
five ideas in my head about exposition
subtext verbally charged lines
and diction while i also try to remember
what this scene is about
it's nonsense and it's confusing who
wants what from who
what happens if they don't get it and
why now
leave the rest in the classroom now you
have a much stronger understanding of
dialogue
and how it fits in your story and in the
next video we're going to be taking a
look at the midpoint
and how you can use a midpoint to
strengthen the second act of your
screenplay
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