Dialogue

I love dialogue better than the two other classic elements of fiction., narrative and exposition. Dialogue deepens character and advances plot if used properly. Let’s go back to Jack and Jill who ran up the hill to fetch a pail of water. That’s all we know. We just know that they did it. Say that we want to flesh this out a bit. We have at least two options.

Option 1: Do it through exposition: Jack had asked Jill to go along with him, but she at first refused. She was concerned that he would fall down and break his crown and she’d be blamed.

Option 2: Construct a scene composed of a string of dialogue between Jack and Jill.

 Jack says, “Mom is making me go up the hill and fetch a pail of water.”

“Mom is so mean,” says Jill.

“Would you come with me?”

“I don’t want to.”

“Why not, you little nincompoop?” asks Jack.

“It’s too hot.”

“It’s not hot at all.”

“The hill is too steep,” Jill says.

“It’s not steep at all.”

“There’s too many boulders in the path.”

“You’re just scared,” Jack says.

“All right, you bully, I’ll tell you.”

“Now we’re getting somewhere.,” Jack said.

“I’ an afraid to.”

“What could you possibly be afraid of, you little weanie?”

Jill says, “That you’ll fall down and break your crown, and Mom will say it was my fault.”

I think Jill’s afraid of losing her brother, but can’t admit that, so she diverts the discussion.

It took longer to flesh things out, but we learn a lot more about the characters and their relationship to each other from the dialogue. It also adds a little interest and draws the reader in. There a lot more things you can do to make this scene better. Whether you like dialogue or not is a matter of taste. Myself, I love it.