Playing Dress-Up

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I confess. I’m a dialogue writer. I LOVE to write dialogue! LOVE IT! In fact, I spend most of my time with my dialogue. (As I did yesterday)

I'm not talking about spending time with plain dialogue, but spending time dressing up dialogue.

Why dress up dialogue?

Let’s say you made this fantastic dress. It looks really good on you, too. Got that visual? Good. Now, would you head out the door in just that dress?
Please say no. Please say no. Please say no.

No? Good answer! No, you wouldn’t just head out the door in a dress, because you need shoes. Cute shoes. Something strappy with a wedge heel. And you also need a purse. And earrings! Maybe a necklace. And if you’re anything like me, you’re going to need some Spanx, too. But I digress...

Anyhew, you see all this stuff you need with your dress to make yourself look nice?

Okay. Now, consider your dialogue as your dress. If you accessorize it, you can make it look and sound prettier. How do you accessorize? By adding action beats, dialogue tags, and sometimes even adding an internal point of view to dialogue.

Not every writer takes advantage of dressing up dialogue to give a character personality. And that’s fine. To each his own.

But...if your characters are reading flat, this could be an area you tinker with. :)

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Here’s a section of dialogue from my book completely stripped of the bling.

Big Bens, why don’t you lead us in circle time?
“Uh…circle what?”
“Circle time. It’s great fun. You sit in a circle and sing songs.”
“Uh…maybe I should just continue to observe today.”
“Oh. Well, okay. Maybe tomorrow?”
“Sure.”

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Were you able to get the personality of the people talking? Were you able to understand what was unspoken in those words?

Well, here it is again, all dressed up and ready for the prom:

Big Bens, why don’t you lead us in circle time? Missy asked.
Her words jolted him back to the present, and he squinted as if that would improve his hearing. “Uh…circle what?”
“Circle time.” She giggled. “It’s great fun. You sit in a circle and sing songs.”
Oh, yes. That sounds like great fun. A real hoot. Thanks so much for including me. Who did she think he was, Mr. Rogers? “Uh…maybe I should just continue to observe today.”
Missy’s mouth formed a little bow. “Oh. Well, okay. Maybe tomorrow?”
No freakin’ way, sister. “Sure,” he said pleasantly.
He was calling his agent as soon as he got back to his apartment. Denise hadn't mentioned anything about belting out "Old MacDonald" for this gig.

Oh dear. Ben doesn’t have a good attitude about being in a preschool class. (Although he's trying to hide it.) But the dialogue alone isn’t enough to convey that. Showing his confusion to Missy’s question by him squinting added to the scene, also. He’s out of his element and he’s reacting to it--first in action and then in thought.

Sometimes it’s the little things that add to the bigger picture.

Of course, there is always a risk of over dressing. (Guilty) But that's another topic all together.

Do you enjoy spending time dressing up your dialogue?