Discussion Dialogue heavy works - what do you think?

[NumberOneSpinelApologist]

What do you think about works that can be considered "dialogue heavy"? Do you enjoy them?
What do you think is the best balance between talking and action?
How do you approach dialogue in your works, do you consider yours to be dialogue heavy?
Do you have tips on how to avoid too much infodumping through dialogue?
Is there such a thing as too much or too little dialogue?
Are my questions poorly stated and should I be asking different ones, because they are missing the essence of writing dialogue? What kind of questions should be asked instead?

I think I am gravitating towards "dialogue heavy" or based around dialogue, maybe it's because most of the fiction I created was through collaborative storytelling by playing ttRPGs, and they are basically just that: conversations.

 

[pilosophos]

One of my favorite works is nearly all dialogue, like No Exit. It's a stage play where the whole thing takes place in one room, so it's just dialogue with the occasional stage directions.

I participate in RP on forums and there are often scenes where characters are mostly milling around talking. If I just post what my character is saying and nothing else, it's kind of dull, so I try to give them something to do or describe little physical tics that they do while conversing, like smiling or tenting their hands. Maybe the discussion they're in reminds them of some memory or facts, or they have some opinions that they don't vocalize. When I want to break up the dialogue with prose, I get the most mileage out of this approach.

I do try to avoid writing long dialog, but I don't think it's always a bad thing. One thing to worry about is that people in the real world rarely speak long sentences, even if monologuing for a while. Too long and you sound like a boring lecturer. No-one will listen. Real people say stuff― and pause. Sometimes cut themselves short, like― oh, I don't know. Like breaking news does to regularly scheduled programming, maybe. Words get repeated for emphasis― emphasis, and dramatic effect. They insert tag questions, you know? Gotta know the other person's engaged. And they start sentences with conjunctions. We're not taught to write prose like that in school. At least, not often.

One trick with writing dialogue is to actually say the dialogue out loud. If it sounds like you're reading a book, then it not might be good dialogue. Unless, of course, they really are reading from a book. In which case, good job.

 

[kintsugi]

I have one chatfic that I'll go back to when I'm in a specific mood, but honestly I think dialogue-heavy is a lot more work for me! Pilosophos touched on some great points + definite second on looking at stage play dialogue for reference there. Death of a Salesman is also a good one to look at imo, and it's old hat but Shakespeare is a classic for a reason. Another old shill but Pratchett is great for writing clear exchanges that are dialogue-heavy rather than only dialogue. If you want it in fanfic, I think Let It Ring is fairly short and its final chapter is a master class of using dialogue in an action setting.

Idk if there's an ideal balance so much as what needs to be done for the story--my action or philosophy heavy stories tend to just need more internal narrative; my chatty stuff doesn't. I'm fairly lazy in this regard tbh.

Some meta tips I've stumbled into. I think if your stuck giving exposition, writing a story in a way where it makes sense internally for the exposition to happen helps a lot. It might feel dumb for Ash to be like "Wow, my Pikachu dodged Garchomp's Crunch flawlessly", but it might feel more natural for a sports-style match commentator to be doing so. Two strangers may not naturally feel like they'd be exchanging deep thoughts within ten seconds of meeting each other, but they might do so if the setting is a call-in talk radio show. I think typically dialogue serves story, but sometimes when it gets sticky you can flip it so that story serves dialogue.

I think it's also really important to give each character a distinct voice--you mention ttRPG as a basis, which makes a lotta sense, but I think a huge hurdle in adapting those to literature is 1) each of your ttRPG buddies has like physical differences in audible voice, maybe a funny accent, etc and 2) each of your ttRPG buddies is presumably a buddy and you can tell them apart immediately from one another. The same is not true for writing, so making sure that in most cases you can read most lines of dialogue and identify, "oh, even without knowing the exact context, this just sounds like X" is really important imo--dialogue heavy tends to rely on exchanges that don't have tags (to avoid the endless stream of "said Spinel" "said Spinel" "said Spinel").

I think these are fun questions btw!

 

[Palamon]

Not the biggest fan of them if it's all dialogue especially. Just talking in prose is meh, but that's just my opinion. There should at least be some action. But, I'm fine if the story is dialogue heavy so as long as it's not just dialogue. I don't really read nor will I ever write, a chatfic. I am a writer who doesn't write extremely dialogue heavy stuff, though, it's there.

That being said:

What do you think about works that can be considered "dialogue heavy"? Do you enjoy them?

If a work is mostly dialogue, that's dialogue heavy for me. And, no, like I said above, I do not enjoy a fic that is just mostly talking, I need action to break things up. Hence why I'll never sit down and read nor write a chatfic. Especially since I write a protagonist that doesn't talk (and communicates through nonverbal means)

What do you think is the best balance between talking and action?

Tbh, I can't say to this one as I prefer more action than dialogue, so.


How do you approach dialogue in your works, do you consider yours to be dialogue heavy?

Mostly in short bursts, in pockets. Sometimes I have entire portions of my work that has none at all and have experimented with as little as possible at some points. So, no, I do not consider my works dialogue heavy.

Do you have tips on how to avoid too much infodumping through dialogue?

Less is more, that's all I can say to you.

Is there such a thing as too much or too little dialogue?

Too much? One hundred percent, yes, I hate fics that are mostly just dialogue as I've said before. But, no, there's no such thing as too little, either. In fact, stories with barely any dialogue should happen more often, I think, but that's just what I think.

 

[Dorothy LaRouge]

If the dialogue is good, it's good, and I have a high tolerance for dialogue as long as it meets that criteria. With that said, writing in prose means you must occasionally must backseat dialogue in favor of action and description. Being able to work with only - or almost only - dialogue is a legitimate skill, which is why playwrights and screenwriters exist, but I don't think most people in fic spaces are looking to read a play.

 

[theclaw]

Dialogue heavy is refreshing. We already have the games for characters that stand around waiting to battle you, and only you, then never resume their lives once defeated.