Story-telling | Dialogue and Characters (3rd October 2016)

We had our second lecture today with screenwriter, Steve Coombes, in which we had a look at the dos and don'ts of writing dialogue and characters.  There was a lot of valuable information to take in because dialogue is of course important in screenwriting.

Here are the 'dos' of writing dialogue:

• Be aware of different peoples' dialect and accent; each character needs a different 'wrinkle' in their voice.  Make notes in the script to help actors know how to deliver these lines.
• Every sentence should either move the story forward, or develop the character, or else the dialogue can just seem like speech which can be dull.
• Similar to the last point, you must aim to get the essence of natural, but not completely natural, so the dialogue is believable, but not boring.
• Not everything has to be said through dialogue - in the same way as we discussed previously, in which you should show and not tell - you can use facial expressions, mannerisms, and body movements.
• People talk in contradictions; the things that matter most to a person tend to be the hardest thing to talk about, so you must consider what they are thinking about, and what they cannot say.  For example, Steve showed us 10 CC's The Things We Do For Love and compared it with I'm Not In Love, and I'm Not In Love came across as more believable, as the lyrics suggest that he is, in fact, in love which comes across as more powerful than stating the truth.

• Different characters will use expletives differently, relating back to their accent and dialect.  People also speak and swear in rhythm; good dialogue reflects the rhythm of their life.

Leading on from the 'dos' of writing dialogue, we also went through the 'don'ts' of it:

• Don't state the obvious; this makes the dialogue tedious and boring.
• In a similar vein to the previous point, don't make the dialogue too 'on the nose' - characters rarely say exactly what they feel, so the dialogue should challenge the viewer to scope out what they are thinking.
• Don't make dialogue too formal, again relating to getting a character's dialect right.  You should also avoid being too grammatical with dialogue.
• Overusing a character's name in dialogue can get annoying.
• Don't make dialogue too real; the essence of natural, not natural.  Therefore you should avoid giving a character more than three lines, as realistically, a conversation is short and snappy, not filled with monologues.
• Don't give away information through dialogue - show not tell again.
• Dialogue should not be about what it appears to be about - make use of metaphors.

We then focused on characters, and for this, we looked at three archetypal characters: the monster, the existential hero, and the single man/woman.  'The Monster' is driven by anger, and they can reveal themselves through this anger.  'The Existential Hero' doesn't quite know who they are; they are wearing a veil of ignorance and must work out who they are through the duration of the screenplay.  'The Single Man/Woman' is more complex; their conflict revolves around what sort of relationship they should be in, how they address these issues, and what choices they make as a result of this.

We also took a number of notes from Steve's advice on characters:

• You should know your characters at least as much as, or in the same way as you know your friends - you should know their flaws, which leads onto the next point...
• Characters need flaws; when characters are morally perfect, like Jesus or Superman, they have little to no room for development and thus make for uninteresting characters - most characters are failures, and so they should fall short of themselves to make for interesting story-telling.
• Characters tend to be more interesting when they are little people trying to be bigger than they are; for example, rich people looking down on the poor may struggle to relate to the audience.
• It is good when characters have a 'tell'; when they give themselves away without intention to give away.
• Drama is when the point of sympathy with the characters is constantly switching, so the internal conflict of the characters is vital.
• Give all characters equal right.
• A backstory describes your character from an external point of view, so it is bestnot to draw too much attention to this; you should focus on what they will do, rather than what they have done, which may not be relevant to the story.
• You must know what keeps a character tense.
• All characters should have a big 'but' - the contradiction is what makes them interesting.