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Ksenia Anske

September 25, 2016

Dialogue beats, or how to perfect your dialogue

by Ksenia Anske


Illustration by Alex Jenkins

Illustration by Alex Jenkins

Illustration by Alex Jenkins

Illustration by Alex Jenkins

A phenomenon occurred. Though I should be hardly surprised about it. Reading books on writing saturated my mind to the point where I can no longer read a book and not analyze its structure. And the worst (or best?) part is, when reading dialogue, I suddenly see the emotional subtext underneath it and whether or not it's done right. By "right" I don't mean it adheres to some unbreakable rules, as there is no right way to write. By "right" I mean the reaction it arouses in me as a reader. Does it move me or does it leave me cold? Does it give me an insight or does it bore me? Does it make me root for the characters, or does it make me set the book aside because I don't care for the characters one bit?

The answer to all these questions is surprisingly simple.  

The dialogue is done right when its emotional beats alternate between positive and negative with a rising intensity that ultimately leads to a climax.

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TAGS: This whole post, took me most of the day, to write, Oy!, and I should be prepping, for my lecture, and workshop, but I just couldn't get this stuff, out of my head, so I wrote, and NOW I will prep, You're welcome, Send chocolate, and coffee, I LOVE YOU