Another simple dialogue question

I couldnt say for sure without looking at it, but it is always good to interupt large chunks of dialogue. The simplest way to break up the dialogue would be with action, after all, a person hardly ever stands motionless and speaks without action.

I would say that dialogue becomes too long when you think it runs the risk of being skimmed.

Well people can talk a lot. But you always have to keep an eye on credibility. How likely is your character to tell such a long story to two people who don't tire or interrupt? You may want to try telling that story to people you know as well as the character does those women, and see what happens. Personally, I don't think it works unless interrupted by action or response.
Also, depending on what those 600 words are about, it may seem preachy/explaining to the reader who will see his intelligence insulted.

The two who are listening don't have to say anything to respond. Perhaps one of them could nod or gasp or stop filing her fingernails or something to show how they are reacting to this information. Or the speaker can look at them to make sure they are paying attention. That will break up the long stretch of explanation without actually interrupting.

If it's just one speaker who goes on for 600 words without being uninterrupted by other characters, that's not dialogue--that's a monologue.

Sounds too long, but breaking it up is pretty easy.

It's hard to say without looking at it, but it probably needs to be broken up. If you don't want to have her speech interrupted by one of the other characters, then you can do it in lots of other ways, e.g. she cleared her throat, or paused, and walked over to the window before continuing.

Think of a movie. Even when a character is giving a long speech, they break it up. You might have someone fidgeting, or a part where the speaker gets emotional, angry, or lost for words.

There are infinite ways of doing it, but 600 words probably should be broken up somehow.

I researched this

I ran into the same situation in my novel. I went to my home library and skimmed all my books. I could not find a single example of a speech lasting longer than a middle length paragraph. No long.

If you want to make it longer, add some short action tags. You know, the talker smiles, waves her hands, sit downs, grimaces, the listeners do likewise. Give the reader some relief.

You know how to use quotes in multiple spoken paragraphs right? It unbalanced them, because you don't use a ending quote at the end of the paragraph, but you do use a quote at the start. I hate that unbalance, another reason to end a speech at a paragraph.

My .02, not reading your story, that except in usual cases, 5-6 spoken sentences is the maximum advisable. If you go longer, it had better be gripping and intense, otherwise I guarantee your reader will simply skip over it.

Dumb example, if you have a crazy murderer lecturing the tied bad guys about how he's going to blow up the world, go for it, but have them struggling, reacting, making plans as he struts and gloats, break it up.

Unless your hero is named Hamlet, try to avoid it.

Lady Domino said:

My main charecter is speaking, imparting knowledge that in the situation only he knows to two other charecters. At present this peice of dialogue is almost 600 words long and is uninterupted by the two women.

My question is this - is the dialogue too long?

How long is too long?

Click to expand...

I believe it was King's Deloris Claiborne novel that was written entirely in the dialog from a single character (Deloris). No narration. No dialog from any other characters.

It's only too long if we get bored with it.

A good way to figure out how long is too long, is to read it out loud and have someone time you.

I can guarantee you that most people would stop listening after the first 200 words and maybe even sooner given the lack of attention span listeners have these days. (I taught a seminar last April on this very topic)

Break it up with action on the part of the listeners and I'd have your character get interrupted because in real life that's most likely what will happen.

And remember, too much dialogue is just as much as an info dump as too much description.