Dialogue/narrative ratio in YA

missesdash · Jul 16, 2011

I read somewhere that YA manuscripts should be 40% dialogue and 60% everything else.

I know it depends on the story, as usual, but does anyone find this low? I saw someone say they tend to skip a lot of dialogue and move on to "the good stuff" but I never skip dialogue.

To me, that *is* the good stuff. Right now my MS is heavy on dialogue.
One of the examples I've seen given for good books that are heavy on dialogue is The Picture of Dorian Gray. From what I understand you just have to make your conversations interesting.

Anyone have a take on MS that are over half dialogue?

OTWOV · Jul 16, 2011

I've always, always had a low dialogue MS, I think because I come from a poetry background. but my ratio is around 25 dialogue to 75 everything else. Which I realise is a lot of everything else, but I think it's also because it's in the first person point of view. A lot of things you would have your MC say, can be thought. And, The narrator can be often omit stuff when it comes to dialogue if that's how his personality is. It's really, really subjective, in my eyes.

lenore_x · Jul 16, 2011

As long as the dialogue is well written and is moving the story forward, I don't see why it couldn't be like, 90%.

eyeblink · Jul 16, 2011

Not recent, I know, but a good example with a high proportion of dialogue - and where the dialogue does a lot of work - see Alan Garner's Red Shift.

I have a lot of dialogue in my own work (most of the time). But this comes from a lifelong Eric Rohmer fan, so that may not be surprising!

thebloodfiend · Jul 16, 2011

If it's well written, go for it.

But my last MS was like 70% dialog and I had a few betas who wanted more action and less talking. I put it aside to edit later. It depends on the person and the nature of the conversation. As long as you aren't writing page upon page of endless dialog with nothing happening, I don't see it as a bad thing. I, of course, am a fan of the drama conversation where I see everything playing out in my head as an anime. Therefor, I suffer from talking head syndrome.

DuckViper · Jul 16, 2011

I much prefer dialogue as a way of moving the plot forward, as well as providing description of scenes and characters instead of just having the narrator mention them outright. Action is great of course, but some things are best described through the lens of dialogue than narration, especially when you can use it as an external tool to characterize your first-person MC. So in a nutshell, go dialogue!

missesdash · Jul 16, 2011

@OTWOV see that's just crazy for me because I write in first person andmy MC talks a lot. She even talks to herself out loud when she's home alone. I can't imagine making 75% of my ms "other" because that's how I flesh out the other characters.

Unless it's a joke, all of my dialogue is relevant to one of the plots. But I have been going through and cutting useless stuff. I'll just sum it up. One thing I had to stop was starting every phone conversation with "hello?" I just jump into the meat of it.

But I'm not a person who thinks about something for hours before I do it, so in that way, navel grazing is my weak point.

Zoombie · Jul 16, 2011

A novel is not a spaceship. There are no mathematical formulas to determine the dialog to description ratio. It's not like you have physical laws constraining your work.

Some stories require more dialog. Some stories require more description. Just write what comes naturally and see how it stands.

DrunkenLilacs · Jul 16, 2011

I agree with thebloodfiend; if it's written well, then go for it.

Aside from that, if it helps the plot and its essential to the plot then you probably want to continue what your doing with the dialogue. Honestly, i think it depends on the character because every manuscript i write has a different dialogue/narrative ratio.

Shady Lane · Jul 16, 2011

Mine are heavy on dialogue because it's what I'm best at. Play to your strengths and all that. But the ratio definitely varies between my books. It depends what the tone of the story is, how fast-paced it needs to be, etc. Dialogue speeds things up, narrative slows them down. So different parts of the story need higher concentrations, too.

Dialogue/narrative ratio in YA

missesdash

You can't sit with us!

OTWOV

is Learning to Fly: solo

lenore_x

eyeblink

Barbara says hi

thebloodfiend

Cory

DuckViper

Warlocks, wraiths, and wristwatches

missesdash

You can't sit with us!

Zoombie

Dragon of the Multiverse

DrunkenLilacs

Growing tipsier as we speak

Shady Lane

my name is hannah