Writing dialogue before scene

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Kaiser-Kun

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Yesterday I wrote a dialogue between my two MCs that was pestering me to get written. But only the dialogue, as in a script. I plan on writing the scene around that dialogue. Has any of you written like that?
 

john barnes on toast

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Not exactly the same, but I often write the dialogue for a scene with only the most basic tags (he said, she said) and then come back to break up the dialogue with with more interesting exposition, once it's all laid down.
 

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Yesterday I wrote a dialogue between my two MCs that was pestering me to get written. But only the dialogue, as in a script. I plan on writing the scene around that dialogue. Has any of you written like that?

I do that most of the time. I usually write all the dialogue for a chapter (or scene) and then go through and add in the other details. And then move onto the next chapter...
 

katiemac

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The majority of my first drafts end up reading like scripts, actually, with mostly dialogue and basic actions. I have to go in later and fill in more details. I'm trying not to do this anymore and get a more complete first draft the first time around.
 

lucidzfl

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i've been known to write several chapters just because I'm passionate about it and completely change it on revision.
So, why not.
 

Wayne K

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I've never done it, but it sounds good to me. Whatever you need to write, write it.
 

aadams73

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Yes, I've done this before, often when in the outlining process.
 

nconner

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I start most of my scenes that way. Once I can hear what the characters are saying, I can start to experience the entire scene more fully.

Nancy Holzner
 

The Lonely One

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If you mean have I ever fleshed out dialog with staging (or, I don't know, I call it anchoring), yes. Not consciously; I attempt to stage/anchor properly the first time around, but realizing it needs fleshing out is all just part of the editing process.
 

happywritermom

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I have not done that, but I don't see why it wouldn't work as long as you are flexible. If the characters' actions or nonverbal modes of communications necessitate a change in the dialog, you have to be willing to change or let go of some of those precious words.
 

LilliCray

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I always have to go back and add stuff to dialogue, but I've only written a straight dialogue, no or minimal staging, once. It involved some random lady who was talking to her friend's eight-year-old daughter about Santa Claus. The kid thought he was a pedophile. Alas, adding staging kind of ruined the scene... dunno how that worked. Just did.

To answer the actual question, yes, I have, but very, very rarely.
 

backslashbaby

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Yes, sometimes that's the part I know about the heart of a scene. It does help me visualize the rest if it comes to me this way.

My dialogue can tend to suck if it doesn't come to me this way!

I agree that you need to still cut a lot of it sometimes. But it can be powerfully helpful to figuring out what to do in a scene/with the plot.
 
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