How much dialogue is too much?

antigherkin · Feb 9, 2016

Maybe a weird question, but... how much dialogue is too much? My current WIP consists of mainly dialogue scenes at the moment. Between five people as well, which might be a bit confusing/fast-paced (hard to tell at the mo when I'm still in the midst of things and a bit bogged down in it all). 90,000 words in, it feels like all that happens is conversation. And drinking, there's quite a lot of that.

I once heard a quote that said there was no such thing as too much dialogue - anyone agree?

MaggieMc · Feb 9, 2016

Hi there OP,

Um ...yes I think there's such a thing as too much dialogue. I like a generous amount of dialogue in a book but I like balance too.

My problem with my own writing is I'm not wild about weaving scene setting into my dialogue...find it a bit of a slog. But had my first ten pages reviewed at the weekend (good feedback ..yipee!) and one comment was that I was getting talking heads problems on page four ...which had only five lines of dialogue without a break!

Something I need to work on. Is that an issue you have?

Maggie

davidjgalloway · Feb 9, 2016

That's a problem easily diagnosed with a beta-reader. But I wouldn't ask them that before they read it. See if it comes up in comments, and if not, you might be overthinking it. You could ask after the read if they felt it was too much. Based on your description, five people in conversation is a lot of balls to juggle, but that doesn't mean you're not good at it! I would not do much editing based on "a feeling" unless you're more sure or a beta mentions it. Overediting for imaginary issues can lead you down an insane path, where the book is never done. Make it the best you can, finish it, and see what others think.

antigherkin · Feb 9, 2016

MaggieMc said:
My problem with my own writing is I'm not wild about weaving scene setting into my dialogue...find it a bit of a slog.

Know exactly what you mean. I usually do a peremptory scene set when I absolutely have to, then leave it. I often find it easy to flesh these out in the edit though.

Losing my grip on the inner monologue (third person limited POV) in dialogue-heavy scenes is another thing I have an issue with. MC tends to speak her thoughts I guess!

In the five-way dialogue, the most common problem is one character just sitting not speaking for ages until I remember they're there and work them in a token line of dialogue.

antigherkin · Feb 9, 2016

gallowayprof said:
That's a problem easily diagnosed with a beta-reader. But I wouldn't ask them that before they read it. See if it comes up in comments, and if not, you might be overthinking it. You could ask after the read if they felt it was too much. Based on your description, five people in conversation is a lot of balls to juggle, but that doesn't mean you're not good at it! I would not do much editing based on "a feeling" unless you're more sure or a beta mentions it. Overediting for imaginary issues can lead you down an insane path, where the book is never done. Make it the best you can, finish it, and see what others think.

Great advice, thanks! I should have learnt from my first full-length novel really. Pretty sure I felt like I'd lost my grip then too, but when I read it back it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought. Of course, with that one I felt like I had the opposite problem and there wasn't nearly enough dialogue... damn you, dialogue!

Bufty · Feb 9, 2016

Is what is said worth saying?

Does it contribute to and further the story?

MonsterTamer · Feb 9, 2016

I don't mind reading dialog in large quantities if it is well written and pertains to the story. Dialog is a great way to generate dissonance in the plot.

It seems like the novels I've picked up recently have been very dialog-heavy. It's not bad, but it makes me wonder what's driving the change? Perhaps authors are gearing their writing to flow more like a movie or television program?

Dialog reads much faster as well - though I do not know if that is taken into consideration with word count for publishing. My guess is no.

antigherkin · Feb 9, 2016

Bufty said:
Does it contribute to and further the story?

Quite often it feels like it furthers understanding of the characters and their relationships rather than the core plot, which makes the whole thing feel a bit soap opera. But maybe that's ok?

antigherkin · Feb 9, 2016

MonsterTamer said:
I don't mind reading dialog in large quantities if it is well written and pertains to the story. Dialog is a great way to generate dissonance in the plot.

It seems like the novels I've picked up recently have been very dialog-heavy. It's not bad, but it makes me wonder what's driving the change? Perhaps authors are gearing their writing to flow more like a movie or television program?

Dialog reads much faster as well - though I do not know if that is taken into consideration with word count for publishing. My guess is no.

I think there is an TV/film influence, probably influencing the trend towards first person present POV as well.

Cyia · Feb 9, 2016

antigherkin said:
Maybe a weird question, but... how much dialogue is too much? My current WIP consists of mainly dialogue scenes at the moment. Between five people as well, which might be a bit confusing/fast-paced (hard to tell at the mo when I'm still in the midst of things and a bit bogged down in it all). 90,000 words in, it feels like all that happens is conversation. And drinking, there's quite a lot of that.

I once heard a quote that said there was no such thing as too much dialogue - anyone agree?

Of course you can have too much dialogue. You can have too much action. You can have too much description. If it's bogging down the story, then it's too much.

The bigger concern with what you've posted is that you're "90,000 words in," which sounds like you're not finished. What genre are you writing?

MaggieMc said:
Hi there OP,

My problem with my own writing is I'm not wild about weaving scene setting into my dialogue...find it a bit of a slog. But had my first ten pages reviewed at the weekend (good feedback ..yipee!) and one comment was that I was getting talking heads problems on page four ...which had only five lines of dialogue without a break!

Talking head syndrome isn't due to the amount of dialogue; it's a consequence of confusing dialogue. There's nothing to ground the reader as to who's saying which line, so it's like being in a room with detached talking heads. This is a problem that can crop up early with people who start their novels with dialogue before the scene or characters have been established.

It can work, but it's tricky.

antigherkin said:
Losing my grip on the inner monologue (third person limited POV) in dialogue-heavy scenes is another thing I have an issue with. MC tends to speak her thoughts I guess!

Be wary of this one. It's easy to fall into "As you know, Bob," bits of dialogue. Most people don't go around speaking their thoughts; it's what makes them thoughts. It won't sound natural to the reader.

antigherkin said:
I think there is an TV/film influence, probably influencing the trend towards first person present POV as well.

First present has been around for decades.

antigherkin · Feb 9, 2016

Cyia said:
The bigger concern with what you've posted is that you're "90,000 words in," which sounds like you're not finished. What genre are you writing?

It's a romantic comedy. Well, I think it is... I'm expecting it to be around 100,000 words after a preliminary edit, hopefully under. Still first drafting at the moment.

Cyia said:
First present has been around for decades.

It has, longer as stream of consciousness, but feels like I'm seeing it more recently as narrative. Not a fan myself, but I can see how it adds urgency for readers.

-Riv- · Feb 9, 2016

antigherkin said:
It's a romantic comedy. Well, I think it is... I'm expecting it to be around 100,000 words after a preliminary edit, hopefully under. Still first drafting at the moment.

When you reach fifty forum posts, you have the option to post the opening chapter in Share Your Work for some immediate feedback on how the dialogue style is impacting readers.

All the best,
Riv

antigherkin · Feb 9, 2016

-Riv- said:
When you reach fifty forum posts, you have the option to post the opening chapter in Share Your Work for some immediate feedback on how the dialogue style is impacting readers.

Ah ok, thanks for the heads up.

Curlz · Feb 9, 2016

antigherkin said:
I once heard a quote that said there was no such thing as too much dialogue - anyone agree?

Agree. I welcome pages with more dialogue, they are so easy to read. But if the main thing your characters do is talk, then they must have a very good reason for that. There are enough things outside the dialogue that a writer should include in order to avoid his book being just talking heads floating in mid air. There are reactions, inner thoughts, visuals, smells, noises, things that happen around. That alone could easily bring your dialogue to about 50% of the space. Unless you are describing internet chatrooms, twitter and the like, too much dialogue could result in a rather weak fiction.

antigherkin · Feb 9, 2016

Curlz said:
Agree. I welcome pages with more dialogue, they are so easy to read. But if the main thing your characters do is talk, then they must have a very good reason for that. There are enough things outside the dialogue that a writer should include in order to avoid his book being just talking heads floating in mid air. There are reactions, inner thoughts, visuals, smells, noises, things that happen around. That alone could easily bring your dialogue to about 50% of the space. Unless you are describing internet chatrooms, twitter and the like, too much dialogue could result in a rather weak fiction.

That actually makes me feel a bit better! I do "beat" the dialogue so it's not solid. I suppose there's just a feeling when I look down what I've written that there's a lot of talking and not much action. My characters are a pub quiz team, and they do spend a lot of their time sat around the table in a pub talking without much else going on.

Jamesaritchie · Feb 9, 2016

How much isn't the issue. What it says, why it says it, and how well done it is matter. That said, it doesn't usually take a great deal to bore readers because it's tough writing a lot of dialogue that matters. Talking heads get old fast.

How much dialogue is too much?

antigherkin

MaggieMc

davidjgalloway

Opus is my guy.

antigherkin

antigherkin

Bufty

Where have the last ten years gone?

MonsterTamer

antigherkin

antigherkin

Cyia

Rewriting My Destiny

antigherkin

-Riv-

The much appreciated

antigherkin

Curlz

cutsie-pie

antigherkin

Jamesaritchie