✍️Feature Writing Unit 7 – Developing Character and Dialogue

Key Concepts in Character Development

• Establishing a character's background, including their upbringing, education, and life experiences, which shape their personality and motivations
• Developing a character's physical appearance, mannerisms, and quirks to make them unique and memorable (e.g., a distinctive scar, a nervous tic)
• Creating a character's internal conflicts and desires that drive their actions and decisions throughout the story
• Crafting a character's relationships with other characters, which can reveal their strengths, weaknesses, and growth potential
• Ensuring consistency in a character's behavior and actions, while allowing room for growth and change as the story progresses
• Utilizing character arcs to showcase how a character evolves and transforms over the course of the narrative (e.g., a timid character becoming assertive)
• Employing characterization techniques, such as showing rather than telling, to reveal a character's traits and qualities through their actions, dialogue, and interactions

Elements of Effective Dialogue

• Ensuring dialogue sounds natural and authentic to the characters speaking, reflecting their background, personality, and emotional state
• Using dialogue to reveal character traits, motivations, and conflicts without explicitly stating them (e.g., a character's sarcastic remarks hinting at their insecurities)
• Advancing the plot and providing essential information through dialogue, without relying on excessive exposition or info-dumping
• Creating subtext in dialogue, where characters' true intentions or feelings are implied rather than directly stated, adding depth and nuance to the conversation
• Maintaining a balance between dialogue and action, ensuring that conversations flow naturally within the context of the story
• Varying dialogue patterns and rhythms to create distinct voices for each character and avoid monotony
• Employing dialogue tags strategically to clarify who is speaking and convey the tone or manner of their speech (e.g., "whispered," "shouted")
• Using dialogue to build tension, suspense, or conflict between characters, propelling the story forward

Character Archetypes and Stereotypes

• Understanding the difference between archetypes (universal, recurring character types) and stereotypes (oversimplified, often negative generalizations)
• Recognizing common character archetypes, such as the hero, the mentor, the trickster, and the villain, and how they function in stories
  • The hero is typically the protagonist who undergoes a transformative journey and faces challenges to achieve their goal
  • The mentor is a wise, experienced character who guides and supports the hero in their quest
• Identifying stereotypes based on factors such as gender, race, age, or occupation, and avoiding their use in favor of more nuanced, individual characterizations
• Subverting or deconstructing archetypes and stereotypes to create unique, compelling characters that challenge readers' expectations
• Using archetypes as a starting point for character development, but adding depth and complexity to make them distinct and memorable
• Examining how cultural and societal factors influence the creation and perpetuation of character stereotypes in literature and media
• Exploring the potential impact of using stereotypes in writing, including reinforcing negative biases or limiting diverse representation

Dialogue Techniques and Styles

• Mastering the use of dialogue tags to attribute speech to characters, while avoiding overuse or repetition of common tags like "said" or "asked"
• Employing action beats to break up dialogue and provide visual cues about characters' movements, gestures, or facial expressions (e.g., "He slammed his fist on the table.")
• Experimenting with different dialogue styles, such as rapid-fire exchanges, interruptions, or overlapping speech, to create realistic and engaging conversations
• Using phonetic spellings or accents sparingly to indicate a character's unique speech patterns or regional dialect, without overwhelming the reader
• Crafting effective dialogue openings and closings to hook readers and leave a lasting impact (e.g., ending a scene with a cliffhanger or a revealing statement)
• Utilizing silence or pauses in dialogue to build tension, convey emotions, or allow characters to process information
• Incorporating internal dialogue or thoughts to provide insight into a character's inner world and decision-making process
• Studying real-life conversations and speech patterns to inform the creation of authentic, believable dialogue in writing

Creating Authentic Character Voices

• Developing a distinct voice for each character based on their background, personality, education level, and worldview
• Considering factors such as age, gender, occupation, and regional influences when crafting a character's speech patterns and vocabulary
• Ensuring consistency in a character's voice throughout the story, while allowing for growth and change as they develop
• Avoiding the use of clichéd or stereotypical language that may undermine the authenticity of a character's voice
• Researching and observing real people who share similar characteristics with the character to inform their speech and mannerisms
• Reading the character's dialogue aloud to test for authenticity and to identify any awkward or unnatural phrasing
• Seeking feedback from beta readers or writing groups to gauge the effectiveness and believability of character voices
• Continuously refining and adjusting character voices through the revision process to ensure they remain distinct and true to the character's essence

Balancing Dialogue and Narrative

• Understanding the importance of striking a balance between dialogue and narrative to maintain a story's pacing and flow
• Using dialogue to break up lengthy descriptive passages or introspection, keeping the reader engaged and the story moving forward
• Employing narrative to provide context, describe settings, and convey characters' thoughts and emotions that cannot be expressed through dialogue alone
• Alternating between dialogue and narrative to create a natural rhythm and vary the story's texture
• Ensuring that dialogue and narrative work together to advance the plot, reveal character, and explore themes, rather than competing for attention
• Avoiding the overuse of either dialogue or narrative, which can lead to a story feeling either too sparse or too dense
• Considering the genre and target audience when determining the appropriate balance between dialogue and narrative (e.g., a fast-paced thriller may rely more heavily on dialogue)
• Continuously assessing and adjusting the dialogue-to-narrative ratio during the revision process to maintain a compelling and well-paced story

Common Pitfalls in Character and Dialogue Writing

• Relying on clichéd or stereotypical character traits or archetypes, which can make characters feel flat or unoriginal
• Failing to develop characters beyond surface-level descriptions or characteristics, resulting in a lack of depth or complexity
• Overusing dialogue tags or adverbs to convey characters' emotions or tones, instead of allowing their words and actions to speak for themselves (e.g., "he said angrily")
• Creating dialogue that sounds unnatural, stilted, or overly expository, breaking the reader's immersion in the story
• Neglecting to give each character a distinct voice or speech pattern, making it difficult for readers to distinguish between them
• Relying too heavily on dialogue to convey information, resulting in "talking heads" syndrome, where characters speak without any accompanying action or context
• Failing to use subtext or implication in dialogue, instead having characters explicitly state their thoughts or feelings, which can feel heavy-handed or unrealistic
• Allowing characters to remain static throughout the story, without any growth, change, or development in response to the plot or other characters

Practical Exercises and Writing Prompts

• Crafting a character profile that includes their background, personality traits, motivations, and physical descriptions, to serve as a reference throughout the writing process
• Freewriting dialogues between two characters in various settings or situations, focusing on creating distinct voices and natural-sounding conversations
• Rewriting a scene from multiple characters' perspectives to explore how their unique viewpoints and experiences shape their interactions and dialogue
• Experimenting with different dialogue styles or techniques, such as subtext, interruptions, or silence, to enhance the emotional impact of a scene
• Analyzing the character development and dialogue in a favorite book, film, or television show to identify effective techniques and strategies
• Participating in writing workshops or critique groups to receive feedback on character and dialogue writing, and to learn from other writers' approaches
• Revising a previously written scene or story with a focus on strengthening character voices, motivations, and relationships through dialogue and narrative
• Engaging in role-playing exercises or improvisational activities to practice creating authentic character voices and interactions in real-time