About Something Not Said

Post 1475:

If you’ve lived on Earth and interacted with other humans, you’ve probably had one of those conversations where you’re talking about something other than what you’re talking about. Let me do an example. Say you’re arguing with your roommate about dishes. Sometimes it’s about dishes. Other times it’s about fundamental ideas on respect. Or maybe the dish argument is about fifteen different things, from the time they borrowed your coat without asking to their stance on the Korean War.

I’d say that we’re talking about something else more than we realize.

Okay, so besides bringing this incredible philosophical point to the fore, what am I going on about?

I’m bringing it back to writing. If your characters are having a dialogue, try to make it about something other than what’s going on in the plot. It doesn’t have to be always. Just sometimes. It adds layers of complexity to the interaction and to the characters themselves. The people in your story should bring a lot into every situation if they are written well.

On the other hand, we don’t need a whole train of baggage in every scene. If a couple of guys are trying to diffuse a bomb and there’s three seconds left, we might not need to hear about feelings. That situation should be tense enough. I mean, you could do a thing where one guy is more reluctant than the other or one is overly confident. That’s not crazy. But it’s wise to keep the complicated elliptical dialogue to a minimum when the situation is already fraught with conflict and tension.

Of course, anything can work at anytime. It’s execution. I’m just generalizing.

So say what you mean. And other stuff. Cheers and see you after.