Novel Dialog: How much is too much?

I've seen it said many times that a lot of dialog is the mark of a beginner. If you agree, how so? How much is too much?

 

I think unnecessary and pointless dialogue is the mark of inexperience.

Dialogue needs to serve a purpose and a lot of times people confuse conversation with dialogue. We don't need pleasantries or "ums", but some of the best stories I have read were dialogue-heavy.

I prefer good dialogue to long walls of descriptive text or inner monologues.

 

It all depends.

I have a scene where someone tells a story: it's mainly a monologue, but other people occasionally react to the story.

I have another scene where two people are sitting at a table after dinner, and it's well over half dialogue. But it seems to work, according to me and the other people who have read it. It's very tense.

 

I wrote a piece for a contest here that was all dialogue, and I liked how it turned out (Table Talk, in my blog). So in my opinion, there is no absolute too much or too little. I did use beats, which can be argued aren't strictly dialogue, but even so, the dialogue carried the story.

As onestepdarker pointed out, dialogue isn't just conversation. Good dialogue reveals things that often can't be handled as well in straight narration, like subtleties of character or relationships. I tend to go light on dialogue, because frankly, I dislike a lot of chit-chat and unabashed verbal exposition, and dialogue that operates on more than one level is hard work.

 

Write well and it won't matter. "Lots of dialog" is not diagnostic.

 

Personally I like stories with a lot of dialogue, for me that's how I get the feel of a character and get hooked to the story. However I do agree that dialogue has to be meaningful to the story or character. Dialogue for the sake of it just doesn't work.

 

Hemingway used a lot of dialogue and is considered one of the mster storytellers.

 

I think, it's too much if the dialogue fills a full page but didn’t move the plot forward. The dialogue is a tool, which has to be used carefully.

 

In my opinion Dialogue is fine as long as it is serving a purpose. I use it for two main aspects of story telling. 1) Convey important information, 2) and perhaps more important, Conveying a characters personality, and character development. I always ask, what is the purpose of this conversation, what does it add to the story. Even small talk can be powerful for building character relationships and getting the reader invested in the character.

It becomes too much when you have made the point that a conversation is intended to make and it no longer serves a purpose to the story. Your characters are going to have times of small talk and irrelevant conversation, but you don't need to show it.

For me i try to mix dialogue with emotion and expression, this i find works the best especially when conveying personality and character.
Below is an opening scene introducing two of the main characters John and Natalie - John is a shy young man with some mental health issues - Natalie is a good looking quasi popular girl who is a bit of a smart ass with a sense of humor who speaks her mind. This dialogue I think conveys this better than the opening paragraph. Or better then it would just saying it.
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The seating arrangements that were supposed to help stop talking and distractions in class only meant that more people simply got up and walked to the other side of the room. Natalie Hewitt was the poor girl unfortunate enough to share a table with me, but she was a good friend of a friend so neither of us seemed to particularly mind. She was a pretty girl and short, with long dark hair tied into a pony tail and a slight olive complexion. In the end she provided a distraction of a different sort that meant my work ethic was probably worse than ever. It didn’t help that I never had the confidence to really talk to her beyond what was necessary, and I sat in class day after day watching nearly half the guys in class try. It was so common that her rejections became a source of humour between the two of us allowing a kind of quasi friendship to develop. On this day it was Mitch Davis a tall good looking guy at around six feet tall with bleach blonde hair to give it a go, “Hey Nat, me and some friends are having a party tonight, want to join?”

She thought about it for a moment, and given it was a less direct approach, she said, “Can I bring a guest or two?”

The guy smiled, thinking he was in with a chance, “Sure babe! You can bring anyone you want.”

And then came the fireworks, “Oh good! See I was going to bring a date.” She joked as she put her hand on top of mine.

His face dropped at the sudden realisation that he was the butt of her joke, his face scrunched up as he glared at me “Fuck you!”

I couldn’t help but laugh, she was quick to apologise to me for using me in her joke though, “I’m sorry I just wanted to see his face, and it was fucking priceless.”

I couldn’t think of a good response and just laughed with her saying, “No worries, happy to help!”

 

I am a fan of dialogue in the right place, because it certainly can convey character and also develop story issues as well. It can prove to be a classic example of 'show, don't tell.'

However, there is a big BIG issue to dialogue that sometimes gets overlooked. That's speed.

Especially if it's only minimally attributed (the occasional 'said' to keep things on track and no action beats) pages and pages of only dialogue rush past really quickly. Your readers can end up going so fast that nothing really sticks, and they might not remember what they've read when they come to the end of it.

It's like running down a steep hill. You'll end up going faster than you probably wanted to, and you sure as hell won't be looking at any of the scenery, or getting any kind of an overall picture of your surroundings. You'll be too preoccupied with staying on your feet. You will certainly get to the bottom in a hurry, but what's the point?

Unbroken story dialogue isn't realistic either. It goes past much faster than real life speech. Unless somebody struggles to read, written words go by a lot quicker than spoken ones do. So be careful with this method of storytelling. It's a mistake to think narrative is 'boring'—boring narrative is boring, but vivid narrative is not—and that dialogue is 'exciting.' Pages and pages of inane dialogue, interspersed with nothing-much-else, can be incredibly boring to zoom through.

As with most storytelling devices, there is no right or wrong, and no formulaic ratio that can be universally applied. I reckon it's best to pay attention to the effect the devices have on your story, and strive to put those effects to good use.

 

I'm trying to write The Circle as nothing but dialog, and only from the perspective of the MC. He's a layman, a moron really, so I hope I get away with it.

 

I actually prefer more dialogue than huge texts of descriptive writing. I feel dialogue when it flows well makes the story punchier

 

I love writing dialogue! It helps the readers to see the character's personality, explanation of the world, advance the plot and gives your character a voice. Is not easy of course because sometimes it is not necessary. Plus there's no way to determine when is too much or not, that comes with practice.

 

I think it varies by theme and genre.
Horror story and the MC is alone, outside of
the random reactionary, will be too much
dialogue (unless they have full on conversations
and are certifiably deranged.)

IDK what makes dialogue too much, but I agree
if it isn't characterization or moving the plot, it
might be a tad much. Though dialogue can be used
to drop info, if you don't go overboard with it.

Technically if you have a particular itch, you could
write an entire story with or without dialogue.
Though I have no idea how well it will fair if it is more
than ~10k words long.

 

I think that a first person perspective allows for less dialogue.
If the perspective is third person, dialogue is much more of a necessity.

The Name of The Wind had some totally captivating chapters with almost no dialogue, e.g. the protag alone in the woods.

 

Wow. I'm trying to write The Circle in first person, with dialog dominating! I had no idea what I was doing, except trying to sabotage my effort. It backfired. I like the challenge of describing MCs interpretations of other's thoughts, and dialog as the only way to convey theirs.

 

I'm sure it's possible. The story would have to be very much suited to this style though.
As an example; I could see it working if the main character was an android who didn't know it, or had a condition inhibiting their emotions.

I've written a couple of manuscripts that have chapters from first and third person perspective. In places third blends into first as the focus changes... Not sure if it works, but it's fun to play.

 

well, the story is the MC at a table, writing his life, so it's all 'I did', 'I said'. It's a moron recounting his experience, so I can get away with my writing skill.