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First, we all know that you can’t please everybody. That’s not what this brief post is about.
When writing a new book, I think back to critical reviews to help me refine what I’m doing. I’m not perfect, so I need to learn from mistakes that people point out. Yet, this can get very confusing at times. As someone who uses a lot of dialogue in place of informational narration, I get the ‘too much unnecessary talking’ complaint a lot. I also get people that love the character interaction and that they’re hearing about information instead of being told it by a phantom figure. Present tense factors in here, so I can only do so much in terms of narrative information. To me, it feels strange to read as events unfold, but take a big break from events to explain the history and culture of an area. It splinters the flow of action and this is not what I meant to talk about.
I run into an issue of getting scared that I’m using too much dialogue. I try to put blocks of action and inner thoughts in there, but a lot of what is going on are characters talking while trying to figure something out. I know fantasy has a tradition of phrases like ‘they discussed it at length and agreed on this course of action’. It’s a very clean way to avoid conversations and get right to the action, but it also leaves me wondering how that talk went. Were there arguments, hurt feelings, or jokes? This is my personal issue with the ‘time passes’ tool used in mid-chapter because I feel it can sometimes eliminate a chance for characters to connect. So, it gets disconcerting when I’m writing and one of my main areas of development seems to be a hindrance. Plague of the Present Tense? Possibly, but I wonder if other people do this too.
Again, I know we can’t please everyone, but how do we grow when there are two opposing camps on our abilities? Do we side with the ones that say we’re good or change what we do to satisfy the ones that have issues? I know one has to stay try to their own style, but the human brain can get scrambled rather easily.
Legends of Windemere 
You are the one reporting the action, Charles.. I would far rather read a book where I can hear the author’s authenticity and energy than the ‘best’ piece of literature.
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Thanks. It is a tricky thing for me due to my style. I can see how an author who uses past tense can adjust, but I’m not finding a way beyond switching to another tense. Maybe I should chalk this up to another lump I have to take for adopting an uncommon style.
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You said it yourself, you can’t please everyone all of the time and if this is how it feels right to you, go for it. Your style is uniquely your own.
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Yeah, but I won’t deny that it worries me on the bad days.
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If we didn’t worry we’d never try …
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True. Though I think we live in a society where openly showing worry and frustration is seen as ‘wrong’. So it becomes a challenge to vent and figure things out. Many times the concerns build until confusion ensues. May have gone too far with this response.
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Well… look at it like one of the beautiful stained glass windows that were shattered in the war then rebuilt into a glorious abstract jewel…shattered confusion can give birth to some wonderful things.
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I didn’t know that happened. Very interesting story.
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There is a huge and beautiful bay of such windows in Wells cathedral.. medieval glass smashed in the Civil War here in the 17th century.. there’s a pic on here:
http://hmtmixedmedia.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/cool-cathedral.html
barely does it justice though!
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I always feel compelled to put stuff about what characters are thinking in among the dialogue and my editor always takes it out or tells me to have them say something that shows it.
Cheers
MTM
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I used to have the ‘thinking’ quotations in there, but it doesn’t fit the present tense writing. I’ve noticed that it’s done more through narration these days. The last series I read would go on at length about what a character was thinking instead of showing the thoughts.
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First, I write the story. I put in everything I can think of. Only after that, when I revise, I start to balance dialogue vs action. However, I believe conversation is really important. People are social, and conversation is inherently interesting. As long as it isn’t just people saying “Hi, how are you,” keep the conversations.
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Good point. I do have a purpose for every conversation even if it’s a subplot. Perhaps I have an obsession with character relationships that some people get bored with after a while.
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Build and expand an audience of those who enjoy your style. You’ll lose the others, but if you try to be all things to all people then you’ll have no audience to expand and you’ll pull yourself apart. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t continually perfect your style, it just means to write truthfully.
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Be truth to oneself. Good advice.
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It’s a tough call, especially when your style isn’t much like anyone else’s. Do you stick to your guns and feel confident enough that people will get used to it, or do you go mainstream? I think it’s possible to conform without giving up your voice. Style, on the other hand, is a different kettle of eels.
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I don’t think I can go mainstream. I tried and it was a terrible piece in my eyes. Style is certainly something that’s hard to change for others. Especially if it’s more ‘core’.
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I think if you’re used to a certain style then you need to practice hard to change it. Having said that, if you don’t WANT to change, then there’s no use practicing… 😉
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Also, what happens to the people who like my style if I change it?
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You could always wait until your next completely different endeavour (assuming there will be one) to change it and find out what your current fans think…
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The next series is about the vampires of Windemere and the change of style is going to be that its’ more brutal and violent. The humor might turn dark, but the technical aspects are probably going to stay.
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And so they probably should, since you’re still going to be writing about the same world.
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I write a lot of dialogue – probably too much and I’m trying to cut down on it a bit and have more descriptive passages, which I actually find really quite hard to write in comparison with dialogue. Then again, I tend to prefer books which have a lot of dialogue in them. Books which are low on dialogue but have a lot of description in them, I tend not to enjoy as much. 🙂
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I’m finding I gravitate to the same type of stories. Action is good for me, but I’m not that into pages of describing an area or a journey with no character development.
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Exactly. I agree with you on that one.
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I do agree that it is probably wiser to play to the readership that you already have. That audience is coming back repeatedly. They are the ones telling their friends. That doesn’t mean not looking for ways to improve. Just don’t beat yourself up. If there is something you can do, like setting the scene without “Telling” to much go for it. As for the infamous, “They discussed and decided” play with it and see what works best. To much detail and you might bore people into skimming.
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I still don’t get the showing & telling thing. I think people have their own preferences there.
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Back story and history (information dumps) told by the narrator is telling, scenes that demonstrate emotions and action with just enough told by the narrator to move the story along is showing. I told a lot in my last book and professional editors were hard on me about that. Readers; however (all but one) have loved it.
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I’ve read a lot of books where there are info dumps and people love them. So, I wonder if genre has a factor. Also, each reader might have a different level of acceptance for such things. That’s why I don’t think the ‘too much’ is easy to say. In college, I saw a lot of people declaring it like it’s a fact instead of an opinion.
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People still do, especially those that feel traditional publishing is the only way to go as it has become the expectation of genre fiction in most cases…that traditional formulaic style. Which, in fact, is not tradition, but a current trend.
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I’ve seen that, but never got into the debate. Not even sure what I would say. There’s a place for everything in the literary world.
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“Your” voice is important. Not everyone has to like it. I’m a big fan of dialogue and dislike too much inner thoughts.
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Inner thoughts are tough to sell. Some people forget that an inner thought isn’t known to other characters and some authors don’t let them have a real impact.
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If 90% of your readers said you had too much dialogue, then it would hard to justify not trying to change that. But if the split is more 50-50, then I think you have the luxury of choosing which camp is truer to your writing style. That’s what it is coming down to: your style. And as you note, you’re not going to please all your readers all the time. Of course you want to improve your writing, but you don’t want to second-guess every line of dialogue you write. I wonder if it could be a matter of editing. Not replacing dialogue with narrative, but maybe a little “nip and tuck.” For me, it would be a matter of flow. I just recently listened to an audiobook that drove me up the wall because there was so much dialogue and so little action. The problem with the dialogue was that the characters were basically saying the same thing over and over. It was like trying to wade through thick mud. I don’t see that problem with your writing at all. Yes, there is a lot of dialogue, but the story keeps moving forward. The dialogue is part of what moves things forward.
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I’ve found ways to streamline the talks to avoid info dumping paragraphs and avoid repetition unless it’s necessary. Some times a character says the same thing just like a real person.
The split is currently more for than against, but my main curiosity is what other authors do when faced with such critiques. Does it influence a person’s writing or is it shaken off?
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When people complain about there being too much dialogue, do they say throughout the whole book/s? Or do they just say a couple of scenes? The people that just say a couple of scenes, you could find out from them all which ones and why they thought that. If they have the scenes in common that might help you gain understanding on why those particular scenes people found there was too much dialogue.
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It’s typically a general ‘too much of this’ statement. A few people said I have too many long-winded explanations from characters, which I’ve toned down a lot in the later books. The first two had some information that was hard to trim such as world explanation and how magic works. Maybe the chapters are getting smaller because I have less world meat to explain.
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Charles, I know that I am a little late to respond to this post, I have a whole lot of catching up to do, but you will never be able to please everyone. Make yourself happy first and then take what would be constructive criticism and decide which you might consider following and toss the rest away. You have your own style and there will always be people that just don’t like it though on the same note there will be those that do and choose to go along for the wild ride. Tough question for which there is no black or white answer.
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Funny that you mention no black or white answer. A lot of people seem to think there is one.
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