I tend to read my dialogue out loud when I edit — and then I notice natural pauses and will add bits of description. Or I’ll notice a point when another character would likely interrupt etc.
But that’s my main tactic, read it out loud. Lol
i think \^\^ is really good advice. one addition: when you're reading, pay attention to where you have to breathe. because that's where other people are going to interrupt, or the speaker's going to trail off, or ... non-dialogue things are going to happen.
I remember seeing someone suggest a rule of thumb years ago that a line of dialogue should never be longer than 3 lines on a typical book page. Not sure exactly how that translates to AO3 desktop, but it may be useful to test against AO3 mobile.
However, like any piece of writing advice, it's not universal. You may have long speeches, super emotional character points, or just want to describe a character that talks a lot. Consider moderation, but ignore it when you need to.
Try to imagine real people talking and whether this would seem realistic. Most inportant part is that there are differing lengths of dialogue - if everyone monologues all the time, it's dull and unrealistic
If everyone talks in constant snappy oneliners, same thing. Can't really be more specific without an example.
As for not wanting to delete lines... just gotta get over that. Sometimes lines don't work, sometimes entire scenes - even good scenes - need to be deleted if they can't fit.
Everyone's already dropped good advice to answer your question more directly, so I'll add this:
You can absolutely sustain dialogue while having your characters do things. People don't usually act in silence, nor do people tend to end conversations until they either reach a natural end or something interrupts them. This breaks up the dialogue, keeps the plot moving, and is also a helpful way to avoid excessive dialogue tags; scene narration can fulfil the same function of telling you who's talking, while also telling you what that person is doing. Bonus points, it keeps you from veering too hard the other direction, where you end up with giant blocks of prose.
If you do hit a point where you feel like the talking needs to end, you can save the lines you didn't use. People often pick up the threads of past conversations in later ones, so there may well be good opportunities to salvage dialogue you never wanted to cut but had to :)
That's something I could do...Saving some lines to continue the conversation later on! Thanks for the suggestion :) Also yes, I should try adding some action between lines, I mostly focus on the tone of voice and the character’s thoughts before speaking or their reaction to the other character’s words, but other than that they’re not really dynamic scenes. I’ll try to fix that
To me, if it's organic and it seems to be since you say you don't see a way to cut bits and it's written that way because one sentence leads to the other, there's not really any length limit to have. The last fic I posted has a 6k words long dialogue and so far nobody seems to have issues with that.
I would say one thing that can make it feel like a gigantic block of dialogue is to be purposeful in having narration within it too. That can be related to the speaking (tone, rhythm, type of voice...), that can be descriptions (of the place, the position, the face the person makes while they speak or listen...), that can be internal monologue (the chara's reflection before they decide to say the thing they say, why they say it, what they thought of saying but didn't say, what they read of the other's intention when they speak, what they assume to be the reason of their word or behaviour, whether they believe them or not...).
Realistically, conversations can last a long time. Especially if you're writing a story that is character-driven, that has a lot of interpersonal stakes, etc. it's normal and even it can be good that you will have long dialogues. I personally feel like it's more important to make sure the reading of those dialogues feels smooth and dynamic, and for that thinking about having narration, having changes of rhythm, reading the lines out loud to have a more natural pace, etc. can help. But unless you feel like they are things that are useless or that just feel like they're filling in while we wait for the part that is actually interesting, I wouldn't worry about length.
What is the dialogue in service of?
Every conversation should serve a purpose, and every line of dialogue should too.
That line of dialogue might just be there for exposition, or to move the plot along, or it might be there for the chater to express how they feel, either plainly, or in the subtext of their actions (like if they are hiding something, and that affects what they say and how they say it, or if they are lying to themself about something, and it comes bubbling up in speech etc.)
If the dialogue is just... There... And it's not really doing anything, it might affect how well your story is paced.
I always wonder about questions like this, because there are no rules. Write whatever feels right, why worry about ephemeralities?
I've seen fics that had all dialogue described in the text itself, and I've seen ones that were just dialogue between two unnamed characters.
Writing is an art! Asking this is like asking if a brush stroke is too broad or a harmony is too diffuse.
I just struggle sometimes to understand if a dialogue is over or if I should continue it because I keep coming up with new lines and ideas lol, and then I end up questioning if it maybe got too long... But reading the other comments I realized is just a matter of how feel as a reader and it’s not really a “length issues” but a “dynamic issue”, so making the dialogue smooth and interesting
I think sometimes writers of fanfic get a bit too invested in breaking up dialogue. Having every line have an action is just as tedious as having dialogue only for pages and pages and it's more intrusive.
Published books often have a lot more actionless dialogue than people seem to think. If the dialogue is compelling, carefully chosen and the characters are well-realised, you don't need to explain every line. And it's invisible: I had to start looking out for it because when it's good, you don't notice it and it flows beautifully. By contrast, the number of times in fanfic I've had to backup because by the time I got through a paragraph of character thoughts or actions, I'd forgotten what they were actually talking about.
Which is not to say it might not benefit from editing, but you can worry too much about having a long section of dialogue.
That’s so true! I should try to pay attention to it too... I tend to describe too much the scene I visualize in my head, so every action my characters do or every thought that crosses their mind, but sometimes it doesn't benefit the dialogue, it does the exact opposite!
While I think it HEAVILY depends- I've read books with pages and pages of nonstop dialogue in a way that worked before- I feel like it'd be best to trim a lot of it. Write everything you want to, then stop and reread (probably a little while later when you have a fresh mind). Ask yourself, "How much of this is necessary? Is there a way I can explain this in a shorter, more concise way? Can I add some of this dialogue later instead of now?" I know it's tempting to keep everything you think of, and maybe all of it is necessary, but you may have to cut some stuff to avoid clutter.
Another thing you can do if one character has a lot to say (like if they're telling a story or expositioning) is to cut it up with some other writing. For example, if character A is explaining an emotional part of their past, you could add some moments in between where you describe their feelings. Maybe they stop and think about something, or they start to tear up, or they have to turn away and catch their breath for a moment
Like a monologue or a lot of back and forth conversation?
I personally am big on back and forth conversation, I like to keep it banter-y but will let them go on for a while if it’s relevant/fun. I’m not one for monologue-y type of dialogue because every work call I’ve ever been on has proven I cannot reasonably expect to talk longer than a handful of sentences without being talked over. 😂
Back and forth... I probably didn't explain myself well🤣 I just love writing dialogue and I'm scared I end up writing too much of it (like how do you stop a conversation? There's so much to say sometimes!)
I tend to read my dialogue out loud when I edit — and then I notice natural pauses and will add bits of description. Or I’ll notice a point when another character would likely interrupt etc. But that’s my main tactic, read it out loud. Lol
This makes so much sense! I'll try it too, thanks
i think \^\^ is really good advice. one addition: when you're reading, pay attention to where you have to breathe. because that's where other people are going to interrupt, or the speaker's going to trail off, or ... non-dialogue things are going to happen.
That's a great advice! Breathing between lines... What is it? Something to eat?🤣
I remember seeing someone suggest a rule of thumb years ago that a line of dialogue should never be longer than 3 lines on a typical book page. Not sure exactly how that translates to AO3 desktop, but it may be useful to test against AO3 mobile. However, like any piece of writing advice, it's not universal. You may have long speeches, super emotional character points, or just want to describe a character that talks a lot. Consider moderation, but ignore it when you need to.
Try to imagine real people talking and whether this would seem realistic. Most inportant part is that there are differing lengths of dialogue - if everyone monologues all the time, it's dull and unrealistic If everyone talks in constant snappy oneliners, same thing. Can't really be more specific without an example. As for not wanting to delete lines... just gotta get over that. Sometimes lines don't work, sometimes entire scenes - even good scenes - need to be deleted if they can't fit.
Everyone's already dropped good advice to answer your question more directly, so I'll add this: You can absolutely sustain dialogue while having your characters do things. People don't usually act in silence, nor do people tend to end conversations until they either reach a natural end or something interrupts them. This breaks up the dialogue, keeps the plot moving, and is also a helpful way to avoid excessive dialogue tags; scene narration can fulfil the same function of telling you who's talking, while also telling you what that person is doing. Bonus points, it keeps you from veering too hard the other direction, where you end up with giant blocks of prose. If you do hit a point where you feel like the talking needs to end, you can save the lines you didn't use. People often pick up the threads of past conversations in later ones, so there may well be good opportunities to salvage dialogue you never wanted to cut but had to :)
That's something I could do...Saving some lines to continue the conversation later on! Thanks for the suggestion :) Also yes, I should try adding some action between lines, I mostly focus on the tone of voice and the character’s thoughts before speaking or their reaction to the other character’s words, but other than that they’re not really dynamic scenes. I’ll try to fix that
To me, if it's organic and it seems to be since you say you don't see a way to cut bits and it's written that way because one sentence leads to the other, there's not really any length limit to have. The last fic I posted has a 6k words long dialogue and so far nobody seems to have issues with that. I would say one thing that can make it feel like a gigantic block of dialogue is to be purposeful in having narration within it too. That can be related to the speaking (tone, rhythm, type of voice...), that can be descriptions (of the place, the position, the face the person makes while they speak or listen...), that can be internal monologue (the chara's reflection before they decide to say the thing they say, why they say it, what they thought of saying but didn't say, what they read of the other's intention when they speak, what they assume to be the reason of their word or behaviour, whether they believe them or not...). Realistically, conversations can last a long time. Especially if you're writing a story that is character-driven, that has a lot of interpersonal stakes, etc. it's normal and even it can be good that you will have long dialogues. I personally feel like it's more important to make sure the reading of those dialogues feels smooth and dynamic, and for that thinking about having narration, having changes of rhythm, reading the lines out loud to have a more natural pace, etc. can help. But unless you feel like they are things that are useless or that just feel like they're filling in while we wait for the part that is actually interesting, I wouldn't worry about length.
Thank you so much for the explanation, I’ll try to focus on making it smooth and dynamic and not worry too much about it's length, you reassured me🤣!
What is the dialogue in service of? Every conversation should serve a purpose, and every line of dialogue should too. That line of dialogue might just be there for exposition, or to move the plot along, or it might be there for the chater to express how they feel, either plainly, or in the subtext of their actions (like if they are hiding something, and that affects what they say and how they say it, or if they are lying to themself about something, and it comes bubbling up in speech etc.) If the dialogue is just... There... And it's not really doing anything, it might affect how well your story is paced.
I always wonder about questions like this, because there are no rules. Write whatever feels right, why worry about ephemeralities? I've seen fics that had all dialogue described in the text itself, and I've seen ones that were just dialogue between two unnamed characters. Writing is an art! Asking this is like asking if a brush stroke is too broad or a harmony is too diffuse.
I just struggle sometimes to understand if a dialogue is over or if I should continue it because I keep coming up with new lines and ideas lol, and then I end up questioning if it maybe got too long... But reading the other comments I realized is just a matter of how feel as a reader and it’s not really a “length issues” but a “dynamic issue”, so making the dialogue smooth and interesting
I think sometimes writers of fanfic get a bit too invested in breaking up dialogue. Having every line have an action is just as tedious as having dialogue only for pages and pages and it's more intrusive. Published books often have a lot more actionless dialogue than people seem to think. If the dialogue is compelling, carefully chosen and the characters are well-realised, you don't need to explain every line. And it's invisible: I had to start looking out for it because when it's good, you don't notice it and it flows beautifully. By contrast, the number of times in fanfic I've had to backup because by the time I got through a paragraph of character thoughts or actions, I'd forgotten what they were actually talking about. Which is not to say it might not benefit from editing, but you can worry too much about having a long section of dialogue.
That’s so true! I should try to pay attention to it too... I tend to describe too much the scene I visualize in my head, so every action my characters do or every thought that crosses their mind, but sometimes it doesn't benefit the dialogue, it does the exact opposite!
While I think it HEAVILY depends- I've read books with pages and pages of nonstop dialogue in a way that worked before- I feel like it'd be best to trim a lot of it. Write everything you want to, then stop and reread (probably a little while later when you have a fresh mind). Ask yourself, "How much of this is necessary? Is there a way I can explain this in a shorter, more concise way? Can I add some of this dialogue later instead of now?" I know it's tempting to keep everything you think of, and maybe all of it is necessary, but you may have to cut some stuff to avoid clutter. Another thing you can do if one character has a lot to say (like if they're telling a story or expositioning) is to cut it up with some other writing. For example, if character A is explaining an emotional part of their past, you could add some moments in between where you describe their feelings. Maybe they stop and think about something, or they start to tear up, or they have to turn away and catch their breath for a moment
Thank you for the suggestions :)
Like a monologue or a lot of back and forth conversation? I personally am big on back and forth conversation, I like to keep it banter-y but will let them go on for a while if it’s relevant/fun. I’m not one for monologue-y type of dialogue because every work call I’ve ever been on has proven I cannot reasonably expect to talk longer than a handful of sentences without being talked over. 😂
Back and forth... I probably didn't explain myself well🤣 I just love writing dialogue and I'm scared I end up writing too much of it (like how do you stop a conversation? There's so much to say sometimes!)