Writing Thrillers by Michael Newton

Author:Michael Newton [Newton, Michael]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-5996-3649-8
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2013-05-15T00:00:00+00:00

Say What?

Much of what we learn in any novel—about characters, their backgrounds, and their present situations—is revealed through dialogue. People talk in fiction as they do in real life, with certain reservations. One of your jobs as an author is to write dialogue that advances your story and illuminates your characters without becoming too lifelike.

Confusing? Not really.

Consider how you speak to friends and family, acquaintances, co-workers—anyone at all, in fact. You’ll quickly note that people hem and haw a great deal, lose their train of thought and wind up getting sidetracked, or forget entirely what they meant to say. Small talk and chitchat may fulfill a social purpose in real life, but they’re the kiss of death in thrillers where you need to keep the action moving forward from one crisis to another, with disaster waiting at the end for a protagonist who fails to beat the ticking clock.

So pare it down, weed out the chaff, and keep your characters on track when writing dialogue, unless an absent-minded player is important to your story. While you’re at it, bear in mind how real-life conversations sound and don’t fall prey to certain hackneyed traits of dialogue from Hollywood.

Name-dropping is a case in point. You know what I mean if you’ve ever watched a TV soap opera where characters habitually repeat each other’s names while speaking face to face. Who really does that? Do your readers need to be reminded of the characters’ names in every third or fourth line on a page? And while we’re on the subject, who incessantly repeats the full name of an absent third party in conversation? Have you seen Jane Smith today? I asked Jane Smith to speak with me before she left! Has Jane Smith already gone home? If you have so many Janes in your story that you can’t keep them straight in a short conversation without repeating surnames, go back and read the section above on character naming.

Real people simply don’t talk that way. They may use nicknames for each other, but even those aren’t commonly repeated time and time again during a single conversation, except to make a point—as in mockery, for instance, or as a sign of affection. If you think your readers may lose track of who said what to whom in any given scene, make judicious use of dialogue tags (she said, he shouted, etc.).

And speaking of dialogue tags, many editors and writing coaches advise that those also should be used sparingly. On one hand, he said/she said may become monotonous; conversely, use of more colorful alternatives may make it seem that you’re just showing off. (And never use ejaculated during pillow talk, unless you’re playing it for laughs!) In choosing tags, make sure the ones you pick make sense. Does any human being really snort, snarl, chortle, or bark dialogue?

Thrillers—and particularly those involving science or advanced technology—may require incorporation of specialized jargon into your dialogue. If you don’t share your character’s training as a physician, pilot, forensic pathologist,

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