Writer's Glossary - D

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dark fantasy

A subgenre of fantasy that often borders on, or is sometimes considered, horror. Dark fantasy is often difficult to define, and very often falls into other categories, such as horror or contemporary fantasy. In any event, there is a "dark" aspect to such writing—negative, frightening, or wrought with despair, or incorporating elements of a brooding, atmospheric, or somber nature. The definition of dark fantasy is often widely varied, depending on the views of the individual.

dialogue

Dialogue is what the characters say.

Direct dialogue: This is dialogue that is reproduced, word for word, quoted, as in:

"You know I love you, Sarah," said John.

Tears flowed down Sarah's pale face. "Do you really mean that, John?"

...where "You know I love you" and "Do you mean that, John?" are the direct dialogue. This is the most common form of dialogue.

Indirect dialogue: This is dialogue that is not actually quoted:

John told Sarah he loved her, and with tears flowing down her face, she asked him he really meant it.

That's not a good example; assuming this exchange between John and Sarah is as important as Sarah's tears indicate it is, it should be done as direct dialogue. Indirect dialogue is usually used when a character is relaying events that we, the readers, already saw transpire in the story, such as:

So Bill detailed to the group what had happened in the forty-eight hours since his escape from the lunar orbiter, from the re-entry to the crash landing to the flight from the Red Police in New Boston, finishing with the death of the cab driver that morning.

Those topics might have been interesting when we first read them, but the last thing the reader needs is to listen to pages of dialogue where Bill yaks on about everything we already know. In fact, it can be cut down to as little as:

 So Bill detailed to the group what had happened in the past forty-eight hours.

dialogue tag

Dialogue tags are those bits of narrative interspersed into dialogue that indicate which character is speaking. They are also used to break up lengthy exchanges of dialogue, to convey action taking place other than the dialogue, or merely to keep the reader interested. The following exchange has dialogue tags in bold red:

"So where have you been?" Stan said.

"Out," Lana replied.

"Out where?"

"Just out. That's all you need to know."

"Well, that's not good enough," he said.

"It's all you're getting!"

"Don't scream at me!" he cried.

Dialogue tags are often overdone, usually by inexperienced writers who feel like they shouldn't use "said" too much. But words like said, asked, cried, and replied are all invisible dialogue tags, which is what you want. You don't want to draw undue attention to the dialogue tag; you just want to convey who's speaking or use them as a bridge to some narrative in the dialogue. This isn't to say you can't use others, but take care not to overdo them, and don't use especially showy words. The following redo of the above example shows tags I've actually seen used (no kidding):

"So where have you been?" Stan said.

"Out," Lana responded.

"Out where?" he stated.

"Just out," she elucidated. "That's all you need to know."

"Well, that's not good enough," he ejaculated.

"It's all you're getting!" she exclaimed.

"Don't scream at me!" he exploded.

Yes, ejaculated. Talk about calling attention to a dialogue tag. In the above example, not only do I appear to be going out of my way to avoid using said after the first tag, but I also seem to think I need to have a dialogue tag on every piece of dialogue. Moreover, there is no action being conveyed in what could be an emotional scene; it's all the dialogue. Consider this:

"So where have you been?" Stan said.

"Out," Lana replied as she tossed her purse on the counter and headed for the coffee maker. Her eyes never looked his way, and he could feel the coldness emanating from her as if from an icebox. She snapped on the light by the sink. Beyond the dark window, the midnight moon watched the tense scene.

"Out where?" he said through gritted teeth. He knew he had to keep calm.

"Just out." She had clattered a spoon on the counter and was filling a cup of steaming coffee. "That's all you need to know."

"Well, that's not good enough."

She spun suddenly about from the counter, her eyes blazing, and screamed, "It's all you're getting!"

"Don't scream at me!" he cried as he came off the couch in a rage. He knew then any hope of civility was lost.

It might not be pretty, but the tags are limited, the dialogue is interspersed with narrative that conveys action and helps paint a picture of what's going on.