Can there be too much dialogue in a manuscript?

Can there be too much dialogue in a manuscript?

According to some, yes.

Robert McKee’s Advice on Film Dialogue

I was taken aback by McKee’s advice: “The best advice for writing film dialogue is don’t. Never write a line of dialogue when you can create a visual expression.”

As he explains in Story, “But if you write for the eye when the dialogue comes, as it must, it sparks interest because the audience is hungry for it.” (Story, p. 393). Of course this is for film, and that’s different from a novel, but I still like the notion of the audience or reader being hungry for the dialogue.

I love writing dialogue. I also like to read dialogue. I read that much faster than long paragraphs of description. And of course, the above advice is for film. So does it also apply when writing a novel?

Studying the Techniques of Other Writers in My Genre

I can see that Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes has less dialogue than my MS. Some conversations are expressed via paragraphs like this one:

“When it got to the late afternoon, Evvie poured bourbon and made snacks, and they sat on the love seat with their feet on the coffee table and listened to the new episode of the true-crime podcast they’d both been following. Dean rolled his eyes and complained that the people were clearly never going to solve the case, and Evvie passed him a peanut butter cracker and said it was about the journey.”

Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes at p. 280

So I ‘m going to review my MS and see what I can re-write in this manner.

And I’m in the middle of reading Star-Crossed by Minnie Darke (and I’m really enjoying it) and studying her technique.

And here’s a conversation that you definitely don’t want to hear in detail, which is the author’s point, as neither does her character Tara. Lol.

“Tara introduced herself to the silver-haired gentleman beside her, and before long was engaged in a conversation about an unpleasant-sounding bovine condition called campylobacter.”

Star-Crossed by Minnie Darke at p. 70.

What is My Dialogue Doing?

As you’ve undoubtedly read, conversations have to move the plot forward or reveal something about the characters. See https://nybookeditors.com/2017/05/your-guide-to-writing-better-dialogue/. And I realized that some of my scenes were just fun banter. But can I keep some of that if it is humorous? I think they did reveal something of my protagonist, so I kept some of it, but shortened it.

The Well-Storied blog gives this great advice to “identify the tension at the core of the scene” and craft related dialogue. That’s just one of 19 good tips at https://www.well-storied.com/blog/write-better-dialogue.

And I also found this blog post from Ride the Pen very helpful about using body language tags to express emotion and convey conflict and character. See https://www.ridethepen.com/body-language-in-dialogue/ .

Adding Action

I also found this advice very helpful from The Editors Blog: “If characters only talk, if they don’t respond to the conflict with action, then that conflict isn’t accomplishing as much as it could. ” https://theeditorsblog.net/2011/10/25/dialogue-my-characters-talk-too-much/

All of the above blog posts are great resources, so I suggest reading them in full.

Three Take-Aways

1. Review dialogue in MS and see if it is moving the plot forward or revealing something about my characters. (Or if it’s funny, in which case I also want to keep it.)
2. Label my scenes as action vs. talking. See if I need to add more action. (Probably.)
3. In talking scenes, check if the description can be enhanced such that it creates a “visual expression” (possibly via body language).

What’s your preference when reading? Can you share any advice about writing dialogue?