9/3/2023 0 Comments Interior monologueIs having one common?" They confessed they had thought it was a fictional concept made up as a narrative device in the TV show Dexter (about a surprisingly teary psychopath).Īfter people had called the poor Redditor a non-playable character enough times to get it out of their systems, several people (including the OP) described what it's actually like to not have an internal monologue. In one Reddit thread, user Vadermaulkylo posted, "Today, I told my mom that I have no internal monologue and she stared at me like I have three heads. You’ll find more tips on writing dialogue in my complete guide to writing a book.Shortly after everyone discovered the other group of thinkers exist, people started to explain to each other what their method of thinking is like, and how the other one is plain weird. For another famous ‘thinker’ statue, O Pensador from Angola, see Southworld Title image: Auguste Rodin’s Le Penseur (1880), Musée Rodin. Modulate it according to their personalities. Use interior monologue to regulate the pace of your characters’ dialogic interactions. Of course this new scene would have to do more than provide the backstory revealer. Character C can say to A, “Did you snap at B because our horrible boss chewed you out earlier?” Or B can grouse to C about A’s continual bitchy behavior. You can use a subsequent scene to provide the backstory. Let Character B respond and then finish up that particular dialogue. Nor does Character B need to comment on it through interior monologue. After the snap Character A does not need to explain his testy behavior through interior monologue. Let’s say Character A snaps at Character B. I say ‘beware’ instead of ‘never’ because all writing rules are made to be broken. Tip #3: Beware of using interior monologue to reveal backstory in the midst of dialogue. In the example of Romance X, above, the interior monologue had too much to do with backstory. These events help explain a character’s motivations and/or actions. Backstoryīackstory refers to events that happen prior to the story as a whole or any given scene. It simply slowed the story down for no good reason. And the information conveyed, although relevant to the story, did not necessarily need to be revealed at that moment. It didn’t reveal anything about the character that couldn’t have been revealed in another way. In Romance X the interior monologue was more like brain chatter. And here’s a bonus: it allowed the heroine’s patience to surface. The slower pace of the scene matched the hero’s personality. So when it resumed I didn’t have to look back. His thoughts related to what was going on in the conversation. This character, the hero, was reclusive, not a big talker. However, this time the page of interior monologue was effective.īecause it highlighted the character engaged in the interior monologue. I came across a scene I could describe in the exactly same way as the one above. Then yesterday I read another story, let’s call it Romance Y. I had to look back to see what the line was responding to. By the time I got to the new line of dialogue I had forgotten the gist of the conversation. This utterance was followed by a good page of interior monologue. I came to a scene where the hero and the heroine were in dialogue. The proper balance between the two exists in function of the particular characters.Ī few days ago I read a story, let’s call it Romance X. Tip #2: There is no ideal ratio of dialogue to interior monologue. I want my overall story to have a sense of spontaneity. However, not too much in order to keep the pace of the scene brisk. I agreed, and I have now added some interior monologue. She wanted more of a sense of what they were seeing, thinking and/or feeling. In an early scene where my hero and heroine are in dialogue, my editor recommended I slow it down. I conceived of the story as a three-act play. Interior monologue slows it down.Ī couple of weeks ago my wonderful editor sent me her notes on my latest story The Hard Bargain. Interior monologue functions like the movie close up. In novels, dialogue always counts as action. The opposite would be something like a close up. In a movie ‘action’ means something like a car chase. The question is: How can the novelist use interior monologue effectively? Interior Monologue: It’s All About Pace For novelists, however, interior monologue is a regular trick of their trade. Playwrights tend to use this device sparingly. The theatrical equivalent of interior monologue is soliloquy. Access to characters’ interiors is one reason people often say, “I liked the book better than the movie.” These thoughts and feelings come out through interior monologue. In novels, as opposed to movies, we also get to know characters through what they think and how they feel. In novels, like in movies, we get to know characters through their words and actions.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |