Writing the dialogue of a novel first

Schumi

Schumi

Hello everyone,

I am in the middle of chapter 4 of my novel, and have found the narrative difficult to write. I think it is of a reasonable quality, but it takes me a while to put it down on paper. The dialogue on the other hand doesn't trouble me as much. In my creative writing class, people have commented that my use of dialogue is very good and realistic.

Aside from the novel, I am writing what started out as a short story, but is now more of a play. At a certain point, I stopped using narrative, and started to write dialogue only between the stories 2 characters. It has flourished as a result, and I have enjoyed it very much so far.

Because of this, I now want to do the same thing with my novel, and write the dialogue before any more narrative. I have lots of ideas for this, so I would make a lot more progression. The thing is, I'm unsure on how much to actually write. I don't want the novel to turn into what my short story has, so I was wondering how others approach the method of writing the dialogue of a novel first. Do you know how much to use, or do you write a lot of it and then edit parts around the narrative?

Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks.

Carol

Although I write a mix of narrative and dialogue first, the majority is dialogue first.
Don't worry about it, just go with the dialogue. You will edit a lot of it anyway, or perhaps use it elsewhere. You will then see what does and doesn't work with the narrative.

Alana

I am not an expert but I thought I would give you an idea.
As you find writing dialogue easier complete a whole chapter first by it, just noting on narrative in between.  Then place the work away for a few days before making changes on the dialogue and begin writing the narrative around the speech.
Alana

rebdek

Narrative, Schumi is the building block of the novel, it's where novel strays, or stays in the mind of your readers. Getting the right mixture between dialogue and narrative is the catalyst for writing to a high standard. Dialogue is important, but bores the reader if he, or she has to read page after page of what is basically conversation.

Regards
rebdek

Wendy

I read the Judith Spelman interview with Susan Howatch in Writing Mag a few years ago and she said (Susan Howatch, that is) that her first draft is mostly dialogue and that she sees it visually like on a television screen. She uses that as an outline and then enlarges it by adding in the prose and then continues on expanding the detail at each draft until she feels she's got the right level of depth and precision. Then, by the fourth draft she starts to cut it down! Usually the fifth draft is her final one.  I was intrigued. I thoroughly enjoy her books (I enjoyed the Starbridge novels especially) and I was amazed that dialogue is her starting point because it's not as though her narrative is minimal. I'm not sure if this is any help to you but if you haven't read her work, (or even if you have!) reading one of her books with her method in the forefront of your mind might be a useful way of analysing and understanding your own approach and 'next move'. Anyway - Good Luck!!