Tuesday, June 18, 2013

HATE DIALOGUE WITH GESTURITIS?

HATE DIALOGUE WITH GESTURITIS?

Using body language effectively.




     Ever been distracted by dialogue where every line was followed by a gesture made by the speaker? Often, a simple “he said” or “she said,” will do. All writers have favorite gestures they sprinkle through the dialogue of their novels. 
         Some of the most ubiquitously used are:

 Sighing, grinned, smiled, frowned, shrugging, glaring, sitting, looking, pausing,  chuckling, bolting, smirking, staring, breathed, nodding.

       Writers use gestures and body language as speech tags or as ways to identify the speaker. What you don’t want to do is bore the reader with them!
       It’s easy to critique your writing is by doing a search of your manuscript for any body language you suspect you’ve overused. A yawn, blink, or grin can be used occasionally, but original phrasing and fresh observations are always better. Try to use gestures that reveal something about the character or the situation. A glut of position-shifting description is not action. It’s fidgeting, and will encourage a reader to drop your book out of sheer frustration.
        When checking your work for gesturitis, study your usage and ask:
1.     Do the gestures add value by deepening characterization?
-       If not they’re merely a collection of tics and fidgets.
2.     Have you included any redundancies?
-       e.g., “nodding in agreement,” or using a gesture to describe what the dialogue already mentioned.
3.     Whenever possible, use a gesture description to show what a character is feeling, rather than just state the emotion.
4.     Make every gesture serve a purpose.
5.     Use your computer’s search feature to check for repetitious use of gestures.
As a reader, and I still manage to read a book a week, I hate the use of constant body movement to identify characters in dialogue. I think the reader wants to know who is speaking, but if the dialogue is compelling, frequent identifying of the speaker by his name, followed by “said” is much easier to read.
  
Dear readers,
 I’ve written this post is for both authors and readers. I’m hoping you readers will comment, letting us know if you even notice overused gestures. It's possible, the average reader, once involved in a book he enjoys, will not necessarily be put off by them as long as the writing in general is good. However, readers are becoming more critical as many new writers enter the book market and great numbers of them do so too quickly, overlooking the importance of editing and proofing their writing.
So readers, tell us what you think!
 Hope all of you are enjoying your summer,

Marla
 Note: The term “gesturitis” and some of the commentary on this subject, is from Chris Roerden’s Don’t Murder Your Mystery. I highly recommend the book for anyone who writes mysteries, thrillers or suspense.


14 comments:

  1. A very insightful post! Definitely something to look for while proofing/editing. I might add that sometimes, you don't even need a tag of any kind, just the words in quotes. As long as it's clear that two characters are alternating, with an occasional tag so you don't lose track. This can sometimes pick up the pace in an action-filled scene, short statements back and forth between characters.

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    1. Hi Kathryn,
      You are fast! I just posted this blog. You are right about some dialogue sections needing no tags at all. Roerden's book inspired me to use this topic and I use it often. She also has another book that is not specifically for mysteries but does advise many of the same principles as the one I discuss in this blog.
      Use of tags is something an author just gets better at with each piece he or she writes, but getting some good advice, like Roerden's, can hasten the process.
      Thanks so much for joining me and commenting.
      Have a great week,
      Marla

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  2. I fall into this habit far too often. I find I usually end up doing it if I have line after line of dialogue, so the action breaks it up a bit. So I guess my real problem is writing too much dialogue!

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    1. I don't think there is any such thing as too much dialogue, Sarah! Just don't put in unnecessary dialogue. Readers will get bored with that. Skip the small talk!
      Writing dialogue is challenging, so you're ahead of the game.
      Keep writing and thanks for stopping by,
      Marla

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  3. Thank you! I catch myself doing this far too often and it makes me cringe even as I'm writing. It's something I'll have to work on when I finish and am editing/revising. For me, I think it's a question of insecurity with my writing, thinking I need to add these annoying little bits to fill the gaps.

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    1. Hi Carolina,
      Yes, it's easy to do, isn't it? I think most often we do it because we want the reader to be clear about who is speaking, when what we need to do is give our readers credit for figuring it out without annoying gesture descriptions. I'm on my third book now and getting a little better at it.
      Thanks for visiting and for your comment!
      Marla

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  4. Writer Dave Here,
    You can never have too much dialogue! I write fast paced stories with loads of dialogue, which never bores the reader. I don't like loads of description paragraph after paragraph. As a reader I would rather read dialogue which tells me about the characters much better than long descriptive sentences! But that's what makes the world go around. We are all unique!

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    1. Hi,
      Hey, you missed being number one this week! You're right about description. I like some, but tend to skip over it if it goes on too much. Hope all is well on your side of the world and that the writing is flowing!
      Marla

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  5. Thanks for this blog, Marla. Stephen King says very similar things in On Writing. He doesn't refer to the "gesturitis" or fidgeting, but he feels strongly that too many descriptive words after a line of dialogue makes it all slower and denser than it has to be.
    In my own work, I try very hard to keep who's speaking clear without even saying "he said". It's difficult at times, but I think my dialogue sparkles more for the effort.
    Thanks again!

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    1. Hi Matthew,
      Glad to hear you've mastered it! I'm still struggling to only put them in where necessary, or only as often as necessary. I don't mind a few "he said's." Prefer that to constant descriptors myself. I have learned to put them after the dialogue too. Before really slows things down!
      Good to hear from you. Keep up the fine writing.
      Marla

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  6. Thank you for giving me something to think about...might have to do some rewriting!

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    1. Hi Peter,
      Yes, dialogue is such an important part of a story, that it really pays to get it right. Keep gestures to a minimum and try to use the kind that help describe the character. Editing and re-editing is half the battle!
      Glad you stopped in. Have a great weekend of writing and fun,
      Marla

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  7. I recall one author at a workshop saying she'd given her character a gesture to help identify him. Her editor said she overused it to the point that "it's not a gesture, it's a tic." I recall a popular mystery author's character did a LOT of moustache-smoothing in her series.

    Terry
    Terry's Place

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    1. HI Terry,
      I've read that in books, advice to use gestures as a way of making a character unique. I have to agree, though, too much would be annoying. It's a difficult task, finding the right amount!
      Thanks for visiting and have a great holiday!
      Marla

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