Do novels need dialogue? The piece I'm working on at the moment will have maybe two or three lines of dialogue in total.

I read somewhere, a couple of months ago, that people don't tend to go for novels without it. Is this true what's everyone's opinion?

I've just come back from a film festival where Julian Friedmann of the Literary Agency Blake Friedmann spoke.

He said something on the lines of ...'Success is nothing to do with story. As there are only a small number of stories to tell, success is in the telling of the story'. (My paraphrasing)

In other words, it's how you tell your story that counts, not the story itself.
So a novel without dialogue...why not?

I was just thinking - isn't using dialogue a good way of disguising potentially boring bits of information about the characters? another question, what do writers feel about the use of capital letters in dialogue and italics? Are they really necessary and do you think they show a weakness in the writer not being able to illustrate the situation without having to SHOUT!

I've done plenty of short stories without any dialogue at all, and see no reason why an entire novel can't be written that way without reading like it was forced into that format.

But don't you think that dialogue helps liven things up? doesn't the reader need dialogue sometimes to understand a situation rather than being told it by the writer? - think it's difficult to write a whole novel without dialogue unless you're gabriel garcia marquez

Hi,
I can't help feeling that this question is a little strange. If your character is not conversing with another character, then no dialogue is required. If he is having a conversation, the the old 'Show, don't tell' statement would push you into having dialogue rather than describing a conversation.

I don't think characters or conversation should be added just so that you can have some dialogue.

Everyone writes slightly differently, and the fact that a lot of story was happening to the character internally, would not put me off a novel

Darryl

I agree with Darryl. Show Don't Tell has been drummed into me and I can't see how you would manage this without any dialogue at all unless it's a monologue or a travel piece. I think it makes for a more interesting read with dialogue and stops the reader's mind going blank and skipping large sections (or is that just what mine does?).
Sue

Tweed is right in that Dialogue is not a necessary ingredient but I think one would have to be an exceptional writer to make this work really well.

Everyone is interested in 'People', the characters you create, and they like to form their own opinions about these characters; so what your characters 'say' is important to the reader, otherwise all that is written about your characters is second-hand information and can be likened to the everyday reports we hear about a 'friend of a friend'.

I am not saying that this would not work but a good novel writer should leave his readers with a feeling that they had read a really good story - not how CLEVER the Author has been.

In Writing there will always be room for 'breaking new ground' in both style and manner, so perhaps the final judgement needs to be deferred until the work is finished.

Len

In any story, whether it's a full length novel or a very short story, if there is any interaction between characters, there must be dialogue because it is so much more immediate than relating a conversation. Dialogue also gives the reader details about the character's nature in the words they use and the way they express themselves.

Dee.

There are some interesting points raised here.

Sue have a look at my uploads I would be interested to hear what you thought, does it make you want to skip large sections?

I agree with you to a point Dee but I think that in many respects dialogue is lazy and writers often use it as filler. What I try to do is describe my character, his feelings, thoughts, emotions through the words he chooses. Instead of saying 'I was so angry'' Which to me is complete and utter shite and writing at its worst. I try to keep the sentences short, use heavy, vitriolic words to create the anger, the hate.

What do you think Shaub? Do you think my work would need to 'livened' with dialogue, do you think it's too dense, to sparse?

The reason I'm asking this is that I plan to have only a single line of dialogue right at the very end of the book. I'm just wondering would people stay interested in it?

I know you have all probably read what I have uploaded but please have a look and let me know what you're thoughts are.

Thanks

Geoff

Hi Geoff - I've looked through some of your extracts - I don't know whether I'm in a position to critique as firstly, I'm new to the writing game and secondly, I haven't read your work in enough detail - but it seems a lot of your passages have the effect of drawing the reader in and as a result they are very interesting - the descriptions are vivid and you get a real feel for the environment you create - quite an interesting exercise to look at your work in the light of this debate and think about how dialogue could contribute to it - i think your style suits long periods without any dialogue - having said that I do think some passages might be a bit overlong and I found my attention wandering - perhaps it is here where dialogue can be most effective in honing the reader's attention?? just some thoughts..

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Also, I agree with what you say as dialogue often being used as a filler - I guess effective dialogue should contribute towards our understanding of the characters and plot, otherwise it should be left out - this is the hardest part about writing dialogue I guess - I often think about how the dialogue can entertain the reader when I write...

Geoff: I use dialog almost entirely -- well, 80%. I can't bear back-stories and unless the author is exceptionally good (Waugh, for example) I can't abide the wearying omnipotence which some authors display as they hold everything up for page after page after tedious page whilst they tell us that Fred-went-to-school-with-Jane and Jane-is-married-to-Arthur etc etc.

Life is a party. So should a book be. We walk into the room, have absolutely no idea what's going to happen or who's there, then drift around, picking up on conversations, sizing up characters, cueing ourselves in on gossip and incidents that may or may not be significant. And finally we fall in love.

Books without dialog are (to me) like summer without flowers. Unless that landscape is wondrously portrayed (Waugh: I have in mind here the fountain description in Brideshead Revisited) then it stretches away interminably, unrelieved by splashes of color or vitality.

Richard

There's no real answer to whether it would work with only one line of dialogue until you've finished the whole thing, Geoff. But I agree with others that dialogue is enlivening and a really useful tool to prevent 'telling rather than showing' to lend atmosphere, emotion, description etc.