Help with narrative: I love writing dialogue but get bored describing things- any tips?

Question

I've just started a creative writing class, and while I love writing dialogue and have ideas of what I want to write I just fall down at the narrative. I get bored describing things because I want to write about people, not scenery! Anyone else had a similar problem? I want my work to sound original but it just ends up sounding cliched!

Answer 1

Write graphic novels or plays. There is very little narrative in either of those.

Otherwise, I would suggest writing whatever you will in a stream of conscousness style, and go back and edit the cliched bits later. That way you won't get bogged down in every turn of phrase.

Answer 2

Concentrate on dialogue and building your characters through that. Keep descriptive narrative as brief as possible. Readers want to know what is going to happen next. They are not the least bit interested how the garden looks in the spring etc. Dialogue is a author's greatest tool. It does more to bring characters to life on the page than anything else.
As well as developing characters dialogue moves the plot forward and it increases pace. Pace is absolutely crucial. It produces page-turners. You are lucky. A great many writers never manage to produce dialogue. A warning though - dialogue must be pertinent/ to the point of the action in the scene so as to push the plot forward.

Answer 3

Try visualizing the place, spend a few minutes just thinking about what the imaginary place looks like to you. Or, use a picture. If you can sketch, draw it first and then describe it.

Make your narrative photographic. Or in other words don't only think about what objects are there, think about how you want to frame them and from what angle and with what lighting / shading.

I think that the best thing is to get out and go to interesting places and when you find one that strikes your fancy, write about it. Most good writers are also active people who get out and take cues from the interesting places that they've seen and the adventure experiences that they have had.

Answer 4

Its good that your writing is character orientated. You can stay away from long descriptions though, since the backround and the scenery should only be described in so far as is needed for the story. You don't need to to describe everything (less is more), that would be boring to the reader too.

Answer 5

You have a good attitude. Description should be brief, less is more. Description cannot interfere with the forward movement of the story. Just provide a few unique details of the setting. Try to use all five senses throughout the book. Only describe locations enough to provide hooks for the plot.

Answer 6

Write plays. Duh.

Writing plays is however a bit tricky, since you have to know how to write parts that are interesting when performed by an actor.

The novelist William Gaddis wrote novels that are almost entirely in dialogue form (JR, Carpenter's Gothic, A Frolic Of His Own). He was widely regarded as one of the great 20th century novelists. Not by me, however.

Answer 7

Ah, but there's the thing.

You want to write about people, so I hope that you have spent enough time observing them to notice that people communicate only very surface things through speech. They communicate mostly through non-verbal means. Gestures, facial expressions, movements, clothing worn, hygiene, whether they carry their shoulders back or slumped, whether or not they choose to wear makeup, perfume, cologne etc.

Also, they communicate much nonverbally in relationship to their settings. Are they comfortable in their settings? What do their settings say about them?

If you want to write about people, you need to write about the places that they are in, how they relate to the places they are in, how they communicate nonverbally.

And most importantly, and what requires great control from the writer, is conveying character by the setting details that your character notices.

Play around with some of these things. I used to struggle with that too, but I have since discovered that to truly write about people, you must deal with these things, and it can be the most rewarding part of writing.

Answer 8

communicate/Narrative mixture analyze a e book containing both narrative and communicate. what's the communicate/narrative ratio? Use as a practise on your paper. leave lots of white area—huge margins on all 4 aspects of your textual content. do no longer crowd your textual content. Does the web page look neat and crisp? Writing communicate a million. Have the words more effective healthful the speaker. eg. mechanic does no longer USE bequest; lawyer does no longer USE y’all. 2. pay interest for the rhythm of speech; be conscious information in ecosystem. communicate flows without more effective words that distract. eg. oh, um, ah 3. communicate strikes concepts ahead one short area at a time. 4. Brevity commonplace rule of thumb: no individual speaks more effective than 3 uninterrupted sentences at one time. 5. split communicate with action, actual element or description. 6. ninety per cent “s/he reported”—no fancy synonyms the following-- because readers experiment/pass those tags. In properly written cloth the reader will understand who's speaking with none fancy “s/he reported” substitutions. 7. Dialect, profanity, slang: do no longer over-use those units. stay away from if a threat. 8. study widely and critically. What passages of debate artwork? Why? Why no longer? Conversely, what passages of debate do no longer artwork? same questions as above. 9. Punctuate communicate wisely and continuously. Punctuation rules: a short evaluation ? commas between communicate and tag lines (s/he reported) ? sessions, commas interior citation marks. All others outdoors. Exception: even as different punctuation marks obviously are area of the communicate position them interior citation marks ? do no longer double punctuate. Use the more suitable personality even as given a call. eg. Did he say, "we would want to always all pass to the flicks"? ? tags interrupting the communicate spark off with commas(as above); first be conscious after interruption starts with a decrease case letter. ? citation interior of a citation: spark off with unmarried prices. “……’……’……” ? inner communicate: pick to encompass with citation marks or no longer. Be consistent throughout the paper. ? lengthly passages (multi-paragraph) as in declaring in textual content verbatim. do no longer close prices on the end of Paragraph l. in uncomplicated words close prices on the end of the excerpt.

Answer 9

Don't worry about it! Have a look at anything by Elmore Leonnard (?). He doesn't believe in description, nor does he use the 'framework' of dialogue ( 'he said, she said, etc). L. A Confidential - the book not the film - is a really good example!

Answer 10

Hi yes i know what you mean i am uneducated as such
(no schooling) but have just wore my biography and memoirs see http;//www.lulu.com/content/454006 and i don't do creative writing and people love it want to know why? because it sounds real with no fancy words and sounds honest which it is if you would like to read it send me a e-mail on [e-mail] and i want to write another one on the home i was in as a young person Bryn Alyn Community in Wales but need help from people who were there cheers Dave