Writing Dialogue

Ok, here's a guide to writing good dialogue. Ive researched this and sourced this from all over the internet and through the local libraries (when the Wrekenton howlers not lurking around them). Writing good dialogue is important as without it, you've got a silent movie!

Giving backstory/information
The best scripts are the ones that come "full circle" - where the viewer will get a satisfying ending which they never expected, and where all the plots, subplots and information given throughtout comes togethere. The best example I can think of is an episode of the Simpsons, where Sideshow Bob and Aunt Selma get married. What use is the fact Selma has no sense of smell, Bob wants a fire in there hotel room, and Aunt Selma only smokes after her favourite TV show? Basically, because Bob was gonna blow her up! She wouldn't be able to smell the gas, and he knew she always smoked after TV - the perfect crime!

However, if we also got told that Aunt Selma used to play with cars instead of dolls as a child, and Sideshow Bob has the world's biggest coillection of porn - we've no need for that information, it's pointelss adding it in as it wastes screen time. Of course, there are exceptions (see Delineate Character and Tell a joke)


Delineate (Make human) your Characters
When a viewer watches and hears a character they can't respond to, they switch off. Simple as. The purpose of a script is to make the viewer feel something, whether that be a woman looking for love, a man coming to terms with a death, even possible extinction from an oncoming storm of Martians, you have to make your viewer feel something to keep 'em interested. You do this by turning your characters from 2d into 3d.

Now there's two ways of doing this: anecdote or visually. A character can tell a bit about his deep inner psyche by reliving a past experience (see give information), or we can show to the viewer that he is brave, or that he is strong, or a wimp. Some things don't have to be said - it's better to show them. But other things, such as why does Dave pray every time he sees a funeral car, need to be explained through a backstory.

Subtext
Following neatly on, all films have what's called a Subtext, which is essentially saying something without saying it. Subtext is what the writer is telling you - without having the character say "through me, the writer is trying to show you that divorce is becoming more and mroe common in todays society and ruining the sanctity of marriage". Subtext can be done using the delineate character and give information methods - an actor can show what he's thinking or feeling (it's there job). It's your job as a scriptwriter to point the actors in the right direction, without having them say anything. Use stage directions, it can help.

Continue the Story
Dialogue should also help push the story along. Introduce something new, introduce a plot twist, if you've got the guts try making a sub-plot, or make a scene wherte the detctives start fitting the pieces of a crime together. When you write dialogue, you gotta keep your story moving!

Tell a Joke
The one exception to the rule, to a certain extent. You could have a scene which doesn't push the story on, have a subtext, dlieneates character or gives any information - it could just be plain funny. And that's OK too!