Effective Dialogue Supports Written Communication

Two posts in one week, I’m on a roll.

Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought that one day I would create a blog and write about whatever comes to my (at times) incoherent, over-provocative, hard to swallow (never), hard to digest (maybe), overly-conservative, under-used mind.

Longest sentence ever!

Imagine this; I aced my college English classes thanks to my blessedly brilliant close friend, Mary. I never wrote a single essay, report or paper. Not one. I never even read the assignments she did for me. I swear. Looking back I realize I made one huge mistake. I should have convinced her to write my Humanities paper. I didn’t do great that semester.

Needless to say my writing technique and structure is damaging. I’m still trying to figure out how to differentiate when to use a colon or a semi-colon. Please gang, don’t send me explanations. What can easily be considered a philosophical dissertation runs the risk of being bogged down completely by the misuse of grammar.

So then how do I know what to write and when to write it? Good question.

I write as if I was having a conversation with the reader. I have direct dialogue with each person as if they were right there in front of me. I attempt to get in their minds. Think how they think. Feel how they feel. And then after a thorough analysis of the individual that I am aiming to mentally ninja, I start writing.

Basically, my knowledge of how communication works is what saves me. Knowing how a person feels within the first 5 seconds of a conversation is what determines how you will communicate. Subconsciously you will change your attitude to either comfort or go against that person. I work in a field that I deal with 80-120 people a day. All of which have different problems, stresses and needs. And yet even though they are all different, they are all very much alike. I know what they need or how they feel within seconds of listening to them talk.

Dialogue is what moves the story forward.

Quentin Tarantino, who I believe is one of the greatest writers of dialogue in cinema, said this about himself:

“I couldn't spell anything. I couldn't remember anything, but I could go to a movie and I knew who starred in it, who directed it, everything.”

God I can relate.

My gorgeous girlfriend always asks me “how do you remember that?” every time I take her to school about a movie. It’s a talent some of us have. I may have never been a studious student, but I understand human nature. I understand the very essence of what makes people tick. Be it their desires, needs, embarrassments or even success’s. It’s what shapes us. Gaining access to a person’s mind will make you feel way more empowered then knowing when and how to use semi-colon. Trust me.

And finally, when you are able to mix dialogue, writing and the human mind all together your means of expression will be unique to you. Knowing when to use comedy while maintaining truth in what you are saying will convince readers to come back, while keeping them entertained and challenging them to think will be your purpose. And freedom of self-expression will be liberating.

DISCLAIMER:

This is not to suggest that how we verbally communicate determines how we should write. There are rules to writing that should not be disregarded and should always be followed.

It’s just as a writer I rather live on earth with normal people than in the clouds with the rest of you clowns.