Panel 14: Say What? Pt. 2

Hey guys,

Thanks for your patience last week. But I'm back in my full ego-crushing glory this week with a more in-depth post on dialogue. Dialogue is a tricky thing when it comes to all media. How often have you watched a film or read a comic and just groaned at the words coming out of the characters' mouths? I bet it's pretty frequent. Harrison Ford famously once said to George Lucas, "George, you can type this shit, but you sure as hell can't say it."

A frequent mistake we often make is looking to turn everything into a one-liner or make it overly theatrical. A lot of villains, in particular, tend to be written as overly dramatic, frequently "monologue-ing "  as they famously called it in The Incredibles. And that works in certain cases. If you're going for the overtly pulpy vibe, it's great. But odds are you attempting to write something a little less tongue in cheek.

Heroes suffer from the same problems. We tend to think of everything they say as a clever one-liner like they're John McClane. (If you don't know who that is just... I don't even know. You make me sad inside.)  But for every awesome quipping Han Solo, there's an Anakin Skywalker with his forced, awkward, groan-worth dialogue. Also, realize that not all characters are smart-asses. Some characters should be more serious, or dumb, or intelligent. Not every character should be sarcastic like Spider-man.

Mind you, I find myself making these mistakes too. It happens to all of us, no matter how long we've been writing.  But write your dialogue to fit your characterizations. Is your character a socially awkward scientist that has trouble relating to common folk? Have them spout scientific lingo that confounds the other characters and then have them clarify. The key to naturalistic dialogue is to think of an actual person you know who kind of resembles the character. Then think of what that actual person would say. It can be difficult because we're frequently writing fantastic characters in fantastic situations but give it a try. It helps me immensely.

Most of my characters are loosely based on people I know. Elsa from Igor: Occult Detective is heavily based on my girlfriend, most of my villains are based on a high school English teacher I had who had a bit of a flair for the dramatic, others are based on friends, relatives, other comic creators, odds are, if I know you, I've probably based a character on you at one time or another. Or at the very least, thought of what you might say in a certain situation. Hell, Igor and Mr. Frank are different parts of my own personality. So even I'm subject to my own solution.

Well, hopefully, this helps you guys out. I'll see you next week!