By Chris Mathews
Dialogue in writing can set mood and establish character, but without one essential quality dialogue can also derail any story. Good dialogue must contain conflict. Conflict drives drama and conflict drives all good storytelling. Where conflict is lacking, usually, so is drama. In the play GARGOYLES, a one-act I published, I mentioned the importance of the two gargoyles using ornate Latin-derived words to establish a medieval quality to their dialogue. But the characters would have been little more than intrusive onlookers if I had not been able to define a clear relationship between them. Notice where the first conflict between the two helps to define their relationships, provide humor, and bring the gargoyles into the modern story they are observing:
Dialogue in writing can set mood and establish character, but without one essential quality dialogue can also derail any story. Good dialogue must contain conflict. Conflict drives drama and conflict drives all good storytelling. Where conflict is lacking, usually, so is drama. In the play GARGOYLES, a one-act I published, I mentioned the importance of the two gargoyles using ornate Latin-derived words to establish a medieval quality to their dialogue. But the characters would have been little more than intrusive onlookers if I had not been able to define a clear relationship between them. Notice where the first conflict between the two helps to define their relationships, provide humor, and bring the gargoyles into the modern story they are observing:
FIRST
GARGOYLE. Stone silence…
SECOND GARGOYLE. Mocks mankind’s folly.
FIRST
GARGOYLE. Demons dwell in eaves…
SECOND
GARGOYLE. Caught in granite guffaws…
FIRST GARGOYLE. We outlast your short time…
SECOND
GARGOYLE. Withstand your orangutan rantings…
FIRST
GARGOYLE. Your humanegomania…
SECOND
GARGOYLE. Your acid haze…
FIRST GARGOYLE.
Corrodes our veins…
SECOND GARGOYLE. So permit us…
FIRST
GARGOYLE. From our lofty perches…
SECOND
GARGOYLE. To comment…
FIRST
GARGOYLE. To criticize…
SECOND
GARGOYLE. To cajole…
FIRST
GARGOYLE. To view from afar…
SECOND
GARGOYLE. To scrutinize with a looking-glass…
FIRST
GARGOYLE. To
provide comic relief…
SECOND
GARGOYLE. Though these humans provide their own quite well.
FIRST
GARGOYLE. We will be their funhouse mirror…
SECOND GARGOYLE. Grotesques.
FIRST
GARGOYLE. It takes a
grotesque to know a grotesque.
SECOND
GARGOYLE. In bas-relief.
FIRST
GARGOYLE. We entreat
you to observe…
SECOND GARGOYLE. The intolerance…
FIRST
GARGOYLE. The hypocrisy…
SECOND
GARGOYLE. The passion…
FIRST
GARGOYLE. The
insidiousness…
SECOND
GARGOYLE. The vainglory…
FIRST GARGOYLE. The truth-tellers…
SECOND
GARGOYLE. And the
liars…
FIRST
GARGOYLE. The dreamers…
SECOND
GARGOYLE. And the
quashers of dreams…
FIRST
GARGOYLE. The
religious zealots…
SECOND
GARGOYLE. And, of
course…
FIRST
GARGOYLE. Of
course, what?
SECOND
GARGOYLE. Of
course, what what?
FIRST
GARGOYLE. Don’t
mimic me!
SECOND GARGOYLE.
You
mimicked me!
FIRST
GARGOYLE. Mimicked
me, you?
SECOND GARGOYLE. You me mimicked!
FIRST
GARGOYLE. Enough!
SECOND GARGOYLE. Of course, what we are about…
FIRST
GARGOYLE. Which is?
SECOND
GARGOYLE. Demons.
FIRST
GARGOYLE. Real?
SECOND
GARGOYLE. Or
imagined.
FIRST
GARGOYLE. Either
way.
SECOND GARGOYLE. Shhh!
They’re scheming.
FIRST GARGOYLE. Dreaming dreams no mortal ever
dared to dream before…
How is the
conflict created between the two gargoyles?
I believe it occurs when the Second Gargoyle rants pretentiously, “Of
course, what...” [bold italics]. With this hint, she (the Gargoyles in the
original production were played by two female actors) may know more than the
First Gargoyle sets the two in a tizzy, characterizing the relationship throughout
the play and creatings a lot of fun for the audience as they watch their elaborate
attempts at one-upmanship. They pave the
way for future conflicts at this moment when they clash, but they also assure
the audience that they will entertain. Conflict drives dialogue. It is immediate. The characters listen
intently to each other so they get what they want from each other--an
advantage.
No comments:
Post a Comment
The moderator of this blog reserves the right to remove inappropriate comments from this blog.