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Had a beta reader tell me my dialogue was 'too on the nose' a few months back...
I was writing this scene where two exes meet at a coffee shop and I thought I was being clever with all the subtext. She said real people don't say exactly what they mean, they dance around things and leave stuff unsaid. Made me go back and cut like 40% of the lines, just let pauses and actions do the work instead. Has anyone else had a piece of feedback that completely flipped how you approach a specific part of writing?
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thomas.tyler1mo ago
Got a note once that my characters all sounded like they were giving TED talks. Had to rewrite every single line.
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amy1541mo ago
oh man, i totally feel this. i got a note once that every single one of my characters talked like they were explaining something to a classroom. it was brutal. i had to go back and really think about how people actually talk in real life, you know? like we interrupt each other and use slang and trail off. now i try to throw in more ums and likes and stuff and give each person their own little quirks. it makes them feel more like someone you'd actually meet at a coffee shop instead of a robot giving a lecture.
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luna8911mo ago
48 times i got a note like that across three different projects. at some point you just gotta wonder if its really that deep or if the note writer just wanted to sound smart. i mean, most people in real life dont even finish their sentences, so is a ted talk vibe really the worst thing that can happen?
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