A Study in Dialogue: techniques from Sherlock Holmes

Do you know what happens today? The Sherlock Christmas special plays tonight! To celebrate I thought I'd finally post something I've been mulling over. 

I adore the BBC Sherlock, so last year I finally started reading the original stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (really, his name is a mouthful though). There have been many Sherlock adaptions, especially in recent years, and trust me the originals do not disappoint. In fact, it fascinates me to see Sherlock's origins in comparison to the many versions of both character and story that exist today. 

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One thing I noticed about the story is that Sir Doyle ('scuse me, sir, do you mind the abbreviation?) often uses dialogue as a way of telling us what's going on in the story. 

No, not that bad form of cheating where the characters talk about things they both know of simply to inform the audience. 

I mean things such as:

"And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, Watson, and the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, if only as a check to my own memory."  

Sherlock Holmes, The Noble Bachelor 

by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

 

Instead of leaving off the dialogue to go into a whole: 

"Brrring! 

There was the bell. Downstairs, Mrs. Hudson's rushed footsteps padded to the door."

Sir Doyle has Holmes abruptly interrupt his own conversation to mention the ringing of the bell. The reader understands that someone has arrived without being taken step by step through all the specifics. 

Also, the part when Holmes asks Watson not to leave with the most specific words, "Do not dream of going," implies that Watson has readied himself to leave. Sir Doyle evokes the image of Watson preparing to leave through Holmes' dialogue. We can see it without a tedious narration of it. 

 In fact, we can image it in our own fashion, whether Watson has gathered his newspapers together to leave, or has already stood from his chair, is left entirely to the reader. 

The latter example could be my own supposition, but:

1) In the books, Watson always believes Holmes will not wish him to hear the client's tale. 

2) Many of the old television shows, that follow the original story closely, always show Watson preparing to leave with similar dialogue (this is a common occurrence in the Holmes series).

3) Holmes' mind works so fast, it makes sense that in writing there would not be enough time for a narration of the action coupled with Holmes' verbal observation/request. (Although this may be debatable as it is told from Watson's viewpoint.)

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4) Sir Doyle's frequent use of this dialogue trick makes me think he's using it with real purpose. 

Either way though, I don't often see this used in books today. It's not good to use it very often, of course, as it is better to show things. But it can be very useful, especially in writing from a deep level of POV. 

1) It helps keep things concise, if you're going for a short story (like the Holmes series). 

2) If you're character's mind jumps from one thing to another abruptly, there may be little time left in between for narration. 

3) It can give the impression that the character is talking fast.

4) Also, a character will talk like this if he is very distracted and/or experiencing sensory overload (this has my life written all over it). 

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5) If the characters are so wrapped up in conversation that they only absorb the their environment as an afterthought and so mention it in their dialogue. It's the old, delayed reaction sort of thing (again, this is me to an embarrassing degree).  For instance: 

 "That's very fascinating indeed! Didn't the doorbell ring?" 

 4) It's useful when you do not want to, or it seems unrealistic to, continually "place" your characters. The whole "he went to the door" or "he saw the flowers," can get tiresome as far as narration goes. Showing it through dialogue can mix it up a bit. For instance if you originally had one character seated then he says something to the effect of, 

"'Oh, let me get the door for you.'" 

We know without you telling us that he's now getting up and going to the door. Then you don't have to go through the charade of:

"He stood and dashed to the door." 

Again though, conveying the action through dialogue leaves the image up to the readers. Some will see him dash in a blunder. Others will seem him athletic, and so forth. . .

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 So if you want to show us exactly how he went to the door and opened it, then you'll want to narrate it. 

"He dashed smartly to the door, polished his knuckles on his shirt, and finally opened the it with a cocky bow. 

'My lady.'"

It all depends which way you wish to go with it. I hope this was informative or helpful. It's at least fun to experiment with:

"Yeah, here'd be good." They set it [a table] under the window. "Nudge it against the wall some more. Yeah like that."

(My characters say "yeah" a lot for being in a fantasy.)

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 I hope you get to watch the Sherlock Christmas special. I'm pretty much like: 

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So have you read the Sir Doyle's originals? What are your favorite Holmes adaptions whether books or the screen? Any recs?

It's All You

Do you ever think that it's all been done before? As a writer, an artist, and creator? Whether you write, draw, make music, whatever it is that you do, do you ever see other people who are and have done great things and think, "They've done it all. There's nothing more for me."

I do. Too often I get into "the depths of despair."

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 All of the mind-blowing things have already been done. What is one more story? What is another fantasy book upon the pile of other fantasy books? There's nothing new under the sun. What am I striving for that hasn't been done before? The world doesn't really need me and my creativity. Right?

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Not right. Whatever it is you do, only you can do it. Only you can do it in the way that you do it. Everybody is different. Even though there is only so many musical instruments, even though there is a handful of ultimate story plots, every individual has a different personal way of interpreting those guidelines in the way that they want. They have their own melody to sing.

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One person might say something one, and you may say the same thing but in a different way. Some people will understand and relate to the first person. Yet so many people will also understand your way better and relate to what you're saying. 

I'm telling myself as much as I'm telling you. Don't get stuck comparing yourself. And don't think that what you have to say doesn't matter. It does matter. Only you can say it. Only you can write it. Play it. Sing it. Draw it.

 And if you don't, then who will? 

It's all you. So go do what you do. And be awesome. 

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The Other Things

 The thing all writers do best is find ways to avoid writing.

Alan Dean Foster

Obviously if your a writer, writing is very important to you. You probably do a it all the time (or so people think). You may think about even when your not writing (at least). Some writers, pick up a pen or sit at the keyboard and just go.

Then there's the writers like me. We kind of. . .procrastinate. We can always find something else to do. Even though we really do like writing, it's not until we are in the moment of actually writing that we can say we enjoy it. It's just getting to that point.

But at the same time. Story is about life. Because life is a story. You live it everyday. So all those 'other things' you do. Work. School. Hobbies. Family and friends. Driving down the road. Eating dessert. Staring out the window. Think of them as research. It's real life.

For instance I work, attend college, clog, practice guitar, watch movies and play games with my family, read, draw, walk in the woods, normal life stuff. Research. Some of my characters may do similar things. And even if they don't do the same activities, they may encounter similar situations and people that I have.

Not that you, huh, I should do so much research that I neglect the writing part. *cough* It fits into life too. Besides if you're stumped on your writing, it's good to get your mind off it for a little. It helps.

Creativity is the residue of time wasted.

Albert Einstein

But what in my research and, uh, wasted time has inspired my writing? The best way to find inspiration is to not look for it. Here's some times when inspiration came:

hanging up the clothes
watching superhero movies
listening to the radio
listening to a friend talk about their experiences
sitting in English class
reading history
reading other fiction books
talking with siblings (especially brothers, they always think up the wildest things)
looking at various art
looking out the window
walking in the woods
staring at the sky
feeling the wind
climbing trees
playing guitar

How about you? What 'other things' do you do? Where has inspiration found you?

On Making Characters 2

          So what is a person? What makes you, you, and not somebody else. If you had an identical twin, you are two different people. You, yourself,  are not composed of concrete nouns (forgive me, I'm turning English major, here), but you are made up of abstract nouns. Things that can't be touched. Like loves, fears, hopes, regrets, beliefs, values, and so forth.

          Normally you think of the opposite of love is hate, right? I did too. But at a writing workshop Steven James was speaking on characters. I learned that the opposite of love is fear. Interesting. But if you love freedom. You will fear entrapment, limits, and the like. This makes things a bit easy too. Because if you know what your character loves or desires than you already know what he fears. Or if you know what he fears, than he loves the opposite.

           Maybe this is just me speculating on the spot, but perhaps fear is stronger than hate. If I hate spiders, I'd have an obsessive vendetta against spiders, smash every one I saw, go hunting for them. But if I have a deep phobia of spiders, I would cower and cry every time someone mentions the word 'spider,' and, if I was to see one- complete panic attack. Not saying that hate is good. Never. Hate is more like the enemy of life. It's the cause of death. But while fear holds you back from attaining your goals and keeps you from what you love or desire, hate is the passion the burns action toward your goals. If I hate spiders, I desire a spider-free world., and I will do something about it If I simply dislike spiders, I will probably desire that the place where I presently stand to be spider-free,  I will again probably do something if need be. But if I fear spiders and although I desire a spider-free world, that fear paralyzes me, and nothing comes of my desires.

           So fear is an obstacle that the character must overcome. Inner journey stuff. Make your character suffer stuff. Although the spider thing was kind of a bad pull-out-of-the-air example. The things your character will desire and love are more serious topics like freedom, justice, strong family relationships, mercy, and so forth.

           Goals go along with a character's love or desires in a way. If the protagonist desires or loves freedom, one of his goals (stated or understood) may be to break free of something that holds him in bondage or maybe he has a friend or even a group of friends, a whole country held captive (figuratively or in reality, it's the wonder of books, nothing is impossible). A character may have long term goals or short term goals. And sometimes goals change or build on each other. "The Hunger Games" for instance, Katniss' main goal was to protect her sister. In doing that she realized that she not only had to take Prim's place in the Games, but she also had to keep her promise to do everything she could to win and return to Prim. And after she won, Katniss had no goals (until she found out she had to go back). She just survived. So a character doesn't always have to have a goal. Oddball, my protagonist, is rather goal-less in the beginning. In the Hunger Games many of the secondary characters had the long term goal of defying and destroying the government system of Panem. I'd say it was Katniss' too, but she was more dragged into it.
    
      Values. This is more where the disliking will come in. If your character values life, he won't like death. If he's in a fantasy, he will be hesitant to kill his enemy, maybe wound him, but kill him? If your character values tradition, he won't like change. He will probably rebel at the sign of any kind of change. Or maybe he values new ideas and progress despite if it's a good change or not, than he won't like any kind of tradition. Back to "The Hunger Games," Katniss valued life. She even valued her enemies' lives- until they would threaten the the lives of the people she loved. She valued life. But she valued the life of the people she cared for more than the life of her enemies. Values can have limits.

           A character may also have a sense of right and wrong. In life, one person may do something he believes is right, and another person may found it wrong. Some people may have a standard or moral code they follow. Like I believe the Bible is the standard for right and wrong. Other people think their own opinion or their own situation determines what's right and wrong. It goes partly with what characters value perhaps. Like Katniss would think that killing is wrong, even killing your enemy unless the life of someone you love is at stake. Also though, just because someone believes something is wrong doesn't mean that he won't ever do it. So a character may do something against what he believes. He may change what he believes in order to compensate for the inconsistency in his actions (psychology wasn't a complete waste of time, just almost). Or he may just feel guilty about it.

         Other things that can hold a character back besides fear: guilt and failure. This goes a little more with backstory. But also with values, beliefs, and goals. If a character did something he believed was wrong or maybe he failed to meet a goal, he might hide it. He might care the regret with him everywhere. It's a good obstacle to throw in to make our characters miserable.

           These are some rather vague examples, but the core elements of characters will help dictate how they will act, think, talk, etc. Along with their background (more on that later). So if the protagonist is in a situation and you're not sure how he would react just think back to his fears, desires, values, and so forth.