Ran into a writing mentor at a coffee shop who changed how I think about dialog

I was grabbing a quick coffee near my shop on Tuesday and this older guy recognized me from a writing workshop I took 8 years ago. He asked what I was working on and I mentioned I've been trying to write a story where two old friends argue over a bet. He just smiled and said 'stop writing what they say and write what they do while they're not talking.' Then he showed me a page from his notebook where a character kept folding a receipt over and over during a tense conversation. It hit me how much I've been forcing the words instead of letting the silence do the work. Has anyone else had a moment like that where one small tip changed your whole approach?

2 comments

2 Comments

reese_singh8720d ago

That receipt folding thing hit me hard too. I started having a character tap their fingers in a pattern and it told more about their anxiety than any line of dialog could.

troy_ross19d agoMost Upvoted

Yeah, ever notice how small body stuff tells the real story? Like a character who keeps rubbing their thumb over their knuckles. Or tapping their foot under the table. I wrote a scene where a guy kept straightening his watch strap every few seconds. Didn't say a word about being nervous. But everyone knew. Those tiny details hit harder than a whole page of "he felt anxious." Let the hands do the talking.