Dialogue is like a bridge in a story that helps the readers connect with the characters. It is an element used by the writer to make the scenes seem like it is happening in front of your eyes. That’s how powerful dialogues are. They can effectively trigger your imagination, subconsciously making everything seem almost believable and real when you read a story. Let's dig deeper into the role of dialogues in a story and why it is an important tool.
Dialogues clarify the point of views in a story
When we read a story, it is important to understand the perspectives of the central characters involved in the story. When there are many characters in a story, there will also be different points of view involved. It is necessary to comprehend all those points of view of the characters if you wish to completely understand the story. The dialogues in a story will help you understand the characters better. Our words mirror our opinions and character and the same goes for the characters in a book. Dialogues will help us get a good idea about the characters in it.
Dialogues help the readers to bond with the characters
As I said before, dialogues act as a bridge between the character and the reader. When we read a book, there are a few that inspire and motivate us. Sometimes we fall in love with the story and its plot and sometimes it’s the characters that we fall head over heels for. We cherish each dialogue they speak, we admire their character and respect their opinions. Even when we know that the character that we love is fictional, we bond with them just like we do with real-life people. Most of the time, the dialogues are the factor that makes us fall in love with the characters. What a character speaks represents their thoughts and opinions. Hence, dialogues help us to bond with the characters on a different level.
Dialogues give the readers a better realistic experience
Imagine that you are reading a book with just narration and no dialogues. Chances are you will like an outsider or something looking at the whole scene from a large distance, which is not something that the readers wish for while reading an interesting book. Dialogues in a book will make you feel like a third person in the on-going scene rather than an outsider. This makes reading more fun and interesting. Readers usually prefer to be a part of the book they read and dialogues will help us with that exactly. It will give the readers a more realistic experience.
Helps with the surprise element
Ever heard of the famous quote ‘show don’t tell’? when it comes to writing it means that when we are about to reveal a surprise or a twist to the readers, it is better to show what happens than explain it in detail. Dialogues will help you with this. When we use dialogues to unveil the surprise to the readers, it will seem real and more like a surprise, which will fulfil the ‘show don’t tell’ idea. Narration won’t help you to keep your readers interested and curious if there are no dialogues involved in your story. Want to bring your surprise twists to life? Use dialogues along with narration.
Dialogues are straight-forward and easier to express
The narration takes up a lot of time and energy both to read and to write. Completely narrating a story will make it a lot lengthier as the writer will now be explaining what is happening line by line, putting off the fire of the story. Dialogues make the story seem more straight-forward and sufficient. Why spend your time and papers on narrating something that is probably going to bore your readers to death when you can set fire to their curiosity using the power of dialogues?
Dialogues will give life to your story.
I’m not saying that narrative explanations are not good enough, just that adding dialogues will bring in something extra to your story. Dialogues make your story seem more original, the plot seems more interesting and your characters seem more real to the readers. Dialogues give life to your story.
Dialogues are really important useful tools if you wish to express the reality of your characters. they give clarity about the setting and the plot in your story. Dialogues are powerful tools that can help you convey what is exactly happening in the scene to your readers without actually having to explain it in detail. Your aim as a writer should be to connect with your readers through your characters, and for that to happen, you must lessen your briefing and let your characters do the explanation through their dialogues. Dialogues help the writers to speak for themselves through their characters. Let your characters speak for you.