1) Your minor characters should still feel real to the reader. No cardboard characters! Well, unless, you're doing a sequel to Flatland. ;-) Okay, that's a broad brush stroke. A bit finer detail: if you have characters stopping at a deli, or taking a ride in a taxi, or ordering drinks from a flight attendant, or whatever other everyday thing--the person they're interacting with doesn't have to be any more real than necessary. The reader doesn't have to know their life story; the author doesn't have to know their life story.
But you don't want your readers to dismiss the secondary characters out of hand, deciding that they're unimportant or mere plot devices. (As you said, red shirts.) If you are going to want to use the characters in other works, it probably is best to hint at some of their depth here. limyaael recently had a post on complexity that's definitely worth checking out.
2) Sometimes you need to say "the sky is blue." Or green, or pink, or whatever. But you can do that through the character's internal observations, or you can do it through dialogue.
f'rex:
Shandi looked out the window of her tower. Trees she'd never seen before rose a dozen meters or more past her window, masking all but a sliver of blue overhead. Monkeys in the trees chattered and threw things at brightly colored birds. Unfamiliar flowers perfumed the air. She'd never felt so alone.
or:
"I've missed you," Dana said. "It felt so strange to read the morning paper without you there to argue with. And I was always making too much coffee to drink by myself."
Robin turned away. "I didn't."
"Never?"
Robin's head shook. "Only once. I heard a helicopter and I glanced up. The sky was the same shade as that shirt you wore on our first date--that faded denim one."
#
Well, I didn't say they were good examples. Just examples of ways to say that the sky is blue.
But how do you draw the line between too much dialog, and not enough narration?
If you're skimming when you're reading it, you probably have too much exposition. If you have more white space than letters for page after page, you probably have have too much dialogue. Honestly, this is something I judge visually--try for a mix of short and long paragraphs, blocks of text with bits of dialogue.
One good way to learn is to find books that you love. Look at how the author balances dialogue and narration. See how much of one the author uses before breaking it up. Look at another author. The idea isn't to write in the same format as your favorite authors, but rather to get an understanding of what range works in stories that you enjoy. Because above all else, you should enjoy your own stories.
As for the soliloquy--I'm going back to my comment on skimming. If you find you don't read the whole thing, it's too long. If it repeats information that's elsewhere, cut it. If it's infodump, cut it and figure out how to work the information into the story more naturally. If the soliloquy makes it to your beta readers and they skim it or tell you it's too long (not just one comment, but consistent comments across your reader selection), then you probably should cut it. ;-)
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Re: Not really questions, so much as observations...
Date: 2006-03-31 05:03 pm (UTC)But you don't want your readers to dismiss the secondary characters out of hand, deciding that they're unimportant or mere plot devices. (As you said, red shirts.) If you are going to want to use the characters in other works, it probably is best to hint at some of their depth here.
2) Sometimes you need to say "the sky is blue." Or green, or pink, or whatever. But you can do that through the character's internal observations, or you can do it through dialogue.
f'rex:
Shandi looked out the window of her tower. Trees she'd never seen before rose a dozen meters or more past her window, masking all but a sliver of blue overhead. Monkeys in the trees chattered and threw things at brightly colored birds. Unfamiliar flowers perfumed the air. She'd never felt so alone.
or:
"I've missed you," Dana said. "It felt so strange to read the morning paper without you there to argue with. And I was always making too much coffee to drink by myself."
Robin turned away. "I didn't."
"Never?"
Robin's head shook. "Only once. I heard a helicopter and I glanced up. The sky was the same shade as that shirt you wore on our first date--that faded denim one."
#
Well, I didn't say they were good examples. Just examples of ways to say that the sky is blue.
But how do you draw the line between too much dialog, and not enough narration?
If you're skimming when you're reading it, you probably have too much exposition. If you have more white space than letters for page after page, you probably have have too much dialogue. Honestly, this is something I judge visually--try for a mix of short and long paragraphs, blocks of text with bits of dialogue.
One good way to learn is to find books that you love. Look at how the author balances dialogue and narration. See how much of one the author uses before breaking it up. Look at another author. The idea isn't to write in the same format as your favorite authors, but rather to get an understanding of what range works in stories that you enjoy. Because above all else, you should enjoy your own stories.
As for the soliloquy--I'm going back to my comment on skimming. If you find you don't read the whole thing, it's too long. If it repeats information that's elsewhere, cut it. If it's infodump, cut it and figure out how to work the information into the story more naturally. If the soliloquy makes it to your beta readers and they skim it or tell you it's too long (not just one comment, but consistent comments across your reader selection), then you probably should cut it. ;-)
3) Whenever you remember . . .