Posts belonging to Category Dialogue
Posted by Ravyn on June 18, 2013
Originally posted August 12, 2010.
One of the biggest problems with having four or five people operating in the same scene, regardless of its type, is the risk that the better-imaged ones will take over and the less-definite ones will get lost in the shuffle. A couple days ago, UZ asked how to [...]
Categories: Concepts, Dialogue, For Roleplayers, For Writers, GM Advice, Technique |
Tags: combat, conversations, group scenes, keeping track of characters, reprise, roleplaying, writing | 
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Posted by Ravyn on October 2, 2012
One of the things I like seeing in a work in which most of the characters are coming from different places is an understanding that they’re going to have somewhat different dialects. That’s awesome; it makes it clear to me that the author/GM knows that people sound different, and can fake the distinctive features of [...]
Categories: Characterization, Dialogue, For Roleplayers, For Writers, GM Advice, Language and Linguistics, Technique, Voice and Style, World-building |
Tags: dialect, dialogue, roleplaying, text, writing | 1 Comment »
Posted by Ravyn on August 9, 2012
Originally published on November 24, 2009. Blame the server issues.
I hadn’t been going to post this one for a while, but then I blundered onto ChattyDM’s riff about managerial skills and GMing, and he asked for it in the comments. Never let it be said that I turn down perfectly good requests.
The fun thing about [...]
Categories: Characterization, Cross-discipline, Description, Dialogue, For Roleplayers, For Writers, GM Advice, Technique |
Tags: Characterization, Cross-discipline, neuromarketing, roleplaying, writing | No Comments »
Posted by Ravyn on June 6, 2012
Originally posted on February 22, 2010.
I play games in which grand and dramatic is pretty much the gold standard. It’s part of the system, I can deal with that. I see a lot of people writing in ways that are grand and dramatic, and hey, power to them. But there’s one thing [...]
Categories: Description, Dialogue, For Roleplayers, For Writers, GM Advice, Mood, Player Advice, Technique, Voice and Style |
Tags: drama, reprise, roleplaying, subtlety, Voice and Style, writing | No Comments »
Posted by Ravyn on May 9, 2012
The biggest challenge in writing dialogue, I think, isn’t necessarily actually writing good dialogue. Most of us can find examples of snappy one-liners or decent conversations. The problem, instead, is making sure that the dialogue doesn’t yawn and swallow the rest of the scene, leaving us with a couple of characters talking in what for [...]
Categories: Art in writing, Cross-discipline, Description, Dialogue, For Writers, Technique |
Tags: comic method, dialogue, narrative beats, writing | 3 Comments »
Posted by Ravyn on October 4, 2011
One of the toughest things I’ve ever found to do is writing scenes with lots and lots of characters (which can just mean “more than four or five who aren’t controlled by someone else”). I’ve talked about this before, mostly with characters all directly interacting with each other, but there always seems to be more [...]
Categories: Dialogue, For Roleplayers, For Writers, GM Advice, Scening, Tactics, Technique |
Tags: group scenes, planning, roleplaying, writing | 3 Comments »
Posted by Ravyn on June 15, 2011
When we’re dealing with characterization, most of us have a tendency to write what we know—we’re used to the things we prioritize, and often figure out our characters based on “accepts this premise—rejects that one—ignores that one entirely….” Sometimes, though, we see characters who operate on a principle that just doesn’t resonate with our audience, [...]
Categories: Characterization, Characters in the world, Dialogue, Exposition, For Roleplayers, For Writers, GM Advice, Player Advice, Technique, Voice and Style |
Tags: alien mindsets, Characterization, cultural differences, roleplaying, writing | 2 Comments »
Posted by Ravyn on April 5, 2011
Yesterday, I talked about some of the elements for creating groups of characters that could also function as one somewhat complicated character role-wise. One of the points I touched on was the idea of each character’s role in the group, and how these roles can be used to ensure that the characters aren’t misplaced (unless [...]
Categories: Character creation, Character dynamics, Characterization, Characters in the world, Concepts, Dialogue, For Roleplayers, For Writers, GM Advice, Player Advice, Secondary characters, Technique |
Tags: role, roleplaying, small groups, writing | No Comments »
Posted by Ravyn on April 4, 2011
Sometimes you’re going to have a group of characters that are so associated that they might as well serve as one single character; you hardly ever see them apart from each other, and it’s usually either plot-related or a fact about feasibility when you do. Presenting these sorts of groups onstage is a challenge, particularly [...]
Categories: Character dynamics, Characterization, Characters in the world, Concepts, Dialogue, For Roleplayers, For Writers, GM Advice, Player Advice, Secondary characters, Technique |
Tags: role, roleplaying, small groups, unit, writing | 3 Comments »
Posted by Ravyn on March 28, 2011
We really don’t have to talk about why intense emotion is so common in our stories and games; it’s, well, intense. But the thing about it, particularly if it takes the form of a whole lot of negative emotion, is that it’s tiring, moreso the longer it goes. Fortunately, slipping spots of humor into an [...]
Categories: Description, Dialogue, For Roleplayers, For Writers, GM Advice, Mood, Technique, Voice and Style |
Tags: humor, mood, roleplaying, style, writing | 5 Comments »