Dialogue As Action

Creating Characters through their Words

Photo by Tobias Reich on Unsplash

And here’s why I think dialogue in flash is so important, so weighty, especially when used by secondary characters, especially the antagonist. It’s because we can’t get into their heads, and we don’t have a ton of access to their backstory or context, so we have to see them revealed through their dialogue, this direct kind of action. A way for them to tell something about them, their desires, fears, backstories in what they give away to the main character, to the reader, through their speech. What do they give away freely? What is the subtext below their words? What do they tell us by not telling us? So not only does dialogue have the potential for creating or revealing these characters, but it also can add escalations or forward movement in the story. It can also add tone and mood, and a sense of place, of culture and era, and an added tension that might have been lacking before the secondary character entered the scene. Dialogue has a way of adding extra energy to a scene, and especially a story in the flash form, because there isn’t much page/time to convey all of these craft elements, only so many words to make a dynamic impact on the main character, and therefore the story at large. Give these characters their best lines, their best ways of revealing themselves in subtle but exciting ways that impact the story.

We're going to look at “Does Your Tattoo Mean Something?”

So many flash stories only use dialogue toward the turn or climax, but this story starts with a great opening line to give us the context of the central conflict/problem and then launches into some really great dialogue. I love how the weird has been made familiar by having the tattoos talk, how Danklin builds each tattoo as a character through just a few lines of dialogue per tattoo. This is quite a balancing act, and I think she pulls it off, and has created something fresh and resonant.