Other Character Dialogue-How to Correctly Execute it?

[Castello]

Hey! I have been roleplaying for quite some time now and have been through a lot roleplays. Very often what has ended a lot of the stories I have been apart of is the inability or awkwardness of communication between characters. This is especially prevalent in group rps, but I have seen it pose an issue in 1x1's as well. While I feel this problem can be fixed by resorting to one liners to make a conversation work, it causes other problems at the same time (in my experience). In group rps, single line responses may result in two characters taking up notifications and discouraging other roleplayers to intervene. It also causes lazy posting and a neglect of imagery surrounding the scene and takes a lot from the actual story.

To more experienced or knowledgeable roleplayers, what are some things to keep in mind when communicating with other characters in a detailed scenario?

- How should conversations be held without taking away from the story, but allowing characters to develop and shine?
- What is some advice when conversing with larger groups of characters and how can I keep everyone fairly involved?
- What are the main things to avoid when dealing with character dialogue and communication?

For some roleplay scenarios, I try to keep an improv philosophy in mind. Try to avoid 'no' scenarios and instead try and add upon the character's response with the concept of 'yes, and'. (theater nerds will know what I am talking about >.>)

Any input is appreciated!

 

[Windsock]

I just write my characters as consistent as possible, myself.Oh, and results should be appropriate to the input. If he just stubbed his toe, him talking a paragraph about the frailty of mankind is pretty stupid, but if he's really depressed and is going through some warped shit, it may be fitting. I don't like it when huge outbursts or situations are met with 'okay' *does thing*, but the opposite is also pretty bad.

I dream of roleplaying a character for so long that, when an imposter scenario happens, the others realize it in-character when the imposter uses a word that the impost...-ee would never use, or never use something he said all the time

 

[rae2nerdy]

- How should conversations be held without taking away from the story, but allowing characters to develop and shine?
Well think of it as having a conversation in real life. Some people are going to be more verbose than others. And different circumstances will lead to different lengths of dialogue. So basically ask yourself - what would my character say in this situation? And if the other character is going a little too long on the dialogue ask yourself - How would my character move things along?

If it comes to it just indicate to the other person - um I think the conversation has gone on for a bit too long do you have any idea how to move it along?

- What is some advice when conversing with larger groups of characters and how can I keep everyone fairly involved?
Again just as in real conversations. Most of the time if your talking to a lot of people you're not going to actually answer everything that is said point by point. At least not unless your in some kind of interview or test taking scenario. Chances are you're going to listen to others input and just respond with what you feel is relevant. Roleplays should ideally be the same way.

- What are the main things to avoid when dealing with character dialogue and communication?
Well to answer this I'll just give you a tip. If you are unsure of how your dialogue is flowing read it out loud , possibly including the bits of dialogue your character is responding too. By doing that you'll get a better feel for what it sounds like and be able to fix parts that might sound unwieldy.

Also while it is always good to separate dialogue in some way ( either give it it's own paragraph or bold it ) try not to color code dialogue if at all possible. Also when answering a question or bit of dialogue it is not necessary to repeat said dialogue in your response.

For instance

Post 1 : Character A says - Hi
Post 2 : Character B looked up as Character A walked up, "Hi" they said, "Hi" Character B responds.

It's not necessary for you to write the same dialogue twice. Instead again just indicate - Character A greeted Character B or something of the sort.

 

[Hachi Machi]

How should conversations be held without taking away from the story, but allowing characters to develop and shine?

Conversations are necessary to develop the relationships between characters as well as to give insight on how a character speaks to another character according to the situation. In general, I like to post all my questions in one conversation, and see how the other reacts. Basically, if I have 5 things my characters will ask to another character, I'll do that all in one post. Although, it may be inconsistent, it allows for more meaningful conversations, unless you like the realistic approach, which is asking one thing, and waiting for another response.

Example: "Hello Ma'am. May I interest you in tea?" <- First Part, but I continue my post instead of waiting. "Lovely weather isn't it?" <- Second part. If the other roleplayer responds with Yes, I'll have Tea, and it's quite lovely today, then, in my next post, I'll hand tea, and end on the second part's note.

It may seem confusing if you're going for a time specific roleplay system, but I feel this adds depth, and allows for conversation to not end up as one liner responses. It also makes the conversation go quicker, so plot and characters can develop at a rapid pace. I guess this makes sense for group roleplays. I think utilizing one-liners in a conversation works best in 1x1, and if you're both on at the same time. Otherwise, I typically in my first post for the conversation, set the tone, goal, and where I want it to end. If the conversation continues, then great. Otherwise, it will likely end on the part I set it at for the conversation.

What is some advice when conversing with larger groups of characters and how can I keep everyone fairly involved?

Conversation, in general, with groups boils down to participation. You can't make everyone involved, unless they want to be involved. If you truly want to involve everyone, set a goal in the first post for your conversation to end on, and then ask everyone your questions in-character. Monologues work better in a group environment more than dialogue.

What are the main things to avoid when dealing with character dialogue and communication?

Avoid having the conversation be the majority of any post. Make communication via tones in voice, or gestures, or actions. That's one way to ensure your post won't be a one-liner is to add fluff such as gestures, or actions, but, in my opinion, actions speak louder than words.

 

[Luscies]

Of course it truly depends in the kind of roleplay that is being done. First, let us abandon the idea that one-liners are a sign of bad quality roleplaying, as they aren't. Second, let us take example from table-top roleplaying.

In my experience with table-top roleplaying, we'd always have a sequence for people to make input during roleplay. Stuff like what they were doing, where they'd look for determined items or people... whenever a conversation started, this would change. The sequence would become fuzzy — there is no sequence anymore, in a way. That portion of the roleplay would become a number of “live one-liners” between the player characters, or the PCs and the NPCs.

That is much easier to do with live table-top roleplay because of how natural it is to take a conversational tone in real life. When we're talking about written roleplay, this isn't at all problematic on one-on-ones, but on group roleplay, it becomes a pain.

On one-on-ones, if both partners are understanding of the importance of natural dialogue to further the plot, one or two-liners will easily work from time to time (unless you are not roleplaying instantly, but I'll comment on this later). There is virtually no reason why it wouldn't.

On group roleplay, you've got two possibilities:
1) Strict sequence roleplay, where it is expected that a small circle of roleplayers will always be present to further the plot, and you'll have a usual sequence for them to post. In this case, dialogue between two people is okay (although that would clutter notifications; it would be nice to have a kind of conversational system on forum threads to keep this from happening), but dialogue between a group becomes a huge issue. Sometimes someone might have nothing to say; sometimes someone might want to interrupt, but feel kept back by the strict sequence. Even with a GM managing things, there would be no right way to make this work. It will be messy, and it is preferable to use the circumventions some people posted above. Sometimes they might make dialogue feel one-dimensional, but they will get the job done.
2) Platform group roleplaying, as when a GM or a group of GMs establish a platform whereupon groups of roleplayers may freely roleplay their characters after having their applications accepted, according to the rules of the setting. Instead of depending on individual roleplayers for the plot to develop, this kind of group roleplay has huge plots that people can tackle in different ways at different times, and people's own dramas and individual plots happening at the same time, independently of anyone else's. This means people will still be able to roleplay no matter who is or isn't online. It's a real-time thing, not sequential at all. If you've ever roleplayed on Furcadia's dreams, such as New Versailles, that is basically this.
In such scenario, we can afford group dialogue to be messy most of the time, as long as all players are mindful of everyone's desire to participate and have fun. It would be even easier during scenes where a GM is needed, as he/she would be able to open way for dialogue at specific times of need.

That is not eye-opening, but all we gotta understand is that such limitations are borderline impossible to gouge out. All we have are workarounds.

Now, when it comes to instant roleplaying (when everyone's online at the same time) and non-instant (sometimes I'm online, sometimes not), those create different variables for dialogue as well. I personally prefer roleplaying with short posts on average, and only when my partner is online, especially because I don't have enough time to dedicate myself to huge long posts that will only further the plot in tiny little steps. Also, it bores me. That's just me.

But for people that prefer to (or have to) roleplay non-instantly, the only way of getting dialogue to work efficiently is by making dialogue conventions like those people posted above. I personally dislike it, but I understand it and I know it is some folk's only way of getting to roleplay in their free time.

Just never underestimate the power of dialogue to help further the plot and develop the characters and the world. It can make everything more fun too, in my experience.

 

[DrTrollinski]

Follow the rule of 'new line for each character that talks' mainly. Obviously there's more to executing dialogue, but, it annoys me beyond belief where people write two characters talking within the same line/paragraph. Just as an example of what I'm talking about in terms of format...

"Hey, how's it going?" Said Character A.

"I'm pretty good, how about you?" Character B replied.

Separating the two from each other is probably the most important part in writing dialogue, I'd say.

 

[Idea]

Doing dialog is a key part of RPing, but the essence of doing is not overly complex (albeit, not necessarily an easy task either). It really boils down to doing what any good Rper should aim to do: Become the character and evolve the story.

With that said, here is a trio of tips I would recommend when designing your dialog:
1. Make sure your characters act like real people
A character is not just a puppet of words, and treating character design as anything other than a description of what is supposed to be a potentially real person is at the root of 90% of the problems one finds in character design. A character should always be internally consistent and grow in an organic fashion, otherwise they are not even a character, really, just a mesh of people that happen to look alike.
This is important in every aspect of an RP, and it applies to dialog as well. How your character speaks, what they speak about and what they say, do or think during dialogue are all influenced by how your character is. Physically, in terms of backstory and especially in personality. If your character is an energetic freakball with a low attention span, they most certainly would not be speaking in long drown-out sentences (or listen to that type of sentences either). If your character is excited they might repeat themselves or their sentences might start getting all over the place. In backstory, if your character had a trauma with something, they may talk in a very roundabout way about anything related to it, or if they work as say, a baker, you might hear lots of more especially cooking vocabulary or they might have a fascination with pastries or something.

Those are just a few examples, but changing your dialogue to fit the character goes miles into making them more believable and relatable, and it can work as a way to show character without breaking the "show don´t tell" rule. This type of dialogue also naturally also tends to allow other characters some room for interpretation for growing character dinamics, it´s just an overall much more engaging way of making dialogue.

2. Always give your partners something to work with
Nomatter who you are talking to, they need something to respond to. Never let a whole post that envolves dialogue not have at least two or three flashy bits of dialogue or just questions that need more than a yes or no answer. Receiving a decent response to your post and fueling excitement to reply starts with easing the burden of having to come up with everything by oneself. If your partner can look at your post and already have something to work with, that´s halfway towards being able to reply somehting meaningful. Furthermore, these questions or flashy bits of dialogue can hijack an otherwise boring or pointless conversation into something that can further plot or characters.

Take this for example:
"I saw what you did last night"

There is no context, no nothing here, but already you can probably imagine the possibilities. What DID the other character do, did they really, how important is it, how are they gonna respond to the first one knowing, what is the first one gonna do with the information, etc... A simple statement like that can generate so many questions and responses and placing it well can make for a masterpiece of drama, suspense or even comedy. Know how to create context and provide your partner with the tools to continue your work, for that can improve the experience for everyone.

3.Don´t JUST use dialogue
This is pretty much implied in number one, but real people do a lot of things while they speaking. From body language to anything that calls their attention. Describing the other person in-between dialogue, narrating your character´s feelings or thoughts, making flashbacks, describing the place they are in, sometimes even random trivia can enhance the dialogue by being well-placed. Instead of a text wall of dialogue no one is gonna retain in their heads, use space in between dialogue, open it up, and make every word more meaningful by giving information that makes it meaningful or manipulates the scene´s tension and tone to aid your dialogue.




As I said, these are hardly easy to do, and I can´t really say I´m a master at it or anything. There is a reason writing is an art form, there isn´t a trick to insta-pulling good writing, and the relative vagueness of the advise that can be given is a bit of a testament to that. But if you know the purpose and you know the means, you work your way to a good solution. Good luck!

 

[BunnyBoiVeena]

Many people here are giving good advice.

Spoiler

Conversations are necessary to develop the relationships between characters as well as to give insight on how a character speaks to another character according to the situation.

First, let us abandon the idea that one-liners are a sign of bad quality roleplaying, as they aren't.

It really boils down to doing what any good Rper should aim to do: Become the character and evolve the story.

- How should conversations be held without taking away from the story, but allowing characters to develop and shine?

A story- or character-building conversation must not only tell something about the character. It needs to show it as well. What can the players take from this conversation to keep for the rest of the story? If no one can take anything from the story then the conversation is not important to the story. There needs to be a clear goal on what the conversation must achieve and what impact it must have.

Let's apply the idea that an important conversation should have a Dramatic Structure in order for it to really make an impact to both the story and the players. That is, similar to books and movies, a conversation must have an Exposition, a Rising Action, a Climax, a Falling Action, and a Resolution. The spoiler isn't the actual definitions of a Dramatic Structure, but rather, the adaptations of how one would use it.

Spoiler

The Exposition of a conversation or the start of a conversation should involve some background or lore. It can be anything broad. Nothing too specific here just yet. It should set the tone for what the conversation is going to be about. It can be starting a flashback, talking about dreams of the future, or even events that happened just now.

The Rising Action would then be to build up a question or lesson that makes the conversation important to the story, more so to the character. It should start raising the question of why is this important now instead of later or before to the other character(s). This is where emotions and behavior should start showing when a character is talking to get a sense of his behaviors.

The Climax should then strongly answer that question. Exactly how strong did any character change as a result of the conversation? If its not something strong enough to elicit a reaction from anyone, player or character, then the conversation's lesson or question is too weak to add onto the story.

The Falling Action afterwords would then describe a relation to the current events and how the Climax relates to them. What's the point of telling a story when it has no correlation with what has just transpired?

Finally, the Resolution should then be about teaching the characters and other players something important about the character that initiated the conversation or the story itself.

Now, this is just assuming that this is some idle conversation that could show up at any given moment. Let's go with something with, mathematically speaking, a Vector. Something with magnitude and direction. As you said,

It also causes lazy posting and a neglect of imagery surrounding the scene and takes a lot from the actual story.

However, when this happens, something is wrong. A conversation should never lead to laziness and neglect. The player must consider one thing that everyone does in a conversation: Behavior.

The conversation itself is directing attention towards an important discussion. Behavior is then the magnitude of the conversation. How strong are the person's emotions and how natural and realistic are they? Syntax and wording for behavior here is very important. They determine the energy of the conversation and therefore, the energy of the characters around them. Does the character cry when they are making a dramatic conversation about themselves? Are they angry? More importantly, how is this emotion being driven?

Here, you want to think like a psychologist. The more true to life the behavior is to the character, the more natural it is for the character, the better impact it will have. Do these emotions or behaviors make others believe that this isn't just some conversation he's having, this is a conversation that hits home to him and for a good reason. As such, other characters have learned not only that the character is affected by the conversation, they know the extent to which he is affected. In more harsher tone, the other characters now know the character is scarred and hopefully the players can understand and relate just how deep the scars run.

 

[Cyto]

^ Basically everything above but I cannot express enough about how to add character actions in when you write with dialogue. "Sally said hi," isn't exactly the best reply to your partner's three paragraph starter.