Jun
24th
2019
What makes an interesting conversation? · 6:14pm Jun 24th, 2019
Something I'm wondering about. Would like to hear some other people's opinion on it.
There are two stories. Both these stories have a scene where two characters are talking. However, in one story, the scene is considered entertaining, but in the other, it is boring.
So, why? In a scene where two characters a basically just talking to each other, what makes it entertaining? What does one have that the other doesn't when they both have the same concept? What did one author do right that the other possibly missed out on?
I would like to hear some ideas and opinions from others.
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Hopeful_Ink_Hoof · 251 views
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#curiosity
#question
#opinion
#story
#scene
#conversation
#dialogue
Does the conversation serve a purpose? Does it advance the plot, tell us more about the characters, expand the world? Is it at least funny? Or is it the kind of empty small talk that only those talking care about, the sort you'd tune out as background noise if you were actually in the room with them?
5079428
Well, the most common one, at least in the "boring" category does tend to be exposition. Where the two characters are giving a large amount of information to the story. Let's say, for the sake of the discussion, the background of one of the main character.
5079432
Ah. In that case, it would be best to make it an actual conversation and not just a block of text with quotation marks on the ends. Having the other party chime in with questions, comments, and asides can break up the monotony of the infodump and organically lead to parts of the origin story that might not come up in a believable way.
Granted, that doesn't always work. If the context expects one party to sit and listen (e.g. military personnel of unequal rank,) then you'll either need them to give just a few out-of-turn comments, break up the information with a different kind of interruption, or just be talking about someone very interesting.
5079446
Unless you're making fun of backstory infodumps... One Punch Man...
In the webcomic, Genos takes up an entire full size page with his one speech bubble.... the anime took that long winded dialog and used imagery from around Saitama's apartment to visualize his growing annoyance at the giant wall of words.
Saitama: "Shorten it to twenty words or less!"
One thing I have found is to make the conversation be those who would be the most likely to give it and make it be part of their personality. If the one to give the info, because he or she is the only one to know if it, has a 25 word or less mentality then leave it 25 words or less. If they will snark it, then snark it. Let others ask questions based on their personality.
When you info dump like a robot then it's going to get boring. But if you bring it out through their personalities it's more tolerable. Especially when the characters don't seem like card board cut outs to do it.
A prime example of info dumping to a personality. The story MLP Time Loops at one point had Big Mac loop into Captain Kirk's position of Star Trek, he made 3 years of Captain's logs in one page. No episode was missed yet each log was done in Big Mac's few words style. I wish I could take you right to it but it's some where in there.
I think something to maybe consider is if it's a conversation you'd be bored to have in person, in real life. If someone's telling you about their cousin's wedding, or the history of their early school years, then it's probably just as boring to read about as it would be to hear about. Unless it's noteworthy for things you'd actually be interested in, for example - if their cousin is Empress of Saturn and got married in a dress made of snails, then that'd be an interesting story to hear. If she's an accountant and her new husband once ran a marathon, then no, there's nothing of interest there to anyone not already attached to them and oh wow that's a conversation you'd want out of.
If the conversation is an infodump, then maybe ask if it's a story you'd tell your friends in real life (albeit in a non-pony way) and expect them to be entertained by? If not, how can you make it more entertaining? Can you stuff it with jokes or stupid suggestions to make it more enjoyable? Ultimately, also, how much does the story really need the infodump? Will it really not stand up without it?
I'd think that the same principles for making a story interesting in the bigger picture would apply to an individual conversation. Conflict and tension go a long way. A conversation that reveals something about a character or moves a plot forward, something like that, is going to be more interesting than one that doesn't. Trite platitudes will drag a conversation down, while interesting personalities and voices will make one stick out.