That one conversation at a coffee shop in Austin that changed how I write dialogue

I was sitting at Radio Coffee in Austin waiting for a friend, and this older guy asked what I was working on. I told him I was stuck on a scene where two characters were arguing but it felt flat. He said real people don't argue in paragraphs, they interrupt each other and use short, choppy sentences. He gave me an example from a fight he had with his wife about where to put a shelf, and it was just three back and forth lines that told the whole story. I rewrote that scene that night using nothing but fragments and it read way more natural. Has anyone else had a random stranger give you writing advice that actually stuck?

2 comments

2 Comments

rubyshah1mo ago

Cutting out full sentences was the best fix I ever made for arguments.

jennifer2041mo agoMost Upvoted

Oh man, that hits home. I used to write whole paragraphs in the heat of an argument and it just made everything worse. Cutting it down to a sentence or two stopped me from digging myself into a hole. It also keeps the other person from picking apart every single word you said. Sometimes less really is more when you're already upset.