#novel format

[the-w0lverine]

*they're standing behind the fridge door when he closes it from getting some beer, like some horror movie thing, they were not there when he opened the fridge door*

*they stare at him*

@kidpool-the-underapreciated

"Jesus fuck-"

Logan jumps, almost dropping the bottle.

"What are you doing kid?"

[plotlinehotline]

Hello:) I'm fairly new at writing and have a question. I've had an idea for a while and finally started writing this down. I like the introduction to my story and described the 3 main characters, setting etc. Now I have to introduce a 4th person that will have to work with them and here's where I got stuck! I've been writing a bunch of dialogues and now it seems too heavy on lines and boring! How can I avoid too many "he then said this and she said that and the other said this". :(

I’m sure every writer has struggled with this problem at some point in their journey. Dialogue is a great tool for breaking up long passages of narrative prose and allowing the reader to get a glimpse into the personalities of characters not involved in the point of view. But, like most things, a balance must be struck or else the writing starts to become repetitive. Fear not, because this can be an easy fix.  

Narrative prose (which I am shortening to prose) is ordinary written language that tells a story. When I say ordinary written language, I mean any sort of writing that does not have meter or rhyme. If writing has meter and rhyme, then it is poetry. In this context, I am going to use prose to denote anything that is not written dialogue, even though that is not technically correct, because dialogue is also prose. 

Think about your story critically for a moment. Is the dialogue even necessary? What is it supposed to convey? If the information is not critical to the plot, my advice is to cut it and find ways of alluding to the exchange of information. For example, if your three characters have just finished construcitng a plan and need to share the information with the fourth member, you can make it concise by writing about how the fourth member receives the information. Dialogue is not always needed. It could be something as simple as “Rhys tapped his foot impatiently as Igor explained the plan to Monica.” From that (admittedly not very interesting) sentence, the reader understands that some of the characters are feeling anxious about having to stop and re-explain information to a new member. By narrating the action of explaining the plan, I was able to do away with a slew of dialogue that would be uninteresting to my reader and give insight to the emotions of the other characters. 

Using narrative prose to illustrate interactions between characters is an incredibly useful tool to have in your writer’s toolkit. If the dialogue you write seems to be boring rather than useful, explaining an interaction might be the better option. With dialogue, the writer can be limited in describing a character’s posture or body language, whereas it can be more colorfully expressed by using prose. One of the most widely repeated writing rules is “show, don’t tell,” meaning that one should use describing factors to add emotion and personality to their work, rather than letting basic words and dialogue take over. Keep this in mind when going back and making changes if needed.

Please send a follow up ask if any clarification is needed.

xx Sarah

[the-w0lverine]

"Mep." @bluebamfbamf

Logan crouches down to get halfway to eye level with the bamf.

"You're one of elfs little things, aren't ya?"

[the-w0lverine]

A small child who looked eerily like him as a kid ran past him in the house.

@jameshowlettthekid

Logan frowns

"The fuck??"

The house was pretty big but it surely wasn't big enough to keep another fucking child hidden from him for this long.

[the-w0lverine]

Logan falls out of a portal and groans. “That is the last time I’m testing something for the fur ball.” He muttered.

@ask-wolverine

Logan jumps, letting his claws poke out slightly and bares his teeth.

"Who the fuck are you?" He growls to what appears to be his doppelganger.

[the-w0lverine]

@daughter-howard

She's hugging him

Logan looks down.

"Uh hey kiddo"

[the-w0lverine]

Asta is sitting on the couch of a clean apartment. They have two piles of things that Wade and Logan need to go through and the bedroom wasn't touched for obvious reasons. "I-I cleaned to help out," they cheerfully say when Logan comes home for whatever adventure Wade dragged him on.

- @asta-barnes-rogers

Logan pauses mid step as he notices the clean room and Asta. Immediately, he lets go of Wade's hand and lets it fall by his side.

"Holy shit"

@dead-in-the-pool

[the-w0lverine]

this wasn't one of the intimacy prompts but i'm waiting politely at the front door to our little guest room and i have a surprise for you ❤️

@dead-in-the-pool

[Text: ❤️]

Logan drags himself up from the bed and opens the door. Hopefully, this isn't another stray kid Wade's picked up.