dialoge

[ShadowArtist]

So I have been toying with the idea of writing a novel in prose but am unsure of how to write the dialoge or whether I should use dialoge at all. I anyone has any ideas or hints on how to do this comments would be highly appreciated!
Thanks
-Shadow

[Severian]

So I have been toying with the idea of writing a novel in prose but am unsure of how to write the dialoge or whether I should use dialoge at all. I anyone has any ideas or hints on how to do this comments would be highly appreciated!
Thanks
-Shadow

You should totally stay away from dialoge. Nobody likes it.

You might wanna throw in some dialogue though. That stuff is badass.

[Simmi]

So I have been toying with the idea of writing a novel in prose but am unsure of how to write the dialoge or whether I should use dialoge at all. I anyone has any ideas or hints on how to do this comments would be highly appreciated!
Thanks
-Shadow
It's spelled 'dialogue'. Dialogue is good to help show characteristics. Don't make it all dialogue though (I wrote like that in... 3-6th grade. I only had dialogue and very little description). If you're writing a novel, hell yeah throw some dialogue in. I don't think I've ever read a novel with no dialogue in it at all. (Then again I haven't read much compared to others.) If it's a short story, I think you could pass with having little to no dialogue.
You should totally stay away from dialoge. Nobody likes it.

You might wanna throw in some dialogue though. That stuff is badass.
Ha ha, nice one.

[Andy]

So I have been toying with the idea of writing a novel in prose but am unsure of how to write the dialoge or whether I should use dialoge at all. I anyone has any ideas or hints on how to do this comments would be highly appreciated!
Thanks
-Shadow
I did a tutorial on dialogue tags that you can find here (http://www.youngwritersonline.net/showthread.php?t=20). It covers all the rules and such.

As to whether to use it or not, it depends. What kind of story are you writing?

[Shaun]

Just to be clear, dialog and dialogue are the same thing, however most of us use the latter because it's British and "correct." Dialog does refer to other things, though, but in reference to conversation it is the American spelling. We tend to drop off our extra "u"s and "ue"s.

In any case:

Yes, you absolutely need dialogue in a prose novel (unless you're really good and can do one without it, which has happened in the past).

How you do dialogue is up to you, though. You can certainly use Andy's link there, or one thing I find is helpful is to look at how my favorite writers do it and then emulate them (not copy, just fiddle with their methods until I get something that works for me). Or, I have this post here that talks about writing without dialogue tags (http://wisb.blogspot.com/2009/07/reader-question-dialogue-tags-friend-or.html), which is actually quite useful.

Otherwise, the important thing to remember is to write dialogue that sounds real, but not too real. You don't want it to be stiff, or too loose, or too "modern." I could go on about this for a long time, but the best way to learn is to do. So do.

[Carraka]

Dialogue is an iffy thing. Your dialogue has to be realistic, but if you follow a normal person's conversation, it probably goes like this:

Hey.
Hey.
How's it going?
Good.
Oh.
Wanna get pizza later?
Sure.

Which is utterly boring. So it's a balancing act.

[ShadowArtist]

Yes, you absolutely need dialogue in a prose novel (unless you're really good and can do one without it, which has happened in the past).

Do you know the title of any books that worked well with dialogue and one without? The only prose book I've ever read that was written well was The Song of the Sparrow and I found it's fluency to be lacking at times when it came around to the dialogue.