Want Tense Dialogue? Send Em' A Text.

Fellow #screenwriter, Universes, Gods, Luchorpans. Welcome to The Plot Researcher blog where the film speaks for itself. Today we're going to discuss one thing that makes dialogue tense. And, this idea originated on my cell phone. My sister and I had a text argument a while back over a simple question she asked me. Mind you, we rarely argue. But here’s what the text string says:

Now, I could have just answered her original question? But, instead I 'read' something that wasn’t there and got defensive. There was no problem, to begin with. Texting is just so bad! It can expose our ego and embarrass us. Oh, I’m alone. Ok. But, I have found a use for text messages in #screenwriting: When the drama is high, oftentimes a character's conscious mind ‘checks out’ as they cower in fear behind a wall of idiocy; and, their dialogue succumbs to the hormones of autonomic.

I first noticed this from studying the tension between the characters in the movie The Predator, 1984. The concept finally received its name as a result of that text message debacle between my sister and me. In The Predator, I couldn’t understand why Anna didn’t just tell Dutch and Dillon that she saw a human-like figure that had the ability to disappear and camouflage itself. Instead, she said, “the forest came alive and took him.” From this dialogue choice by the writer, I realized that characters speak and interpret other characters, especially at critical moments, in the manner that we sometimes write and read text messages. Someone is either going to say the wrong (unfulfilling) thing, hear the wrong (unfulfilling) thing or both.

And, it’s frustrating.

But, there is at least one psychological explanation for this phenomenon. It's called the Fundamental Attribution Error - overestimating the power of disposition and underestimating the power of the situation. Just as I assumed my sister was giving me a hard time, ignoring the situation - as she was most likely balancing her checkbook, Dillon assumes that Anna is purposefully withholding information from them. You just can’t trust hostages, can you? This is instead of realizing the facts of the situation; she is terrified out of her mind – with a blood-splattered face, and it's a surprise she's speaking at all. Ok, I’ll admit, at first, I was on Dillon's side; “WTF is this blankity blank talking about”, I yelled. But, good job screenwriter. The frustrating dialogue is usually what causes me to rise up and yell at the screen. And, Anna was pissing me off. I really didn’t want anyone else to die. First, Hawkins. Then, Blain. Then, after Blain's death Anna becomes coherent, but then Dillon becomes the idiot of dialogue-ville. Now, he acts like he can’t say what needs to be said to dispel the tension and put everyone on the same page. Ugh. It’s like a malicious spirit moves through the group and body-snatches the person currently in the perfect position to dispel the tension, just to mess with me.

This phenomenon doesn’t just occur in action films, either. It's all drama. The dialogue in Rick and Ilsa's Konnichiwa Moment is the same as Anna's dialogue in The Predator. (A Konnichiwa Moment is what I call the first meeting of any two primary characters.) But, why? This time let’s look at a biological explanation for what occurs.

‘Drama’ is TV's word for 'Fight-or-Flight'. And, words aren't native to this environment. So, when characters attempt to use words in these traumatic moments they tend to say things that don't help. Instead, their words become a sword and shield, a blanket, even a topical ointment, or any other sort of survival device, because drama is about life and death.

I'll throw myself under the bus, again, so that we can see dramatic dialogue with our scientific eyes this time. During Plebe Summer at the US Naval Academy, one of the ways we were to display our ever-evolving ability to think clearly under stress was that at any given moment - between reveille and our nightly group session with our platoon - any one of us could be berated (or aggressively tested) by the upperclassmen. Amidst all the hard work and fast paces of the day they'd have us recite memorized 'rates' of information such as Rudyard Kipling's poem If.

Learning 4 stanzas of poetry is not hard, nor is reciting it. However, public speaking is a natural fear of most humans. So is being yelled at. So is never-ending torment. If you could see the sudden onset of speech impairment that plebes get when an upperclassman stands just six inches from their breathing space. I often found my brain degaussing itself clean and leaving the stage and me standing there like a deactivate android.

The reason this autonomic response occurs in Plebes is that you have two options: know it or don't know it. If you know it, they'll just ask you the next rate, which you won't know. When you don't know, you're set on fire. But, whatever you do, don't pretend and stumble your way through the dang thing. That'll actually make them angry and chow calls become about singling you out; lack of integrity is the highest sin.

But, there is utility in this tribulation.

One purpose of Plebe Summer is to build a better soldier through controlled trauma, an ancient warrior, and coming-of-age practice, and create a levelheaded officer - a thinker, even when all those about you are losing their heads, maybe literally. Most people aren't capable of being that kind of calm in chaos. And, the dialogue in story is usually on par with normal people. Movie characters who communicate exactly what they mean would not be dramatic.

Forrest Gump didn't say, I just got shot in the ass. He said, "Ow! something bit me." Autonomic.

If characters are comfortable enough to be able to use their words to dispel tension, the stakes just aren't high enough. The plot isn't thick enough. The world is not traumatic enough. The danger is not clear and present. And, I’m switching channels. When I’m writing any dialogue, I always consider what the characters would say if they were texting each other.

I hope this post helps you out. If you want to follow up on any of my references, you can find them at www.theplotresearcher.com/bibliography.

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