Sometimes when Iâm editing manuscripts, and usually this happens in very good manuscripts, I run into generic dialogue. Often it comes from a villain, or a hero in a heroic moment, but really, any intense emotional moment can be prone to it.
Generic dialogue isnât bad dialogue, per se. Itâs just âblahâ dialogue. Sometimes it sounds showy or theatrical, but doesnât feel that way because weâve heard it in dozens of other stories. Things like the hero saying, âPick on someone your own size,â or âYouâre going to regret you ever did that!â and the villain saying things like, âDonât let them escape!â or âYouâll wish you had never been born.â
Theyâre generic.Theyâre stock. And they donât really do anything for the story.
For some of these sorts of lines, Iâm left sitting back and wondering, do people actuallytalk like that? âDonât let them escape!â seems an awfully long way to say âStop them!â in a moment of intensity. The more intense the moment, the fewer syllables people tend to use. âStop them!â essentially communicates the same thing in less syllables, coinciding with the intensity of the moment. You can even do âStop!â But âDonât let them escape!â sounds more theatrical. Itâs almost like Iâm watching a childrenâs cartoon.
Again, itâs not that these are strictly bad lines. Itâs just that they are often missed opportunities to kick the dialogue into high-gear. âPick on someone your own sizeâ? Iâve heard it a thousand times. It doesnât do anything for the story. It doesnât do anything for me. But if the writer would sit down and move beyond the generic, he might actually come up with a great line that is realistic and fits the character. âPick on someone your own sizeâ is vanilla. Give us something else, a line that comes from that character.
Some may argue that my âStop them!â alternative is generic. There is a difference between common-man dialogue and generic or stock dialogue. Millions of people would say âStop them!â Itâs natural. Thatâs how the common person talks. There is a problem when phrases like âDonât let them escape!â and âPick on someone your own sizeâ are used as common-speech, because most people donât talk like that. And yet, theyâve been used so much, they canât feel unique to that particular character anymore either.
Basically, what Iâm getting at, is that itâs usually better to leave the theatrics for the vanilla kidsâ cartoons, and instead look for something natural, or better yet, something new and natural that comes from your character.
If you are going to use this kind of generic, theatrical dialogue, use it intentionally and with purpose. It shouldnât be go-to filler dialogue that you just plugged in because itâs what came to your mind first. If you want to illustrate the fact this character talks in generic, theatrical ways, than this kind of dialogue is not only appropriate, but a good idea. For example, in a project Iâm working on, one of my characters, James, subconsciously yearns to be a hero. Unfortunately for him, in my story, that yearning can be as much of a weakness as a strength. When James has the opportunity to âbe a hero,â he makes a point to act heroic. Thatâs when I might employ the old generic hero linesâbecause subconsciously, James wants to be that. Having him use that sort of iconic hero dialogue intentionally cements that into place. It comes naturally from his character, because thatâs who he wants to be.
If you want to intentionally illustrate a moment in the story as iconic in a particular way, using iconic dialogue might be completely appropriate. (Might I suggest, though, that the entire scene not be comprised of it. Just give us enough to feel it.) So generic dialogue isnât completely pointless. It can be used intentionally to good effect, if you are using it because itâs generic, and not as go-to filler.
You can find more ways to take passable dialogue to fantastic dialogue in this article I wrote on it.
