Russell T. Davies on Dialogue
As some of my readers know, Russell T. Davies was the show-runner for the re-boot of Doctor Who from 2005-2009. It was under his watch that the show returned to the screen and became the runaway hit it is today. He is a well-regarded, award-winning writer of lauded television shows including Doctor Who, Second Coming, and Queer as Folk.
In 2008 and 2010, Davies and journalist Benjamin Cook, published the e-mail correspondence they had during the writing of season 4 of Doctor Who (i.e., the final season for the Tenth Doctor, David Tennant, and Davies’s last season as show-runner). The books were called DOCTOR WHO: THE WRITER’S TALE, and DOCTOR WHO: THE WRITER’S TALE: THE FINAL CHAPTER respectively. In that correspondence, we get some interesting insight into how Davies works, and his thoughts on writing, and the process of putting together and editing scripts. It’s truly fascinating. For today’s writing blog, I want to share with you an exchange Davies and Cook had with regard to writing dialogue.
BEN COOK:
When you’re writing dialogue, do you say the lines out loud to yourself? How do you develop an ear for certain speech rhythms, dialogue patterns and accents? Could you hear Kylie’s Australian twang when you were writing Astrid’s lines?
RUSSELL T. DAVIES:
I couldn’t hear Kylie’s Australian twang, but I could hear Astrid–young, innocent, inquisitive. If I tried to write Australian, I think we’d end up with with cod nonsense. I think all my characters speak with the same rhythm, essentially. My rhythm. Sarah Harding, who directed the second half of Queer as Folk and who’s very knowledgeable about music, used to say that she could sing my scripts. The loon. Some people say it’s a Welsh thing. I don’t know.
I do say the lines out loud, but I don’t stop and do it. I don’t finish a scene and give it a reading. You’d find me muttering away constantly, sitting here. All night. Always testing for the rhythm, to make it sound right, to find a better way of saying it. It’s good to read stuff out loud. You can find all sorts of problems. The tiny details that make dialogue better. My favourite pet hate (can you have a favourite?) is the list of three adjectives: just watch a week’s telly and see how often it crops up, dialogue that goes ‘I felt hurt, angry, betrayed’. It’s just the writer listing, showing off his so-called understanding of motive. It doesn’t exist in real life. People don’t talk like that. It’s much more accurate, more believable, more sayable, if you make the simplest rephrasing: ‘I felt angry. God, I was so hurt. You betrayed me!’ Much better. Instant polish. Even then, I bet the scene would be more interesting without it. Whatever’s going on, you can pretty much assume those emotions.
BEN COOK:
Would you agree, though, that every character is always talking about him- or herself? Every character has their own agenda and it’s the centre of their world, especially in dialogue with other characters. Is that true?
RUSSELL T. DAVIES:
Yes, absolutely true… Thing is, to think about yourself all the time isn’t necessarily selfish; the self is all we’ve got. We might touch on other people, glance off them, and sometimes, maybe once in a while, maybe, see deeply into them. But the other 99 per cent of the time? It’s just yourself. There’s no other option.
Dialogue is just two monologues clashing. That’s my Big Theory. It’s true in life, never mind drama! Everyone is always, always thinking about themselves. It’s kind of impossible to do otherwise. I just hate dialogue that goes:
RUSSELL
I went to town.
BEN
Why?
RUSSELL
Because I needed to see Stan.
BEN
And what did he say?
RUSSELL
He said you knew the truth.
BEN
Yes, I do.
RUSSELL
Why didn’t you tell me?
BEN
Because I was scared.
It’s like they’re both listening to each other. Rubbish! Appalling amounts of TV dialogue is like that, especially on the soaps, whereas in reality we’re all waiting to say the next thing that we want to say. Truest phrase ever: ‘The opposite of talking isn’t listening. The opposite of talking is waiting.’ Fran Lebowitz said that, and I bloody love it.
The conversation continues, and I would love to post it all… but I have to consider your patience and copyright and things like that. If I have nothing better for next Monday, I might post a little more of the conversation then. If you’re an aspiring writer, I recommend this book to you, whether or not you’re a fan of Doctor Who. It’s very entertaining (Davies’s cartoons are priceless!), and insightful. They have it at Amazon (via a third-party seller) for $20. Of course, if you’re a Doctor Who fan, it’s a must-buy!
LOVE this Colin– will have to get the book for the writing advice and the Dr Who background. Thanks for sharing!
You’re welcome Katharine. I wasn’t sure what I was going to post today, but then I was reading this to my oldest kids yesterday and as soon as I got to the end I said “… and I think I have my article for tomorrow–this is GREAT!” I had to share. 🙂
It is an amazing book, so full of insights. There isn’t a right way to write, but there are better ways to do it. When it comes to dialogue, RTD is one of the best.
This is why, even for a novelist, books on scriptwriting can be very helpful, since scripts are mostly dialogue–and Doctor Who has some of the best dialogue on television (my unbiased opinion, of course!). So many writers struggle with dialogue, and seeing how experts like RTD approach it can be very useful.
Solid advice, and something about the way RTD phrases it makes it simple to understand. You’ve convinced me to pick this up!
Actually, I’m surprised you don’t already have it, Emma–you’ll love this book, I just know it. 🙂 And you might be able to find it more readily in the UK, perhaps at Waterstones or any other fine purveyor of printed material.
*Oblig COME BACK TEN comment*
That’s a really interesting way to approach dialogue. I like to say mine aloud because I can hear if it sounds stilted or not.
This book really is interesting if only for all these little nuggets of gold from RTD.
And I hear your “come back ten”–I like the 11th Doctor, and I think Matt’s doing a great job. But I don’t think Moffat is as good at being show-runner and lead writer as RTD was. I think Moffat’s writing has suffered. The stories he wrote for RTD were some of the best of new Who. But so far, the best stories (IMO) under Moffat have been those written by the guest celeb writers: Richard Curtis (“Vincent and the Doctor”) and Neil Gaiman (“The Doctor’s Wife”). Who is still the best, though. 🙂