The Art of Writing Dialogue
One of the sub-arts of fiction writing is dialogue.
The art of dialogue is often confused with the art of character (what happens between the quotations).
I mean, specifically, how as an author you artfully frame the dialogue.
A few examples:
- Naked: “Let’s go to the movies.” “Yes.”
- Saidism: “Let’s go to the movies,” he said. “Yes,” she said.
- Adjectival comments: “Let’s go to the movies,” he offered. “Yes,” she sighed.
- Tom Swifties: “Let’s go to to the movies,” he said insightfully. “Yes,” she said affirmatively.
- Action tags: Tom stopped walking and turned to her. “Let’s go to the movies.” She almost bumped into him out of surprise. “Yes.”
- Body language: Tom’s hands trembled. “Let’s go to the movies.” Marie looked down, pulled her hair back behind her ear, and looked up. “Yes.”
- Microexpressions: A smile pulled at Tom’s lips. “Let’s go to the movies.” Marie raised her eyebrows. “Yes.”
- Eyes: Tom couldn’t stop blinking. “Let’s go to the movies.” Marie’s eyes widened. “Yes.”
I like action tags and body language.
Some people like saidism, or plain naked dialogue.
There’s no right answer. That’s what makes it art.
AVC vs. KLT
Most savvy business people know KLT. Know, Like, Trust.
Its the way to build a business (read: something sustainable that generates value).
But most people run on AVC. Attractive, Valuable, Competent.
Its what’s shiny.
As in, I want to do business (or be in a relationship with) him/her because they are hot. Or, because they have money (or can bring me a lot of money). Or, because they’re good with their hands.
As opposed to, I have seen who they are. I like (read: enjoy) what I’ve seen and how they operate. I trust (I would expose my secrets and know they wouldn’t abuse) them.
The world runs so much on AVC that KLT seems foolish.
However, there used to be a word for people that chose AVC over KLT.
Shallow.
As in Shallow Hal (Jack Black), A Different Man (Sebastian Stan), and Don Jon (Joseph Gordon-Levitt).
A few reasons why you might consider running your social (business, friendships, romance) on KLT:
- AVC decays over time. KLT compounds over time. Not always, but as a general rule.
- There’s a near infinite number of AVC people in the world, and a much smaller KLT list. So it serves as a great filtering tool, at the very least.
- World-class people filter based on KLT (in my experience). Logically, it makes sense: if you’re the best looking in the world (A) or the richest (V) or incredibly skilled (C), then you know other AVC people are going to seek you out based on that alone. What you really look for, then, is KLT.
The 4Cs of Success, Tredux (2 more questions to define success, from a social perspective)
Question 1: Do you want everyone to view you as successful, or just an exclusive few?
Only commercial success and credentialed success are universally valued, any and everywhere you go.
Critical and cultural success are, by definition, appealing to a smaller group of people who “get it”.
Question 2: Do you want to be the people’s champ, or the institution’s pearl?
Critical and credentialed success are conferred by a governing body, a membership panel, an acceptance letter, or passing a test.
Commercial and cultural success are created by giving the people what they want.
Maybe its easier to determine how you want to be successful by thinking about how you want people to respond to it.
Innovations of Jazz (the enjoyable, rhythmic remixing of things that feel like home)
Jazz was, once upon a time, 4 things:
- Improvisation (the creation)
- The Blues (the content)
- Swing Rhythm (the pulse)
- Joy (the feeling)
Innovating jazz expanded one of those scopes.
No improvisation? That’s just classic swing (Frank Sinatra, Big Bands).
I different sort of Blues? Other base music with deep comfort, familiarity, and meaning? That’s world jazz (Hiromi Uehara, Jorge Luis Pacheco, Tigran Hamasayan).
No swing rhythm? That’s Rockabilly and Rock n' Roll, R&B and Modern Gospel.
Swapping out the feeling of joy? That’s cool jazz, modal jazz, smooth jazz, hard bop and free jazz.
Jazz isn’t only what you make it. But most modern forms of music have, at least, a little jazz in them.
Abstractions of Jazz
“Profoundly naive; unimaginably wise. They were spectacular. Everything I’d hope to find in the system…biodigital jazz, man.” — Kevin Flynn
Wynton Marsalis defined jazz as improvisation, the blues, and swing. But what does that mean, really?
Improvisation is spontaneous creation. Or, as the old saying goes, “composition is slow improvisation, and improvisation is fast composition.”
Blues is a feeling. Deeply emotional, deeply comforting. Everyone has their own set of the blues.
Swing is a type of rhythm.
So jazz can be any creative remixing, of deeply familiar and deeply emotional content, done with a consistent poetic rhythm, with an emotional tone of joy.
In that sense, anything can be jazz. If you play it right.
A Technical Definition of Jazz
“You want a technical definition? Improvisation is in it, the Blues is in it, swingin' is in it.” — Wynton Marsalis
Lots of musicians improvise (shredding on the guitar). Improv doesn’t make it jazz.
Blues has some great improvising singers. Blues + improv doesn’t make it jazz.
Big bands can swing. But it can just be a performance. Without improvisation, its not jazz.
Spontaneous creation. Blues vocabulary. A swing rhythm. Anywhere all three are present, you’ve got jazz.
The 4Cs of Success Redux (or, how to define the success you really want)
You can figure out what sort of success you’re seeking by asking two questions.
Question 1: Do you want to be accepted by a tribe, or create a tribe?
Question 2: Do you care more about success now, or after you’re gone?
If you want to be accepted by a tribe, you’re looking at either credentialed success (acceptance by the governing body) or critical success (acceptance by the cool kids in your industry).
If you want to create a tribe, that’s either commercial success (lots of customers) or commercial success (lots of fans).
If you care more about success right now, that’s either credentialed success or commercial success. Nobody remembers a random marine biology Ph.D. from 20 years ago, and if Coca-Cola disappeared tomorrow, very few people would genuinely miss it.
If you care more about success after you’re gone, that’s either critical success or cultural success. Win an academy award, and you are enshrined in a long line of award winners, never forgotten. Make Rocky Horror Picture Show, and 50 years later people will still be playing dress-up to your film.
Of course, its possible to have different types of success in different areas.
C.S. Lewis received an Honorary Doctorate in Divinity (critical success), as well as creating enduring fiction with the Chronicles of Narnia (cultural success).
And of course, these are not mutually exclusive. You can experience success both now and after you’re gone.
But if you want to be a writer, you’d know:
- Credentialed = get a Creative Writing MFA
- Critical = win a Pulitzer Prize
- Commercial = write sleazy romance novels (they make the most money)
- Cultural = create the next Lord of the Rings
And that the skills and pathways to each of those types of success look very, very different.
Work Ethic is Heart Knowledge
Most people know what apple pie is.
Only a fraction of people can actually bake an apple pie.
Only a fraction of those people can actually get themselves to bake apple pies on a regular basis (usually bakers).
Knowing what something is, is head knowledge. Knowing how to do something is hand knowledge. Knowing how to get yourself to do what you already know how to do is heart knowledge.
Some people are exceptional at head knowledge (those with high IQs). Others are exception at hand knowledge (many athletes, artists, or multi-skilled people).
I think that being exceptional at heart knowledge is what it means to have a good work ethic.
A good work ethic means, no matter what you do, you can do it consistently and with sufficiently quality, day-in and day-out. Which is neither a matter of information or of skill.
Like both head and hand, its a type of knowledge. Meaning it can grow over time, if you nurture it.
The 4Cs of Success
It’s hard to be successful if you don’t define the type of success.
I think there are 4 types of:
- Commercial success
- Critical success
- Credentialed success
- Cultural success
Commercial success means money. Critical success means tastemakers in the space see you as a success, typically in the form of an award. Credentialed success means you get a, well, credential (which could be a degree, or something like it). Cultural success means that you resonate deeply with a specific audience.
The type of success you’re pursuing changes what the path looks like.
Consider becoming a successful filmmaker:
- Commercial success = blockbuster
- Critical success = academy award winning film
- Credentialed success = completing film school
- Cultural success = cult classic (like Rocky Horror or Office Space)
What you need to learn (and how you need to create) in order to write a blockbuster is very different than what wins awards vs what school teaches you vs what will be quoted for years to come.
The path to success becomes much clearer once you know what you want it to look like.
...AND Profit.
A reader gave me feedback on the idea of [power and passion and profit. The connection wasn’t clear.
To clear things up:
- Power times passion times profit for success. They act as multipliers.
- Power times passion (without profit) doesn’t result in success.
Why and profit?
Over 60% of NBA players file for bankruptcy within 5 years after retiring.
That’s from 3 in 10,000 high school basketball players (that make it to the NBA).
In other words, they clearly have the power x passion for the game.
“Why do they go bankrupt? Why don’t they coach? Or run a summer camp for helping kids get into the NBA and charge $5k a pop?”
That’s what power x passion but without a pathway to profit looks like.
There are lots of ways to be profitable if you have the power x the passion.
But without x the profit, the formula doesn’t work.
And sometimes, you have to put in just as much energy into the “and profit” as you do into the power and the passion.
Be A Perfectionist (About A Few Small Things)
“You’ve got to make every single detail perfect. And you have to limit the number of details.” —Jack Dorsey
Every successful person is a perfectionist about a few small things.
It’s an artist’s way of being.
One could even say that what you’re a perfectionist about is your brand.
For example: Goggins? Willpower.
The key is to stop being a perfectionist about everything, and start being a perfectionist about a handful of things.
We know this in other words: “Be the best in the world at one thing.”
It hits different when we think about how to actually get to the becoming.
Seeking Alpha
We all want to do better than average. That’s the human condition. But each brand archetype approaches it differently.
I think it looks like this:
- Artists start with what resonates most with them
- Athletes start with what they can do best
- Entrepreneurs start with what can make money
- Investors start with what can reliably compound over time
- Engineers start with what problem can be solved
Here’s the thing: we all start from different places. But high success often ends in the same place.
Which is a combination of all of them.
Michael Jackson:
- did what resonated with him,
- in a way that he could do best,
- in a way that made money,
- that reliably compounded over time,
- and solved technical problems (at the time) to create the music that he wanted
So maybe finding Alpha isn’t just one thing.
Maybe it’s all of them.
The French Don't Have A Word For Entrepreneur
“The reason the French economy is struggling is because the French don’t have a word for entrepreneur.” — George W. Bush (allegedly)
Its funny because entrepreneur is a loanword from French.
Its also funny because its partly true.
We have more entrepreneurs (per capita) in America than in France.
Perhaps a better saying is “The reason the French economy is struggling is because the French don’t place a high cultural value on entrepreneurship.”
But that doesn’t have quite the same ring to it.
Power AND Passion AND Profit (or, Why Are Smart Kids Unsuccessful Adults?)
Its almost become a trope that the smart kid becomes the underperforming adult.
After spending time with lots of overperforming adults (those that get outsized results), I see a pattern:
- start with power
- develop their passion
- make a profit (not just financial)
Power, as in superpower. But we’re not superheroes, so its just power.
Passion, as in you do it 8-12 hours a day, every day, for the next 7 years.
Profit, as in how you do it gets a positive, fruitful result in your life.
Overperforming adults often weren’t overperforming kids. Which means they learned early on that they have one, maybe two powers.
And then they follow that formula.
Smart kids learn early on that they have a lot of powers.
But having lots of powers looks like the opposite of developing passion.
Its hard to spend 8-12 hours a day doing one thing, when you get the same results as others in 1-2 hours a day in everything. The perks are better.
And then profit doesn’t enter into the equation until its too late.
Acme vs. Coyote (vs. Entrepreneur)
The coyote is a metaphor. He represents our relentless pursuit of a desire, even to our own detriment.
The roadrunner is our desire. The more we seek to grasp it, the further out of grasp it seems.
The Buddhist answer is to relinquish the desire.
The American answer (Acme vs. Coyote) is to sue the companies that provide the (failing) means to get our results.
Neither is wrong, necessarily.
But the entrepreneur might say try different things (different company, different state, different animal) until you find success.
Cross-Train Cousin Disciplines
When we want to get good at something, we know to practice the discipline.
A lot of people will also cross-train with sibling disciplines.
A few examples:
- Saxophonists practice piano
- Actors practice directing
- A salsa dancer might practice ballet
Sibling disciplines are siblings because they come from the same family.
Which means they share the same culture.
Personally, I’ve gotten the most mileage out of cousin disciplines.
That’s my name for disciplines that share the same DNA, but have a completely different culture.
A few examples:
- A public speaker taking theatre classes (the family of standing on a stage, delivering memorized lines, and projecting to the back of the room)
- A singer taking voice acting training (tone production, vocal control, and range)
- A fiction writer taking improv classes (scenes, idea development, character interaction)
I get the most mileage out of pairing a rigorous cousin with a non-rigorous cousin, or a technical cousin with a non-technical cousin.
If you really want to spread your wings (and learn new things), cross-train cousin disciplines.
Gratitude Means The Time Is Now
“Now’s not a good time.”
We hear that a lot. In sales, getting in shape, starting a new business, a new relationship.
And sometimes it isn’t. But sometimes it’s a great time to start, but we’re fooling ourselves.
Gratitude shifts attitude (as the studies show).
But why?
When we remember all the good, we signal to our body that now is safe. Now is secure. Now is good.
And if now is good, it’s a good time to start.
Three things we can always be grateful for:
- Today is the youngest I’m ever going to be.
- It’s never been easier to start (if you’re reading this, you probably have a smart phone).
- It’s never been easier to make it (you can make money doing almost anything these days).
There are often times where its not a good time (generally speaking). Health crises. Deep family issues. Home and economic insecurity.
But for most of us. We’ll never be younger. It’s never been easier to start. It’s never been easier to make it. And a host of other things that are going in our favor.
And if you practice gratitude, you may see that the time is now.
The Third Skate
A couple weeks ago, I went recreational skating with a speed skating coach.
I was curious about skating technique, so we started from the ground up.
Most of it was intuitive, he said. Starting. Stopping. The illusion of two skates on the ground when you’re dancing and grooving to the music.
But one idea stuck with me, unique to speed skating.
When you’re on rollerblades:
- put one foot forward and one foot back
- tip forward the back skate so (that only the front wheel is touching)
- tip backward the front skate (so that only the back wheel is touching)
When you do this, you create the third skate.
The third skate is controlled like regular rollerblading.
You can maneuver it, even accelerate with it depending upon your body position.
You maintain balance, because it keeps your center of gravity directly below you (between the first and second skate).
In vintage jazz dance, we have a similar concept: what is created between you and your partner and your relationship with the music.
I’m now tempted to call it “the third dancer”.
The pattern is pretty clear.
The third thing is the intangible thing that’s created as the outcome of the dynamic interplay between two tangible things.
Or, the “invisible” but very real relationship that comes from two parties.
In counseling, when they say both partners need to prioritize “the relationship”? That’s the third skate.
The relationship created between a business and customer, made up of either the warm feelings (or broken promises)? The third skate.
I’ve heard it said that a brand isn’t a logo, or typography, or a product. Or that a brand is the consistency you show in the marketplace.
Perhaps another way of looking at it: your brand is the third skate.
Finding Flow Like Jazz Musicians
Jazz improvisation is not a monolith.
If you want to improvise, you have multiple methodologies. A few:
- Call-and-response
- Guide-tone method
- Goal-tone method
- Vertical improvisation
- Horizontal improvisation
- Motivic development
- Licks, riffs, quotes
- Patterns
- Bebop
I think that which method you gravitate towards tells you something about yourself.
That would mean the contrapositive is true, too.
Do you like using what you already know? You might like vertical or horizontal improvisation (scales and arpeggios, the stuff you already practice every day.)
Do you like to repeat the same idea over and over, with variation? You might like patterns (pentatonic), or perhaps even motivic development.
Do you know where you want to end your lines and phrases? Perhaps try the guide-tone or goal-tone methods.
Do you like to compose and polish small bits of brilliance, then show it off? You might like licks, riffs, and quotes.
Do you like the feeling and flow of poetry, or moment-by-moment decision-making? You might like call-and-response, or bebop.
An idea for finding flow: figure out which you can practice, for hours on end, that brings you joy.
GPS Journal
I am excited to present to you the GPS Journal.
In this Notion Template, I want to offer to the community of entrepreneurs the technique of performance journalling from the world of athletes and the idea engagement from the universe of game design.
My hope is that this helps entrepreneurs with the problems of consistency and goal achievement. Game design has solved consistent engagement through heads up displays, and sports have solved for goal achievement by reflecting and realigning based on practice sessions. I admire how game designers put intention into making the grind meaningful, and how athletes are able to learn and self-correct from their own data points.
Ultimately, bringing this together will open up the possibility for us as entrepreneurs to experience increased self-awareness and business performance.
I am grateful to the many mentors and communities of practice that have supported this work.
Available here: gpsjournalnotion.com/.