Writing Subtext in Dialogue 

Thank you Diane for putting this on Medium in text. I do enjoy watching all your videos here but content "sticks" more in my brain by reading the written word. It's always been that way for me, even back in college I would listen to lectures, but if I wanted to remember them I needed to write notes as detailed as possible and go home to study the notes. I understand there are many people who learn better by lectures, or videos, and that's great, but I'm not one of them. Love all your writings; Write-On.

I use place holders in several ways... usually when there's a problem to work out or if I have to consider foreshadowing here or in a previous chapter for something to work.

I always use brackets and say [Insert compelling dialogue here that accomplishes A, B, and C]

For those pinnacle conversations, the ones that will obviously be difficult to write well... I'd recommend two types of "placeholders" in tandem... First, get "sticky tabs" or even make them from post-it notes, you can fold over the edges of your pages, color-coding the edges... IF working in a digital format, it's important to be able to hyperlink and highlight or "bookmark" pages for this... It can still be done well for future revision... but it's important to actually do this BEFORE you write the conversation... You only make it harder on yourself if you can't find them later to revise the work. Second... Write the thing out entirely "on the nose"... This is more than a placeholder. It serves that purpose, too... BUT say what you mean to say... Set it aside, and come back almost immediately to check in so you get it said in the exact spirit and to the degree you intended... absolutely everything should be "dead-on the nose" spoken... no hijinks and no subtlety. Once you've gotten everything down in black and white... You're sure you've said what you needed said straight... Now, you can either "crunch on it" if that's your thing... (I recommend at least another break)... OR you can stick it in the manuscript and sally forth to do your thing with the rest of the work, figure out what else might need added (yeah, take notes... a LOT) Let the story unfold further and THEN you can come back to revise at leisure... You'll probably end up revising a lot through the whole process... and you'll probably revise the whole work, short-story to full novel... whatever. So long as you can find the conversation in question, you can come right back to it, and figure out what should stay "dead on the nose" and what can be "swept under the rug" or flirted with and then dropped... or twisted in any number of other ways. As your Characters develop voice (and they will over time) you can come back again and again to add, splice, twist, or completely rewrite the thing... BUT you might consider keeping a copy of the original "dead on the nose" version in a separate file... just so you don't lose track of it... evolution can be a fickle and erasure-heavy bitch... meaning it's easier to lose your original intent than you might expect or think possible. ;o)

I found this to be valuable advice as well. I am going through my story and taking out explanations of how people think or feel and trying to use the subtext techniques.

@@gnarthdarkanen7464 why don’t you get your on site. 🙄

Its good advice, but be careful with it. Its frustrating watching two main characters hate each other over a misunderstanding when it feels like plot conveniece is the only reason for the miscommunication.

@@dylanevartt3219 That's a good point!

@@dylanevartt3219 Ikr? I hate it when miscommunication is obviously only there cause the writer was out of ideas... or don't know when to stop adding tension.

it can be difficult to get points across, its always a good thing to ...ask/think am I looking at this from only my angle.? walk all them shoes, trainers, boots, dirty feet, trucks, rims...wings

Much ado about nothing’s whole premise.

Context? It’s been a while

@@cheeseisjar3058 Ginny had just told Ron she broke up with Michael Corner, and that was Ron’s response

Have your sins been forgiven today and forever? Think about this. The God of the Bible, the One True God made You and I to worship him, obey Him, and enjoy Him forever. But You and I break His laws daily. You, like me, are not good at all in the eyes of God. ‘There is no one good, no not even one. (Romans3:10) ‘For all have sinned and fall short of The Glory of God’ (Romans 3:23) You have always done wrong in the eyes of God, this is a problem because Psalm 5:5 reads: ‘...You [GOD] hate all who do wrong.’ ‘But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed.’ Rom 5:5 The person who sins is the one who will die. Ezekiel 18:20 All these things and more are counted against us. God is the just judge of the world and one day He will settle the score for all the wrongs we've done. God is holy meaning He is righteous (morally perfect in thought, word, and deed) It also means He is set apart and infinitely higher than us. Being a Good and Just Judge, God will punish You for all Your sin or wrongdoing in the world. This means that if You sin ONCE, God will cast you in hell for eternity. Because He is good and He doesn't turn a blind eye to sin. So how can God forgive you and me of all our sins? But there is good news. 2000 years ago Jesus the Son of God came into this world and lived a perfect life ( He never sinned once) and He died on the cross taking the wrath that we deserve and paid the penalty for the sins we committed. The bible says that if you will repent (confess and forsake your sins) and trust in what Christ did on the cross OUT OF HIS LOVE FOR YOU-(He took the wrath of God against you for your evil deeds and thoughts). Then all your sins will be forgiven and when you die you will be in heaven with God and all who have believed in The Gospel of Jesus Christ. This is the true Gospel of Jesus: Jesus died( Bore the punishment for your evil sins and heart, so that you can be forgiven. He took your special spot in Hell) and on the third day, He rose from the grave(So that you can have true life and His spot next to The Real God.). Verses: ‘All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.’ Rom3:24; ‘Because I Live You also shall Live’ Jhn14:19 Get right with God today, don't wait. Once you die after that comes the judgment. It's the most important thing you can do. If you repent and trust in what Christ did on the cross for You then you will be born again. Right now you're dead in your sins and you can't see the beauty of Jesus Christ but after you trust in Christ all the things you hate about God like obeying him, serving Him, loving Him and others, reading the bible, praying, and going to church, you will love to do those things because God changes your heart. That's how you know you have been forgiven? That's how you know you have been born again and forgiven. Please think long about this, and most importantly please take at least 5 minutes a day to read the Bible. Start in 'Matthew'. An eternity in hell (darkness and a lake of fire the bible describes it, with weeping and gnashing of teeth) or an eternity out of that place and into the loving arms of God who is infinitely glorious, has infinite knowledge and has infinite power to do all that He pleases. You decide. [ *Truth is independent of human conviction, meaning that what you believe does not change the fact that Jesus is your only Hope* .] Have a great day!

@@carsanovadidrifto800 the fuck does that have to do with Harry Potter

@@carsanovadidrifto800 Go away

it could be the actual best

Have your sins been forgiven today and forever? Think about this. The God of the Bible, the One True God made You and I to worship him, obey Him, and enjoy Him forever. But You and I break His laws daily. You, like me, are not good at all in the eyes of God. ‘There is no one good, no not even one. (Romans3:10) ‘For all have sinned and fall short of The Glory of God’ (Romans 3:23) You have always done wrong in the eyes of God, this is a problem because Psalm 5:5 reads: ‘...You [GOD] hate all who do wrong.’ ‘But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed.’ Rom 5:5 The person who sins is the one who will die. Ezekiel 18:20 All these things and more are counted against us. God is the just judge of the world and one day He will settle the score for all the wrongs we've done. God is holy meaning He is righteous (morally perfect in thought, word, and deed) It also means He is set apart and infinitely higher than us. Being a Good and Just Judge, God will punish You for all Your sin or wrongdoing in the world. This means that if You sin ONCE, God will cast you in hell for eternity. Because He is good and He doesn't turn a blind eye to sin. So how can God forgive you and me of all our sins? But there is good news. 2000 years ago Jesus the Son of God came into this world and lived a perfect life ( He never sinned once) and He died on the cross taking the wrath that we deserve and paid the penalty for the sins we committed. The bible says that if you will repent (confess and forsake your sins) and trust in what Christ did on the cross OUT OF HIS LOVE FOR YOU-(He took the wrath of God against you for your evil deeds and thoughts). Then all your sins will be forgiven and when you die you will be in heaven with God and all who have believed in The Gospel of Jesus Christ. This is the true Gospel of Jesus: Jesus died( Bore the punishment for your evil sins and heart, so that you can be forgiven. He took your special spot in Hell) and on the third day, He rose from the grave(So that you can have true life and His spot next to The Real God.). Verses: ‘All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.’ Rom3:24; ‘Because I Live You also shall Live’ Jhn14:19 Get right with God today, don't wait. Once you die after that comes the judgment. It's the most important thing you can do. If you repent and trust in what Christ did on the cross for You then you will be born again. Right now you're dead in your sins and you can't see the beauty of Jesus Christ but after you trust in Christ all the things you hate about God like obeying him, serving Him, loving Him and others, reading the bible, praying, and going to church, you will love to do those things because God changes your heart. That's how you know you have been forgiven? That's how you know you have been born again and forgiven. Please think long about this, and most importantly please take at least 5 minutes a day to read the Bible. Start in 'Matthew'. An eternity in hell (darkness and a lake of fire the bible describes it, with weeping and gnashing of teeth) or an eternity out of that place and into the loving arms of God who is infinitely glorious, has infinite knowledge and has infinite power to do all that He pleases. You decide. [ *Truth is independent of human conviction, meaning that what you believe does not change the fact that Jesus is your only Hope* .] Have a great day!

Dang that's really good. Got me tearing up with just a few paragraphs.

@@miketacos9034 awesome

Gosh- this gives me the goosebumps...

Amazing work, you certainly have skill!

Mike Tacos thank you, this means a lot

I'm definitely with you when it comes to annoying conflicts that are only a result of miscommunication, like in romantic dramas. Hemingway is an acquired taste for sure. I think subtext is most effective when both parties understand there's an underlying conversation going on. Rhett, for example, knows that Scarlett is flirting. When someone is being sarcastic or passive aggressive, other people usually pick up on the tone. To me, subtext is more about showing how people skirt around the truth when strong feelings are involved.

Same. No miscommunication plots for me. Maybe a scene or two but that's it.

as someone with autism it's like subtext is not text. make it text or don't talk to me. so many relationships start on terrible foundations and later fail just because people can't introspect and say what they mean. makes me crazy.

Have your sins been forgiven today and forever? Think about this. The God of the Bible, the One True God made You and I to worship him, obey Him, and enjoy Him forever. But You and I break His laws daily. You, like me, are not good at all in the eyes of God. ‘There is no one good, no not even one. (Romans3:10) ‘For all have sinned and fall short of The Glory of God’ (Romans 3:23) You have always done wrong in the eyes of God, this is a problem because Psalm 5:5 reads: ‘...You [GOD] hate all who do wrong.’ ‘But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed.’ Rom 5:5 The person who sins is the one who will die. Ezekiel 18:20 All these things and more are counted against us. God is the just judge of the world and one day He will settle the score for all the wrongs we've done. God is holy meaning He is righteous (morally perfect in thought, word, and deed) It also means He is set apart and infinitely higher than us. Being a Good and Just Judge, God will punish You for all Your sin or wrongdoing in the world. This means that if You sin ONCE, God will cast you in hell for eternity. Because He is good and He doesn't turn a blind eye to sin. So how can God forgive you and me of all our sins? But there is good news. 2000 years ago Jesus the Son of God came into this world and lived a perfect life ( He never sinned once) and He died on the cross taking the wrath that we deserve and paid the penalty for the sins we committed. The bible says that if you will repent (confess and forsake your sins) and trust in what Christ did on the cross OUT OF HIS LOVE FOR YOU-(He took the wrath of God against you for your evil deeds and thoughts). Then all your sins will be forgiven and when you die you will be in heaven with God and all who have believed in The Gospel of Jesus Christ. This is the true Gospel of Jesus: Jesus died( Bore the punishment for your evil sins and heart, so that you can be forgiven. He took your special spot in Hell) and on the third day, He rose from the grave(So that you can have true life and His spot next to The Real God.). Verses: ‘All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.’ Rom3:24; ‘Because I Live You also shall Live’ Jhn14:19 Get right with God today, don't wait. Once you die after that comes the judgment. It's the most important thing you can do. If you repent and trust in what Christ did on the cross for You then you will be born again. Right now you're dead in your sins and you can't see the beauty of Jesus Christ but after you trust in Christ all the things you hate about God like obeying him, serving Him, loving Him and others, reading the bible, praying, and going to church, you will love to do those things because God changes your heart. That's how you know you have been forgiven? That's how you know you have been born again and forgiven. Please think long about this, and most importantly please take at least 5 minutes a day to read the Bible. Start in 'Matthew'. An eternity in hell (darkness and a lake of fire the bible describes it, with weeping and gnashing of teeth) or an eternity out of that place and into the loving arms of God who is infinitely glorious, has infinite knowledge and has infinite power to do all that He pleases. You decide. [ *Truth is independent of human conviction, meaning that what you believe does not change the fact that Jesus is your only Hope* .] Have a great day!

@@viardent8823 as an autistic writer, come some time in the nebulous future, I may have the story JUST for you. A present theme in my current novella is vulnerability. The only times I use subtext is when I want to show how unhealthy and stupid it is for people to dance around their heads for no other reason than to confuse each other and themselves.

Omg! Yes! I love that book! I'm thinking of writing a book review on it next school year.

Have your sins been forgiven today and forever? Think about this. The God of the Bible, the One True God made You and I to worship him, obey Him, and enjoy Him forever. But You and I break His laws daily. You, like me, are not good at all in the eyes of God. ‘There is no one good, no not even one. (Romans3:10) ‘For all have sinned and fall short of The Glory of God’ (Romans 3:23) You have always done wrong in the eyes of God, this is a problem because Psalm 5:5 reads: ‘...You [GOD] hate all who do wrong.’ ‘But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed.’ Rom 5:5 The person who sins is the one who will die. Ezekiel 18:20 All these things and more are counted against us. God is the just judge of the world and one day He will settle the score for all the wrongs we've done. God is holy meaning He is righteous (morally perfect in thought, word, and deed) It also means He is set apart and infinitely higher than us. Being a Good and Just Judge, God will punish You for all Your sin or wrongdoing in the world. This means that if You sin ONCE, God will cast you in hell for eternity. Because He is good and He doesn't turn a blind eye to sin. So how can God forgive you and me of all our sins? But there is good news. 2000 years ago Jesus the Son of God came into this world and lived a perfect life ( He never sinned once) and He died on the cross taking the wrath that we deserve and paid the penalty for the sins we committed. The bible says that if you will repent (confess and forsake your sins) and trust in what Christ did on the cross OUT OF HIS LOVE FOR YOU-(He took the wrath of God against you for your evil deeds and thoughts). Then all your sins will be forgiven and when you die you will be in heaven with God and all who have believed in The Gospel of Jesus Christ. This is the true Gospel of Jesus: Jesus died( Bore the punishment for your evil sins and heart, so that you can be forgiven. He took your special spot in Hell) and on the third day, He rose from the grave(So that you can have true life and His spot next to The Real God.). Verses: ‘All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.’ Rom3:24; ‘Because I Live You also shall Live’ Jhn14:19 Get right with God today, don't wait. Once you die after that comes the judgment. It's the most important thing you can do. If you repent and trust in what Christ did on the cross for You then you will be born again. Right now you're dead in your sins and you can't see the beauty of Jesus Christ but after you trust in Christ all the things you hate about God like obeying him, serving Him, loving Him and others, reading the bible, praying, and going to church, you will love to do those things because God changes your heart. That's how you know you have been forgiven? That's how you know you have been born again and forgiven. Please think long about this, and most importantly please take at least 5 minutes a day to read the Bible. Start in 'Matthew'. An eternity in hell (darkness and a lake of fire the bible describes it, with weeping and gnashing of teeth) or an eternity out of that place and into the loving arms of God who is infinitely glorious, has infinite knowledge and has infinite power to do all that He pleases. You decide. [ *Truth is independent of human conviction, meaning that what you believe does not change the fact that Jesus is your only Hope* .] Have a great day!

@@carsanovadidrifto800 Or you could not shove your personal beliefs down everyone's throats in a yt comment section for writing dialogue. 🤦‍♀

Thank you so much for your kind words, Robert! As an avid audiobook listener, I can definitely see how understanding subtext would be useful for voice acting. :)

Yeah, she's really saying: get off RU-vid and back to work. :-D

Thank you so much for your kind words, Len! Keep writing. :)

...and spoken!

I’m autistic too and I know that feel

I've been working on a script for third-person POV for a long time! However, the current draft is a behemoth, and there are a few more third-person books I want to read for examples before finishing it, but hopefully I'll have that out this summer! I'm also planning to do a video on unconventional perspectives (second person, collective tense, mixed POV). Thank you for watching! :)

That's more symbolism than subtext imho

I love that movie! & weirdly, I was thinking of it just yesterday :D

Thank you, John. :)

That's a great point about emotions being the basis for subtext, thus making it more useful in dramas. However, I'm reading "Dune" right now, and to my surprise, there's been quite a bit of indirect dialogue because the characters are either lying about something or accusing someone else of lying.

Diane Callahan I need to give that a read I've only heard amazing things about it and maybe I'll get some good ideas too

(second time extra because well youtube has a lengt limit^^) The second time was infinitely more evil. Probably the biggest dick move of my life tbh. I was dating a vegan girl. She was a master of using tiny little needle jabs with subtext. She knew I was not vegan. She knew, if I did it, i´d do it for her .I did. She knew, I had my own stances on matters like veganism and some organisations like PETA i vewed very differently than her .PETA for instant. Saints for her ,savages for me. Don´t get me wrong. taking out a pelt farm where animals are bred to be skinned alive only for a luxury product (and yes they are skinned alive because it yields a better quality pelt. at least foxes are). tell me when, where and if I have to bring my own axe or if you got me one,. I´m game. I also know that these foxes never learned to survive in the wild. They would die withing days on starvation or get killed by a predator within days. I agree with PETA on that account. What i don´t agree with is the conclusion. To me that means these animals need t obe taken care of. They need to find homes, where someone who cares about their wellbeing cares for them and provides them with food and safety. This is expensive, yes. This is a logistic challenge, yes. But in my opinion the core part that distinguishes between "saving animals" and vandalizing a fur plant. PETA kills them because "they have no chance for a life worth living." now I´m German. that´s a sentence that brings a bitter taste in my mouth. Especially as PETA claims to hold human and animal life at equal value. (this was almost word for word the reason why the Nazi´s killed disabled people. They genuinely believed doing these people a favor by killing them. With my first girlfriend ever having been in a wheelchair you might understand i vehemently disagree. especially with my eyes being so messed up I probably would´ve gotten the injection too). Sorry got off track. because she understood my point about euthanasia. But that was probably the closest we got to agreeing on a moral topic. (I remember how her face genuinely lit up when I mentioned, I´d lay waste to such a plant in a heartbeat, if it ensured the animals would live) So things kind of got hemingway-i at least on her side. She would often enough make a very indirect remark. Like vegans shouldn´t date meat eaters. I mean why would she mention that around me? Because I´m no vegan. I´m eating vegan but I still didn´t buy in to it morally. I only did for her. if you excuse the crude joke: I didn´t eat meat so she´d eat mine. (my best friend, who´s vegan too put it this crass. I mentioned that offhand comment to her) that was the tamest remark. Just hinting at her having doubts. I mean doubts in a relationship are normal. I think in every relationship I found myself once or twice at a point where I thought "does this make any sense?" with the answer usually being no and me still deciding to stay invested into the relationship. It´s part of a relationship. The way to deal with that is to talk about it. And i told Caro that. That was the first fight. Now I was the one doubting the relationship. And there always were little jabs like that. The one that pushed me over the edge was as stupid as it sounds her philosophy homework. She was studying Kant. We had talked extensively about Kant before ,because, while I don´t subscribe to his school of thought per se (I have problems with teleological thinking) Kant´s works are definitely the ones I studied the most. despite them being very hard to read. (the record being a single sentence that covered an entire page. You got to love the german language for that). So you´d think, if she genuinely does not understand something about Kant´s work I´m the man to ask. And if I don´t know I call my old R.E. teacher who is pretty much a Kant specialist .However, Kant puts a great emphasis on rigor and consistency in your thought and action. (it´s why Kant is so fucking hard to read. more derivations and definitions than in a fucking maths PhD.) So I know very well how to read her asking me about Kant, seemingly changing the topic from, you guessed it veganism and me like the hundredth time stating I only did it for her. I never lied about that. If that is not good enough, then the relationship makes no sense and she has t ospeak up. If that´s the breaking point: we were three months in .nobody could say, she didn´t try. Or I didn´t. I probably should have said just that. But I just heard her calling me a hypocrite in that moment. Because that was such a typical Caro move. I should have probably broken up right then and there. Just that I saw that as a deliberate attack, irrelevant of whether it was or not, should be the final nail in a relationship´s coffin. Similar to cheating. It doesn´t matter whether your spouse is cheating. The trust is gone and that´s the end of it. That would have been the mature way t oend things. Or well the calm one. I handled it like that since I was sixteen. So there is no excuse for not being able to handle it like that at 24. What I did was a great deal more nefarious. As I said absolutely the biggest dick move in my life. I invited her for dinner in our favorite restaurant. It was about three or four days after the Kant thing. We had our fight about that. She´d be forgiven to think I wanted to make up. Just that I ordered a steak. something I knew would be the immediate end of the relationship. And she knew as well of course, she was the one who imposed that rule after all. In theory she´d have the choice accepting me eating meat and still committing to the relationship or breaking up. That were the only two choices I left her, very well knowing that she would break up. I´d say there was more than enough subtext to make clear, that I was over the relationship. She immediately understood. I called her out on bullshit like that too many times for her to not know this was deliberate. She very well knew, I CHOSE to break up in that manner. And she knew that i did that as my own parting shot for all the jabs she did in that manner. Our ethical differences were just the "plain text" if you will.

In the future, I think I will! If you're struggling, try to find some critique partners to exchange your work with. That's the best way to grow as a writer. :)

@@QuotidianWriter yeah not so much. Still in the terrified to show phase. :) so afraid of judgement. Lol