Craft Glossary · term

Dialogue — subtext

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Plain English: What characters mean under what they say. People rarely state feelings directly; they deflect, fence, and talk around the real subject. The gap between text and intent is where dialogue lives.

Rule: Let characters pursue goals through talk; the scene's real subject often goes unspoken. Trust the reader to read the gap.

Fail: On-the-nose dialogue — characters saying exactly what they feel and mean ("I'm angry because you betrayed me"). Flat, and it kills nuance.

Arjuna Badger Press · Craft Library

Glossary · Doctrine · Anti-patterns · Triptych form · LLM tells

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