Improv [Writing] Tip #9: Avoid Questions.

(#9 in a series of tips from my improv class that struck me as applying to writing.)

Improv [Writing] Tip #9: Avoid questions.
“What do you do?” is wasted dialog; instead say, “Being a cop must be hard.”

Another eye opening tip from improv. Here’s an example of what not to do:

SCENE OPENS
Malcolm (looking at sky): Holy cow, sis, we’re seeing stars tonight!
Me: How long have we been out here?

Dead. The reason this is so ineffective is that no building has taken place. The question doesn’t take the conversation forward at all, and in improv, that’s especially inconsiderate, because as a scene partner, you’re lobbing all the responsibility back onto your partner rather than shouldering your share.

Better:

SCENE OPENS
Malcolm (looking at sky): Holy cow, sis, we’re seeing stars tonight!
Me (scanning straight ahead): Yeah, and there’s Josh Brolin!
Malcolm (eyes dropping to my level): And he’s got that dog with him!
Me: You better get out of here, it really is no country for old men.

Well, sorta better. You know what I mean.

Here’s what Tina Fey has to say about this in the way funny Bossypants:

The Rules of Improvisation
That Will Change Your Life and Reduce Belly Fat

The next rule [from a great list of rules] is MAKE STATEMENTS. This is a positive way of saying “Don’t ask questions all the time.” If we’re in a scene and I say, “Who are you? Where are we? What are we doing here? What’s in that box?” I’m putting pressure on you to come up with all the answers.

In other words: Whatever the problem, be part of the solution. Don’t just sit around raising questions and pointing out obstacles. We’ve all worked with that person. That person is a drag. It’s usually the same person around the office who says things like “There’s no calories in it if you eat it standing up!” and “I felt menaced when Terry raised her voice.”

MAKE STATEMENTS also applies to us women: Speak in statements instead of apologetic questions. No one wants to go to a doctor who says, “I’m going to be your surgeon? I’m here to talk to you about your procedure? I was first in my class at Johns Hopkins, so?” Make statements, with your actions and your voice.

This of course applies to dialog in fiction as well. From what Tina Fey says, you could take a look at any characters that are coming across as weak, and make sure they’re not asking questions all the time. (Flipside is if you want a character to be weak, have them ask pointless questions. But this could get trying, especially if it weakens the dialog itself.)

I did a flat out search in the dialog of my novel for question marks. Turned out I had a lot of “What do you mean?”s and “Why?”s and “What?”s, etc. These could often be dispensed with by combining the surrounding dialog into one speech, or the conversational beat could be used for including other information.

EARLY DRAFT

Fulvia waved her hand. “Let Caesar come home! That’s all he wants. And we can throw him a triumph and rejoice in the wealth he’s bringing us.”

“I don’t know that he’s bringing it to us,” dark-haired and dark-eyed Porcia spoke up. “He seems to have made his own wealth with it, and purchased himself a few senators.”

“And what does that mean?” Fulvia’s eyebrows arched at her.

CURRENT DRAFT

Fulvia waved her hand. “Let Caesar come home! That’s all he wants. We can throw him a triumph and rejoice in the wealth he’ll bring us.”

“I don’t know that he’d bring it to us,” the brown-eyed younger woman said. “He seems to have made his own wealth with it, and purchased himself a few senators.”

“The young Porcia brings her own barbs,” Fulvia’s eyebrows arched at her.

Instead of having the empty “What does that mean,” I saw the space could be used to reveal more about the relationship between these two characters. By giving Fulvia something more meaningful to say, including the introduction of the other character’s name, it increased the impact of every sentence.

Make each speech in dialog count. See how many questions you can axe.

Tagged as: Editing, Improv, Screenwriting, While Rome Burns, Writing How-To