might talk around a problem as we often do in real life, but because younger kids probably
won’t understand subtlety, writing targeted at preschoolers should say what it means. Writing
will also be more direct in shorter cartoons because there simply is not time for many shad-
ings. A longer story digs deeper. To get beneath the surface, try using questions.
Make your dialogue unique to each character. It should never be interchangeable. Each
character should have a different rhythm, perhaps a different sentence length. Dialogue
reveals education, age, and cultural and ethnic background. Use wording and colorful
expressions that are individual to that one character. Unique phrases and pet words can
serve as a character signature. Each character should have his own speech fingerprint.
Moving the Story Along with Dialogue
Dialogue should serve the plot. A good animation story has to keep moving. Don’t let the
words slow it down. Words are one way to tell the story, but conversation should always dis-
close tidbits that the characters must tell each other, not just information that you as a writer
want the audience to know. Characters make discoveries about what’s happening and
unearth secrets about each other. But characters don’t always listen to each other—just like
people in real life.
Conflict Can Reveal Information
Conflict in dialogue or tension between views is a good way to get information out and keep
it interesting. Conflict allows the audience to choose sides. Characters in scenes often have
a personal agenda that comes out in conflict during the course of the scene. Who has control?
Who has the most status? Who is telling the truth? All the exposition doesn’t have to come
out right away. We want to know what happened before the story started that’s motivating
our characters now. But information can leak out throughout the story. Do be clear enough
so that your young viewers understand, but don’t say everything. Leave enough unsaid that
the audience becomes involved and wants to watch the story to learn more.
The Mood of the Story
The type of dialogue must be appropriate for the genre of that specific series, film, or game.
Set the tone and style of the story right away. This is especially important in comedy, so that
we know that it’s all right to laugh.
Characteristics of Dialogue
Dialogue is the essence of real talk with thematic content and an ongoing exchange of power.
Good dialogue has a beat, a rhythm, and a melody. It’s affected by time, place, the weather,
and so much more. It’s intangible like mist, and it depends on your characters and who they
are, their relationships, the situation, the genre, the world of that series, the target age of
your audience, the length of the script, and who you are as you’re writing the dialogue. Dia-
196 Animation Writing and Development