: Re: Are chapters with a single character inherently more difficult for an average reader to connect with? (And do you have any tips.) On the topic of keeping a reader engaged: Dialog is a great

@Berumen699

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Have you tried converting the internal dialog to the one character talking to him/herself? Or even talking to the internal monalog? Talking to yourself does not mean you are a crazy person... lots of people will do this when alone as sometimes, you need to hear your thoughts vocalized and the reason you don't think those thoughts would work.

It is essentially what happens in the Dr. Who story that was suggested to you (you'll need some serious background to get to the point where you can understand it), but that is essentially all the Doctor does, is talk to himself or personifying an object. Another great series that uses it much more frequently is Archer, where several characters will have to hold a scene all on their own, and must talk there way through it (Archer and Lana often get these scenes... Pam has minor ones... Malory has a whole episode where she has one line of dialog with another actual human... and she's speaking in the numerous scenes she is in... and yes, it is awesome.). If you want a single movie, try Cast Away, in which Tom Hanks is alone and isolated from humans for several years and bounces ideas off of Wilson... a soccer ball with a painted face on it, for much of the movie... and can get some viewers very emotionally invested in Wilson's well being. Apparently, Wilson has a "script" where all his responses are given, so Tom Hanks could know what his character is supposed to be reacting too, but this half of the conversation is never portrayed on screen.

The trick in all of these is they manifest in typically two sided question/answer sections. If talking to yourself, you ask and answer the question, essentially debating yourself in every action. It shows how your character prioritizes the situation. If you're talking to a stand in for a human, that doesn't speak, this can manifest in distinct voices in spoken dialog that the human does... or can equally manifest in the human explaining his actions to the object, with occasional emotional responses to what the human percieves as the the object mouthing off. I tend to write dialog on the fly, so my trick with this is to write out both sides of the conversation, but give my beta readers an edited cut where I removed the object's dialog.

Often, this develops a "relationship" where a rational and emotional side of the character evolves... there's a famous saying that "Character is what you are in the dark". Basically, everything the character is, is best revealed when no one is watching... this is your time to shine and establish your character's driving emotions and logical examination... typically the emotional aspects get the vocalization if the speaker is logical, and can easily get to the point in the self-argument that his reactions to the logical's correct assertions can be wonderful scene ending gags... Imagine a vocal emotional telling the silent logical that fearing bears in the cave he is going to camp in was silly... only for a roar to issue from somewhere in the cave and the emotional to quip about how the silent logical better not say "I told you so" or some other appropriate surrender or defeat of his argument. It's funny, it's silly, but it also relatable as hell... Who loves being told they're wrong? Especially hearing it from your self.

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