This is more useful in genre fiction, particularly thrillers, but nearly all dialogue needs to move the story along in some way.
An obvious example from “The Hunger Games,” when Peeta discovers Katniss still hanging around after the cracker jacker attack:
“What are you still doing here?” he hisses at me. I stare uncomprehendingly as a trickle of water drips off a sting under his ear. His whole body starts sparkling as if he’s been dipped in dew.
“Are you mad?” He’s prodding me with the shaft of the spear now. “Get up! Get up!”
I rise, but he’s still pushing at me. What? What is going on?
He shoves me away from him hard. “Run!” he screams. “Run!”
(I might point out that a lot of tension is created through the use of few words here. You don’t always need a lot of dialogue to advance action, but generally you’ll see more of it in genre fiction.)
However, literary fiction is a different beast. In literary fiction, dialogue is sparse and sometimes doesn’t even need to match what’s going on in the story. But I’ll have more to say about that later.
In tomorrow’s posting, I’ll briefly tackle foreshadowing or reminding through dialogue.
Great example!
Thanks, Heather. I was in a rush, but I knew I could count on that book for that kind of dialogue. Please feel free to add examples of your own.