Dialogue in a Scene with a Large Cast of Characters

Hi All! I hope your week is going well.

I am going back and editing scenes where there is a large cast of characters in the room. Think thirty or so people sitting around a table holding a conversation but it’s focused solely on one person.

The scene I’m currently in reads a little like this:

“Explain,” demanded X.

“I’m not certain I can explain,” sighed Y.

“How can you not explain?” Interrupted A.

“The documents you have are fairly explanatory of themselves.” Responded Y.

Repeat the same pattern of a new character asking a question of Y.

Boring right? I left out the descriptions of the room and set up. But still one character answering all the questions.

Well, I was doing some reading and research. One solution or way to make it advance better is to focus the scene on the interplay between one or two characters. So Y might be in a room full of people but the focus is on the dynamic or tension between Y and X.

I’ll follow up with an example in my next post. So stay tuned. 🙂