Tried writing a scene with no dialogue at all

I decided to do a full 1500 word short story with zero quoted speech, just gestures and setting. Turns out it forced me to describe way more about the room and the character's hands than I ever would have. Have you ever set a weird rule for yourself that actually made your writing stronger?

3 comments

3 Comments

matthewkim1mo ago

Yo I used to be the opposite, I'd cram dialogue into everything thinking it made scenes pop. But after trying a no-dialogue rule, I realized how much tension you can build just from someone's fingers tapping a table or the way a chair creaks. Changed my whole approach honestly, now I let the quiet parts do the heavy lifting.

paul2511mo ago

Did re-reading it make you wish you'd left some silences in your dialogue-heavy stuff before

pat_schmidt6011d ago

My cat sits on my keyboard during silence. I'll take dialogue any day over a deleted scene.