Oblique dialogue

Oblique dialogue is speech that comes at its subject sideways: a character answers something other than what was asked, so what they really want shows under the exchange instead of in it.

Here is the whole technique in two lines, from Sol Stein's Stein on Writing:

SHE: How are you? HE: Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't see you.

He does not answer her question. Something else is going on in him, and it surfaces instead, and the reader leans in to find out what. Stein argued that learning to write dialogue this way is one of the biggest single steps a writer can take, and it holds up in practice, because directness is what flattens most draft conversation.

What oblique dialogue means

Oblique means slanting, not straight. Oblique dialogue is conversation where the replies come in at an angle: a character hears a question and answers a different one, changes the subject, jokes, or replies to the tone rather than the words. What they actually feel or want is never stated. It sits in the gap, as subtext, and the reader fills the gap themselves.

It is not evasiveness for its own sake. The sideways answer has to come from something real in the character: a thing they want, hide, or cannot bear to say. That is where the tension comes from.

How it works: four sideways moves

• Answer a different question. She asks how he is; he apologises for not seeing her.
• Retreat into a task. A character under pressure starts talking about the job in front of them: the dishes, the paperwork, the instruments.
• Answer the words, not the point. Pick apart how something was said and ignore what was meant.
• Stop short. A line that trails off (an ellipsis on the page) lets the listener, and the reader, finish the thought.

Oblique dialogue examples

A draft line, before and after

INT. HOSPITAL CAFETERIA - NIGHT

DANA

Are you still angry that I missed Dad's last week?

MARK

Yes. You should have been here.

INT. HOSPITAL CAFETERIA - NIGHT

DANA

Are you still angry?

MARK

They stop doing the soup at six. You'd have known that.

Why it works: Mark answers a question about soup. The reader hears you were not here, and it lands harder because he did not say it.

From a real script: The Runner

The Runner, a feature screenplay by Jeffrey Doka, the editor behind Final Boss Editing, opens with a drug runner, Rich, and his copilot, James, flying a load across the border. Between the flying, James keeps pushing Rich about his love life, and Rich keeps not answering.

JAMES

You do need to get laid. I'll never understand why you never called Amy back. Her body--wow.

RICH

You know why.

JAMES

(Sighs)

It's called recovery. A hot piece of ass like Amy would help with Michelle and... everything.

Locking eyes with James, Rich replies with a black glare.

Why it works: You know why answers the question and refuses it in the same breath. The two men share the reason, so they have no need to say it, and the audience is left outside the door. James names Michelle, then trails off into everything, and Rich answers with a glare instead of a line. We learn there is a Michelle, that there is something to recover from, and that Rich will not talk about it. Nobody explains who she is.

JAMES

Rich, I love you like a brother, so take some advice from someone who cares. You're a runner. Use it. Chicks love dudes who can get em high. Have some creaky old man fun before it's over.

RICH

Number one, not old. Not creaky. Number two, not dying soon. Number three, I love you too, but please shut up and check the transponder.

Why it works: Rich answers the wording and ignores the advice. He picks off old, creaky and before it's over one at a time, and not dying soon replies to something James never quite said, which suggests it is on both their minds. The one straight answer is the affection, and it is cut off at once by a retreat into the job: check the transponder. The list makes it funny, and the joke carries the weight. Five pages later, after a dive that nearly kills them, Rich throws the phrase back: What, not a big fan of "creaky old man fun?"

Oblique dialogue vs on-the-nose dialogue

On-the-nose dialogue is the opposite: characters say exactly what they feel and mean, so the words and the meaning are the same and there is nothing underneath. Oblique dialogue keeps the two apart. Most scenes want something in between: a clear surface the reader can follow, with the real subject running under it.

How to write oblique dialogue

Start with the character's want. David Mamet's memo to the writers of the television series The Unit boils a scene down to three questions: who wants what, what happens if they do not get it, and why now. Once you know the answers, you know what the character is trying not to say, and the sideways line almost writes itself.

Two related repairs help. Tennis-match dialogue (statement, perfect comeback, statement, perfect comeback) releases tension every second line; misunderstanding and deflection let it build instead. And questions are weaker than statements: a character who asserts has committed to something, while a character who asks is waiting for the other one to move.

Common mistakes

• Vague instead of oblique. If you do not know what the scene is really about, the reader will not either. Decide the real subject first, then hide it.
• Every line sideways. A whole script of dodges becomes a guessing game. Let some lines land straight, especially the one the scene has been building to.
• Explaining it afterwards. A good oblique line followed by narration that spells out its meaning undoes the work. Cut the explanation.

Frequently asked questions

What is oblique dialogue?

Oblique dialogue is conversation in which characters do not answer each other directly. A reply dodges, deflects or answers a different question, and the reader works out what is really going on from the gap between the question and the answer.

What is oblique speech?

In fiction and screenwriting, oblique speech means the same as oblique dialogue: talk that approaches its real subject at an angle. In grammar the phrase has an older meaning, from the Latin oratio obliqua, which is reported speech, as in 'She said she was tired.'

Is oblique dialogue the same as subtext?

No. Subtext is the hidden meaning of a scene, and oblique dialogue is one way of carrying it. Subtext can also travel through an action, a silence or an object, with nobody speaking at all.

Can dialogue be too oblique?

Yes. If the reader cannot tell what the characters are really arguing about, the scene reads as vague rather than tense. Nobody has to name the real subject, but the reader should always be able to work it out.