Subtext
Subtext is the meaning a scene carries underneath its surface: what the characters actually want and feel, running beneath what they are ostensibly discussing.
The Fantasy Fiction Formula locates it precisely: in scenes where characters are at cross purposes, the surface discussion is not what the true conflict is about. Two people argue about a parking space and the argument is about ten years of resentment; neither of them mentions the ten years, and both of them mean it.
What subtext means
The text is what is said and done on the page. The subtext is what it means: the want, fear or history underneath. A scene with subtext works on two levels at once, and the reader follows both. They hear the argument about the parking space, and they understand the argument about the marriage.
Subtext is not obscurity. The reader should always know what is really happening. They should simply not have been told.
Subtext examples
An object doing the talking
An object will often carry what the dialogue cannot. In James Baldwin's story Sonny's Blues, a man tries to say something about what he has done to himself, and the line breaks apart: "I — went crazy — I did terrible things to me, I was terrible for me." While he speaks, he is pressing a beer can between his hands, and the narrator watches the metal begin to give. Nothing is stated. The can does it.
Why it works: the words fail, and the hands finish the sentence. The reader feels the pressure instead of being told about it.
One word, and the reply that doubts it
The Runner, a feature screenplay by Jeffrey Doka, the editor behind Final Boss Editing, follows two F.B.I. agents in a plane chasing Rich, a drug runner, across the desert. Two pages earlier, the pilot, Sandra, lost them the element of surprise by following too close, and her copilot told her so.
ROBERT
He's losing speed... you OK?
SANDRA
Fine.
ROBERT
Convincing.
Frowning, Robert folds his arms; Sandra focuses on her prey.
Why it works: Sandra says one word, and Robert's one-word answer says he does not believe it. She is not fine: she is stung and determined, and the next thing she does, following Rich into a dive her plane cannot take, proves it. Nobody names the pride. The scene is about it anyway.
A question answered with a question
"Are you all right?"
"Why wouldn't I be?"
Why it works: a person who was all right would say so. The defensive question tells us more than a confession would.
How to write subtext
- Know the real subject. Write down, outside the scene, what the conversation is actually about.
- Give the characters a reason not to say it. Pride, fear, politeness, a third person in the room.
- Give them something to do with their hands. A prop can take the load the words will not, as the beer can does for Baldwin.
- Let them argue about something smaller. The parking space, the washing up, the soup. See oblique dialogue for the sideways moves that carry it.
- Cut the explanation. If a line of narration tells us what the exchange meant, delete it.
The opposite is on-the-nose dialogue, where the surface and the meaning are identical and there is nothing underneath. Dramatic irony is a close cousin: there, the reader knows something the characters do not, so even innocent lines carry a second meaning.
Frequently asked questions
What is subtext in simple terms?
Subtext is what a scene really means, as opposed to what the characters actually say. If two people argue about the washing up and the real issue is that one of them is thinking of leaving, the leaving is the subtext.
What is an example of subtext?
A character asked 'Are you all right?' who answers 'Why wouldn't I be?' has said nothing about their feelings, but the defensive question tells the reader they are not all right.
How do you write subtext?
Decide what the scene is really about, then give the characters a reason not to say it, such as pride, fear or someone listening. Let the real feeling come out through what they argue about, what they do with their hands, and what they avoid.