Swapping Diaolgue

How Changing Perspective Changes Everything

I just did the kind of rewrite on a chapter that flips the script — putting the dialogue of two opposing characters into the mouth of the other. It isn’t the kind of thing that happens often, but it was necessary in this case. The scene, as written, really didn’t make sense for the characters, even though I needed it to set up something else later.

Swapping dialogue did something interesting, though …

Lines that were perfectly reasonable in the mouth of the protagonist suddenly sounded manic and insane in the mouth of the antagonist. The course of action that each character was pushing for (also swapped between characters), had a polar flip in meaning as well. Suddenly, the plan that the “bad guy” had became perfectly logical, when it was the “good guy’s” plan. And the good guy’s original plan sounded insane, coming from the bad guy’s mouth.

What makes this fascinating is how it reflects the nature of our own sense of self, and our own motives and justifications.

We are the heroes of our own stories.

But that’s true of everyone. Every soul, regardless of who they are, is the hero of his or her own story — meaning we all have our justifications and validations and motives and meanings. We all view our lives, and our interactions, and our plans and goals, as if they were the only story that matters.

There’s nothing inherently wrong with this. It’s how we’re built, psychologically. But it casts an interesting light on the actions of others. If we consider this — that everyone is the hero of their own story — we start to empathize a bit more, even with people who do things we find reprehensible. We start understanding that its our interpretation of events that makes “us” the good guy and “them” the bad guy.

If we shifted perspective, would we be the bad guys, in the same story?

My rewrite had the side effect of changing the tone of the scene, which I liked. It also had the effect of changing the meaning of the scene, which could have repercussions in the rest of the book. The simple act of swapping who said what, of changing perspectives by just that much, will resonate throughout the rest of the book, and change the story that the reader experiences.

It makes you wonder: What would happen if we each took the time to try to put the words and ideas and perspectives of others into our own mouths? What changes could we make in our lives and in the world, if we switched dialogue?