John: “Oh, I’ll get my homework done. You have to have a little bit of faith in me. ” Jane: “Faith? I’m agnostic with you. I’m not sure you’ll do it, but I have no way to tell one way or the other. ” Here, Jane takes the phrase “have a little bit of faith” and turns the corner with it by describing herself as agnostic. not. The audience is used to hearing idioms about having faith, so they don’t expect Jane to make a religious reference.
John: “Oh, don’t be mean. ” Jane: “I’m far from average, sweetheart. ” While John is obviously referring to Jane not being kind, Jane flips it with her line by treating “mean” to be “average,” which is a secondary definition. The addition of “sweetheart” turns an otherwise braggy comment into fun and flirty sass.
John: “You’re looking chipper this morning. ” Jane: “Woodchipper, maybe. I barely got any sleep last night. ” Here, the audience would read “chipper” to mean “upbeat. ” John is being sarcastic, but if Jane responded with snark it wouldn’t read as playful. Jane’s reference to a “woodchipper” to implies she’s torn to shreds, which is ridiculous.
Imagine these characters are adults. John: “Isn’t this a school night? What are you doing out so late?” Jane: “Expressing my teenage angst. ” Jane: “Hey John, what are you up to?” John: “Oh, not much. Just expressing my teenage angst. ” The “school night” line is pretty playful on its own, but the “teenage angst” bit is a slick comeback. John flips it around on Jane later in a slick, silly way.
Picture John and Jane walking into court to be witnesses for a criminal case. John: “Man, I’m really nervous. I’ve never taken the stand before. ” Jane: “Oh, it’ll be fine. You take stands all the time. Just the other day I watched you stand up twice. You’ll be fine. ” Here, you’d expect Jane to reassure John that it’s going to be okay, and the “Oh, it’ll be fine” leads you to expect that much. What comes next is a silly (and kind of terrible) joke, which is totally out of left field given the situation.
John: “We seem like a great match, you and I. ” Jane: “I’d be inclined to agree. I certainly feel the spark. ” John means “match” as in a romantic pairing. Jane’s reference to a “spark” implies that she’s into him, but also lines up perfectly with a match (the kind you start fires with).
John: “What can I say? I’m a dog. ” Jane: “That’s funny. I was just about to say you’re barking up the wrong tree. ” John’s reference to being a dog is a self-burn about chasing multiple romantic partners. Jane’s insistence that he’s “barking up the wrong tree” implies he’s not getting anywhere with her. It’d be a lot less interesting or playful if Jane just said, “You’re gross” or something like that.
Take the previous example, for instance (“That’s funny. I was just about to say you’re barking up the wrong tree”). This line of dialogue works on its own, but it also establishes Jane’s disinterest in entering a relationship with John. There’s a conflict! There’s nothing wrong with taking normal dialogue and punching it up with some fun banter, but try to avoid writing so much banter that the audience becomes bored. Less is often more, here. There’s a realism element to this, too. People rarely use clever quips and coy jokes in everyday conversation with any kind of major frequency.
John: “I really like the way you wear that dress. ” Jane: “I like the way I wear this dress too. Unfortunately for you, it’s staying on. ” This is a good example of dialogue that might be banter depending on the tone of the scene. If Jane is established to be interested in John romantically and the audience knows she’s playing coy, this is banter. If we know John has no shot and Jane isn’t interested in him, this is just teasing.
This isn’t to say that you can’t have problematic characters if it’s relevant to the theme and goal of the work. But like any good chef, weigh your ingredients carefully when you’re adding some spice.
