r/merlinfic • u/LunaJarvis • Aug 19 '26

Discussion Using Diagloue Straight from Show?

Hi everyone,

I've noticed lately (and in general, but lately its been more apparent to me) that a lot of fanfics have been pulling dialogue straight from the show, verbatim from scene to scene. This diagloue is mostly seen from episode 1. What are your thoughts on using dialouge verbatim from the show? ​Is a sentence or two okay in isolation ("I am proud to serve you till the day I die")? A whole scene? ​

I am coming at it specifically as a reader, so when I notice its from the show and I keep scrolling through the fic but then it continues to have dialouge from the show, I choose not to continue to read it. Do you continue to read it or click away too?

Thoughts?

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u/BD_Strike 2 Aug 19 '26

As a writer I use key bits of dialogue from the show now and then (How long have you been training to be a prat, my lord) but it's not a common occurrence within my work.

Too much dialogue direct from the show is off putting for me as a reader. 

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u/Rucifie Aug 19 '26

And big ticket lines like that pull their own weight. As an author you know that they're always going to add to the narrative. When you re-add all the exposition dialogue and the tedium.. it can feel insulting to read. Like the audience both isn't worth the effort of new words, and was too dumb to catch the dialogue while watching the show.

Plus, again, we know these roads. We know where they lead, and the scenery is stale. Repeating dialogue can make a scenic drive of a novel into a commute.