Playwriting and much television writing is mostly dialogue. What people say to each other can come off as simply talk if there is no character motivation behind it. When writing dialogue it is easy to bless whatever comes out of your head as gold, but a yardstick can help keep the drama taut and the situation believable.
Nearly anything that comes out of a character's mouth is an action, an attempt to get something from the other person or make them do something. Though a character may have a different long-term goal in mind, these subjects are constant possible sources of conflict among individuals and can be used indirectly to reach a goal.
Content
People need answers and in conversation they try to get them. In any interpersonal situation there are issues to be settled like what are we do to, what decisions must we make, where are we to do. This is similar to the decision making process a character has in his or her mind, but instead of finding solutions that pleases one it much please both.
Relational
In any relationship, no matter what they are involved in at the time, there will come up at various times the question of what is the nature of their relationship. We have seen this myriad times in regards to romantic relationships; when the girl asks "what am I to you" or the guy gets jealous when he finds a girl is seeing other people and he thought they were together.
Identity
A character's position in life can become a subject of discussion. Closely related to defining what a person is to another particular person is what the person is in general or to society. People come to expect a level of treatment depending on their station and status and when anything happen to make that uncertain it can become an important issue.
Process
It is not enough that characters talk things out, how things are talked about can be just as important. Do they chat over tea or do they yell in public. Much more than a matter of the way someone speaks or where they speak, it can become an issue of finding a more accommodating environment for one or other of the characters and even the act of making it an issue can play in one characters favor or the other.
Characters can make their desires plain and known to the other person, but when they are thwarted or their desires not taken seriously there are plenty of other issues that can be made a source of contention to stoke action.
Have a character of yours pursued goals in an indirect fashion like above? How did it end up?
